Iowa Democrat Appears to Flip State Legislative Seat in Upset Victory

Recent elections have been brutal for Democrats in Iowa as their party lost support from white, working-class voters in a onetime swing state that Barack Obama won twice.

Republicans now hold every seat in the congressional delegation and every statewide office but one. The State Legislature, where Democrats competed for majorities less than a decade ago, is overwhelmingly Republican.

Yet on Tuesday, for the second time this year, a Democrat appeared to flip a conservative-leaning district in the Iowa Senate. According to preliminary results posted by county officials, Catelin Drey, the Democratic nominee, was leading Christopher Prosch, the Republican, in a district that includes much of the Sioux City area in northwest Iowa.

Michelle K. Skaff, the auditor and election commissioner in Woodbury County, Iowa, said Ms. Drey was leading by 11 percentage points, or nearly 800 votes, with all precincts counted. Ms. Skaff said there were two additional ballots, part of a program that allows victims of certain crimes to vote from home, that could be added to the total if received by Wednesday.

Iowa Democrats will remain vastly outnumbered in the State Senate, but Ms. Drey’s apparent victory was more than symbolic. Her presence in the Senate would strip Republicans of a two-thirds supermajority that had allowed lawmakers to confirm the governor’s appointees without any Democratic support.

Iowa Republicans have used their power in recent years to pass restrictive laws on abortion, immigration and transgender issues.