1978Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1978 election for Iowa Senate District 17
Iowa State Senate · Iowa
Richard Comito (R) won with 51.5% of the vote, defeating Fred W. Nolting (D) by 3.0 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Richard ComitoRepublican · winner
51.5%8,691
Fred W. NoltingDemocrat · incumbent
48.5%8,184
16,877 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1978
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET