2012Final resultsIncumbent defeated
2012 election for Iowa Senate District 26
Iowa State Senate · Iowa
Mary Jo Wilhelm (D) won with 50.2% of the vote, defeating Merlin E. Bartz (R) by 0.4 points.
Mary Jo WilhelmDemocrat · winner · incumbent
50.2%15,530
Merlin E. BartzRepublican · incumbent
49.8%15,404
30,952 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 2012
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET