Democrat Catelin Drey took the oath of office and was sworn into the Iowa Senate after her special election victory earlier this month — officially breaking Republicans’ supermajority in the chamber.
Drey took the oath of office Monday, Sept. 15, in the Iowa Senate chamber alongside her husband and daughter.
“I am so honored,” she told reporters afterward. “There was something very humbling about taking the official oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the State of Iowa at a moment when it feels like that has become increasingly difficult or increasingly controversial. And so that oath is sacred, and I look forward to doing the best that I can to uphold that.”
Drey, a 37-year-old Sioux City resident, works as an account executive at a marketing firm. She represents Iowa Senate District 1, which is in northwestern Iowa along the Missouri River. The district based in Woodbury County encompasses voters from North Sioux City, Sioux City and Lawton.
Drey said she plans to get to work meeting with constituents now before the Legislature reconvenes in January.
“I’ve had requests about child support, water quality, public schools,” she said. “And so I’m taking all of that information under advisement, obviously, as we head to January.”
Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner congratulated Drey on her victory.
“She ran a wonderful campaign that was focused on listening to Iowans, listening to her constituents, having hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of conversations,” Weiner said. “And I am positive that that’s the kind of senator she will be as well.”
Breaking the GOP supermajority gives Democrats a chance to be ‘part of the mix’ in 2026
Weiner said the members of her caucus still need to discuss their priorities for the coming legislative session, but she believes that breaking the GOP supermajority will give them a toehold into conversations.
Democrats now hold 17 seats in the 50-member Senate to Republicans’ 33 seats.
That means Republicans will need support from at least one Democratic senator to confirm Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ nominees to state agencies, boards and commissions.
Weiner said it means Democrats will be “part of the mix” next year, because Republicans can’t entirely shut them out of conversations.
She said that in the past few sessions, Republicans could govern as “a Senate of 34” because they didn’t need any Democratic input to get anything done.
“Now we’re a senate of 50,” she said. “Because if they want to get people confirmed, if they want some other things, they will need to work with us. But that’s honestly the way it should work. That’s the way Iowans want it to work. They want us to work together.”
Democrats hope special election victory foreshadows voter discontent ahead of midterms
Drey defeated Republican Christopher Prosch with 55% of the vote to his 45%.
It was the latest in a string of four special elections this year in Iowa in which Democrats have significantly overperformed compared with the 2024 presidential election.
Democrats have cheered the results, saying it foreshadows voter discontent ahead of a consequential midterm election year.
But political experts say it’s difficult to draw clear conclusions from special election results, where turnout is lower and members of one party may be more motivated to vote than another.
Drey, Weiner say it’s time to ‘turn down the temperature’ on political rhetoric following Charlie Kirk shooting
Drey was sworn in less than a week after conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while holding an event on a university campus in Utah.
She said political leaders have to turn down the political temperature in the wake of that shooting.
“Talking to my neighbors, I think that we’re much closer politically than the climate right now gives us credit for,” she said. “I’m thinking about the safety of kids in school. I’m thinking about the safety of myself and my Senate colleagues. But I am optimistic that we have an awareness now that this type of rhetoric is dangerous, and I’m also optimistic that we can find some solutions to solve the gun violence crisis that is ongoing in this country.”
Weiner echoed the sentiment, saying, “political violence is never acceptable.”
“To me, it’s incumbent on all our leaders, as Sen. Drey said, to turn down the temperature and to engage in the sort of dialogue that she did throughout her campaign, talking to neighbors, talking to Iowans,” she said. “We will talk to anyone. We can have disagreements. That’s what political dialogue and democracy is all about: the ability to have those tough conversations and not turn to violence.”
Moving forward, Drey said she’s eager to get to work on behalf of her constituents.
“I am looking forward to getting to work, quite honestly,” she said. “I’m perhaps unjustly optimistic about what the session in 2026 holds, but I am really excited to get to work with my Senate Democratic colleagues and do what we can to improve the lives of Iowans.”
(This story was updated to add new information and a video.)
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on X at @brianneDMR.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Democrat Catelin Drey sworn in to Iowa Senate, busting Republican supermajority
Reporting by Brianne Pfannenstiel, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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