[NEWTONDAILYNEWS] Jon Dunwell has been elected the new representative of Iowa House District 29, according to the unofficial results of the special election released Oct. 12 by the Jasper County Auditor’s Office. Upon a successful canvass, Dunwell, a Republican, will have flipped a seat long held by a Democratic representative.The Jasper County Auditor’s Office reported a total of 4,717 ballots cast, of which 2,820 voted for Dunwell (59.81 percent) while 1,890 voted for Democratic candidate Steve Mullan (40.08 percent); five write-ins were received and two ballots were turned in blank.Jasper County has 21,409 voters, which means the Iowa House District 29 special election had a 22.03 percent voter turnout.
Dunwell was surrounded by friends and family in Newton when he learned he’d won, unofficially at least. It was "unbelievably exciting" to see the results, he told Newton News, and it is humbling to learn the voters of Iowa House District 29 have given him this opportunity to serve as a representative of the statehouse.
"Community engagement is very important to me. Being out and among people is very important to me. Giving everyone a seat at the table is very important to me," Dunwell said. "I have a conservative philosophy. My passion is for Jasper County and Iowa. The team that I work with is for the Republicans."
The party is not the ends, he added, but rather the means or the process by which Dunwell can live out his conservative principles. Jasper County Republican Party Chairperson Thad Nearmyer was cautiously optimistic leading up to Election Night, especially when Dunwell had campaigned for the seat before.
Wes Breckenridge held his seat against Dunwell in the 2020 election. But in September the Democratic politician and former police officer announced he would be stepping down as representative of Iowa House District 29 after accepting a job at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.
Even after Dunwell’s loss to Breckenridge in the 2020 election, Nearmyer said he never really stopped campaigning. Dunwell regularly posted to his candidate page on Facebook, and when the news broke the seat would be up for grabs, he wasted no time in announcing his plans to run and began soliciting donations.