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Capitol Notebook: Special election date set for vacant Northwest Iowa statehouse seat
Also in the notebook, the Iowa Auditor’s office has earned highest rating from national peer review
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DES MOINES — A special election to fill a vacant Northwest Iowa statehouse seat will be held Tuesday, Dec. 9, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Wednesday.
Iowa House District 7 is vacant after former Republican Rep. Mike Sexton, of Rockwell City, resigned last week to accept a post in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Sexton was serving his sixth two-year term in the Iowa House; he was first elected in 2014. Before that, he served one four-year term in the Iowa Senate, from 1999 to 2002. He chaired the House Agriculture Committee from 2023 through 2025.
Iowa House District 7 covers Pocahontas, Calhoun and Sac counties, and portions of Webster, Buena Vista and Clay counties.
The House District 7 special election will be the fifth for a seat in the Iowa Legislature since January. Two of those vacancies were created by the deaths of state legislators; the other three were created by incumbents moving on to other positions in local, state and federal government.
Iowa Auditor’s office earns highest rating from national peer review
The Iowa Auditor’s Office received the highest possible rating from a peer review conducted by the National State Auditors Association.
The State of Iowa received a peer rating of “pass” from the national group. The peer reviews can result in ratings of pass, pass with deficiencies or fail.
The National State Auditors Association is a subsidiary of the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers, which is comprised of and represents state officials tasked with the financial management of state government.
The review, which covered the state budget year that ended June 30, determined the “system of quality control” for the State of Iowa and the Iowa Auditor’s Office was “suitably designed and complied with to provide the office with reasonable assurance of performing and reporting in conformity with Government Auditing Standards in all material respects.”
“This rating reflects the hard work, professionalism, and integrity of our entire team,” Iowa Auditor Rob Sand said in a press release. “I’m especially proud of the staff for excelling amid a nationwide shortage of auditors and accountants, and despite limits placed on them by the legislature.”
Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau
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