Credible sources say there is a possibility that State Senator Swati Dandekar (D-Marion) will be appointed to the Public Utilities Board by Governor Terry Brandstad.  If this is true then we’ll have an open seat in Senate District 18, which has the potential to be a Republican pick-up.  This would make a 25 seat tie in the Iowa Senate.

Update: By the way, I’d just like to point out that I broke this story :).  It has now been confirmed, Branstad will appoint Dandekar.  He will need to call for a special election within 5 days of announcement.  The earliest a special election can take place is within 45 days.  Gay marriage among other items will be primary issues in the race to claim this unexpected open seat.

2nd Update: The Branstad administration sent out a press release announcing the special election date: “Gov. Terry E. Branstad today set a Special Election date of November 8, 2011, to fill Senate District 18. The seat became vacant today after Senator Swati Dandekar resigned from her Senate seat to serve on the Iowa Utilities Board. Gov. Branstad had five days to choose a date for the election.  The Special Election will coincide with city elections.”


You May Also Like

The Value Added Tax Would Be A Disaster!!

By Christopher Reed, Republican Congressional Candidate for Iowa’s 2nd District Recently, White…

Reynolds Says Iowa’s Strategy Dealing With COVID-19 Is Shifting

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said with additional data the state is changing it’s strategy in how it approaches COVID-19 to containing and managing.

Iowa Tops 1000 COVID-19 Cases

The Iowa Department of Public Health reports 102 additional COVID-19 cases for a total of 1,048 cases in 78 counties, and one death for a total of 26.

Human Trafficking Is An Iowa Issue

Kelvey Vander Hart: We must stop viewing human trafficking as an international issue, and start taking it personally. It is not just an international issue.