1988Flipped from RepublicanFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1988 election for Iowa Senate District 42
Iowa State Senate · Iowa
Elaine Szymoniak (D) won with 51.8% of the vote, defeating David Readinger (R) by 3.7 points, a seat Republicans won last time.
Elaine SzymoniakDemocrat · winner
51.8%17,310
David ReadingerRepublican · incumbent
48.1%16,088
33,416 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 1988
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET