🌽 GOP picks far-right nominee for Sioux City Senate election - Cornhole Champions intermission
We're taking a two-week break to rest our cornhole elbows. Cool our heels. Back with a new episode July 23.
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Happy Wednesday. And welcome to Cornhole Champions, where we throw bags at the state’s biggest stories… at least normally. I’m Zachary Oren Smith.
This week, Avery Staker is holding down the fort while Amie Rivers and I are out. And so the show is taking two weeks off. We’ll be back with your normally scheduled chatter on all things Iowa July 23.
This week—while I was supposed to be enjoying some PTO with family—the special election over in Sioux City had me combing the internet for info on the new hyper-right-wing guy Woodbury Republicans have running in the August special election for Iowa Senate District 1. From whether rape victims should have to carry their pregnancies to term to whether 9/11 was an inside job: what I found will surprise you feel pretty familiar at this point.
But first…
What’s colder than cold? - Pascual Leonardo Pedro-Pedro, 20, of West Liberty, went to a routine annual immigration check-in on July 1—abiding by what the government is asking him to do as an immigrant—and was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Pedro-Pedro was brought to the US as a 13-year-old by his father from Guatemala. He has no criminal record. The West Liberty High School graduate and standout soccer player who helped lead his team to the Class 1A state tournament is being held at the Muscatine County Jail, Amie reported.
ICE is holding nearly 60,000 people in facilities across the country, likely setting a record high, according to CBS News. To keep up with the President Donald Trump's aggressive deportation goals, they're detaining folks who are abiding by our laws: 47% of those being detained by ICE have no criminal record. Family and supporters held a prayer vigil and are calling ICE offices release him.Feenstra’s fan club - US Rep. Randy Feenstra's run for governor picked up major endorsements this week. Iowa lawmakers supporting Feenstra's campaign include Republican US Sen. Joni Ernst, US Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Iowa Lt. Gov. Chris Cournoyer. Ernst called him "a proven conservative who has delivered results for Iowa in Congress." The Gazette reports that these endorsements come as political forecasters are downgrading Republicans' chances in Iowa's 2026 U.S. Senate race, with both the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball changing Iowa's U.S. Senate rating from "Strong Republican" to "Likely Republican."
Congressional musical chairs - Speaking of IA-04, Iowa House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl, a Republican and U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Missouri Valley, on Monday announced his campaign for the U.S. House in Western Iowa's 4th Congressional District, the seat Feenstra is leaving. The 41-year-old Windschitl has represented a portion of northwest Iowa in the Iowa House since 2007. He has been the Majority Leader since 2019. He's joining Siouxland Chamber of Commerce leader Chris McGowan in what may be an open-seat race, as three-term incumbent Feenstra of Hull has been exploring a run for Iowa governor in 2026.
Primary pile-up in IA-01 - Meanwhile, in the 1st District, Muscatine attorney Taylor Wettach on Tuesday announced he is running for the U.S. House in Eastern Iowa's 1st Congressional District. Wettach becomes the fourth Democrat in the 2026 1st District election. He joins former state legislator Christina Bohannan, who was the party's unsuccessful nominee in 2022 and 2024, as well as health care worker Travis Terrell and former state legislator Bob Krause.
And now, the guy Woodbury County Republicans want to send to Des Moines...
Sioux City special election: Republicans choose far-right candidate for seat
A special election in Sioux City has big implications for power in the Iowa Senate. Who voters choose will have a major impact on power in the Iowa Legislature.
A special election for a single seat in the Iowa Senate—District 1, which covers most of Sioux City—could decide whether Iowa’s governor gets to stack the courts and agencies with whoever she wants or if Democrats can block her most controversial picks.
The Woodbury County Democrats meet at 6 p.m. tonight to select their candidate. Meanwhile, Republicans chose a controversial far-right candidate, who, since being selected, appears to be scrubbing content from social media accounts affiliated with him and his political strategy firm.
Republican Christopher Prosch has been outspoken about his belief that rape victims should have to carry their pregnancies to term, that 2020 presidential election was stolen, and that climate change is a “a lie.”
GOP candidate Prosch deletes conspiracy-filled social media posts and accounts following nomination
Republican candidate Christopher Prosch has been working on campaigns for over a decade. He got his start as a canvasser in Kristi Noem’s 2010 Congressional campaign. But he’s since spent his career working on campaigns across the South Dakota-Nebraska-Iowa tri-state area.
