1978Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1978 election for Iowa Senate District 7
Iowa State Senate · Iowa
Arthur L. Gratias (R) won with 54.9% of the vote, defeating Milo Merritt (D) by 9.8 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Arthur L. GratiasRepublican · winner
54.9%9,838
Milo MerrittDemocrat · incumbent
45.1%8,080
17,918 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