Eight years ago, WNAX reported that Prosch, then of Vermillion, South Dakota, was named communications director of the South Dakota Republican Party. According to Legistorm, he was the legislative aide to Nebraska state Sen. Ben Hansen, a Republican, in 2021.
Prosch is the founder of Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Felix Strategies. According to its website, Felix is a political strategy firm that specializes in “brand rehabilitation, influencer amplification, and strategic communication for Christian conservative leaders and organizations.” The firm’s website includes testimonials from 2020 election certification deniers like Seth Holehouse and conspiracy luminaries like Trevor Loudon, who can be found sharing a stage with leaders of the Proud Boys.
On a podcast Prosch hosts, he highlighted some of his views. During one conversation, he likened the Holocaust to the availability of abortion in the United States.
“Who was worse? The Nazi Germans who killed 10 million Jews and many other people? Or the left’s policies to target an entire generation of babies to death,” he asked.
Later in the show, he said victims of rape or incest should carry pregnancies to term.
“So your solution to a tragedy is to have another tragedy. Oh, okay. So, you know, and let’s not, you know, mince words here. The baby did nothing wrong. Now if you don’t want to raise that child, that’s completely understandable,” he said, “but there’s something called adoption.”
Elsewhere on the internet, Prosch frequently repeats without evidence that there was wide-spread fraud in the 2020 election. There was not.
On his personal X account, @Pro1854, he shared posts that falsely claim there was a 9/11 World Trade Center coverup and that vaccines are unsafe. Neither are backed by available evidence.
Through his firm’s Facebook, he spread false information claiming that climate change is “all a lie!” While no one event is the result of climate change, extreme weather has become more intense due to a warming planet. In fact, the district he wants to represent has been plagued by massive flooding in recent years that collapsed a bridge that connects Sioux City’s Iowa and South Dakota sides.
Iowa Starting Line reached out for an interview to talk to him about his comments. Prosch did not return calls.
One seat can change a lot
Thirty-four seats is two-thirds of the Iowa Senate. Before the death of state Sen. Rocky De Witt, who held the seat, Republicans had a two-thirds majority in the chamber. If Republicans keep their majority, nothing changes. But if Democrats can pull off a surprise special election win, they would have the ability to block the confirmation of judges or even agency heads.
“Every seat matters,” said Democratic leader Janice Weiner.
And she’s right—this isn’t just about one district anymore.
If Democrats win this seat, they’d have 17 votes in the Senate. That’s just enough to block those appointments.
A strongly-Republican district during a strong year for Democrats
Recent history favors Republicans retaining the seat. De Witt won it for the GOP in 2022, beating Democrat Jackie Smith by 10%. During the 2020 election, the district supported Trump by nearly 3 percentage points. Most recently, in 2024, it went for Trump 11 percentage points in a year that Trump overperformed across the state.
The most current available voter registration totals also favor Republicans. According to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office, SD-01 in July had:
8,993 active registered Republicans
7,356 active registered Democrats
6,786 active voters who are not registered with a party
However, Democratic candidates have outperformed in Trump districts recently. In January, Democrat Mike Zimmer won Senate District 35 from Republicans, a district Trump carried by 21 percentage points in 2024. And while she didn’t win, Democrat Nannette Griffin only lost her House District 100 race by 3 percentage points in a district Trump carried by 27 points.
While that pattern is clear, Republicans are still favored for the seat.
Details on August special election
Iowa Senate District 1 seat was vacated after De Witt’s death. The Republican from Lawton served as a Woodbury County Supervisor and Sheriff. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2024 and died last month at the age of 66.
In June, Gov. Kim Reynolds set the special election for Tuesday, Aug. 26. The winner will serve out the remainder of De Witt’s term, which ends January 2027.
Turnout will likely be low—maybe a few thousand people.
Republicans will spend heavily to hold the seat. Senate Democrats are already pouring resources in too, hoping to keep their winning streak alive.
This story first appeared on Iowa Starting Line. Subscribe to the newsletter for the latest.
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Your friendly neighborhood reporter,
Zachary Oren Smith
Political correspondent
Iowa Starting Line