A barn sign in support of moving Tama County back to a three-member Board of Supervisors pictured in early October along Iowa 96 east of Gladbrook. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

TOLEDO – As the Democrats claimed extraordinary victories nationwide Tuesday night in the midterm general election — including capturing both chambers of Congress by healthy margins and flipping several governor’s seats, including Iowa and Texas — a group of Tama County residents was also celebrating as voters here passed a public measure designed to move the Board of Supervisors back down to three.

“I am very pleased with the results. We were pretty confident in the victory but you never know,” Tama County farmer Craig Sash, one of the drivers of the petition to put the public measure on the 2026 ballot, told the newspaper in a text-based interview Wednesday morning. “I’ll say the overwhelming majority of the county is very pleased with the outcome, especially judging by the huge numbers of calls and messages I’ve gotten since the results were posted.”

It was a stunning reversal of a move undertaken just four years ago when Tama County voters overwhelmingly passed a public measure to return the county to a form of government not experienced at that time since 1934 – five county supervisors. The 2022 ballot measure, born from a petition drive organized by members of the local coalition Tama County Against Turbines (TCAT), passed with nearly 63% support and some 3,868 votes cast in favor.

Fast forward to 2026 and this past Tuesday night, Public Measure TX, which required a simple majority to pass, was approved, per unofficial results, by 56.76% of voters with some 3,783 votes cast in favor of whiplashing back down to three supervisors. According to past reporting by this paper, Tama County first voted to switch from five to three county supervisors 94 years ago as part of the November 1932 election. The subsequent reorganizing from five to three took place during the next general election held in November 1934. The five supervisors’ terms ended and three supervisors at-large were elected in their place to serve a two, three, and four-year term, respectively.

A similar scenario will now play out 96 years later: During the November 2028 general election, the current five supervisors’ terms will end and voters will elect three supervisors in their stead.

A yard sign in support of sticking with Tama County’s current five-member Board of Supervisors pictured tacked to a pasture fence west of Dysart on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. PHOTOS BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Prior to the 2028 election, the five current supervisor districts will need to be redrawn.

The move to return to three supervisors comes on the back of a historic election in Tama County in terms of turnout despite a day of heavy rain Tuesday. Almost 79% of registered voters in the county – equating to 7,188 votes – cast a ballot in the 2026 midterm, which Tama County Auditor Karen Rohrs characterized as “very high.” Of the county’s 12 precincts, Montour had the highest voter turnout (82.26%) followed by Indian Settlement (81.17%) and Lincoln (80.24%).

Precincts where Public Measure TX garnered a majority of the vote share included the advanced (absentee) vote (936 yes, 564 no); Chelsea (110 yes, 88 no); Elberon (95 yes, 75 no); Garwin (120 yes, 92 no); Gladbrook (446 yes, 168 no); Lincoln (158 yes, 102 no); Montour (294 yes, 175 no); Tama (363 yes, 252 no); and Toledo (400 yes, 241 no).

In Dysart, the ballot measure failed with nearly 60% of votes cast against moving back to three. A similar scenario played out in Traer, albeit more narrowly, with just over 53% of votes cast against the measure. In Clutier, 137 votes were cast against and 127 in favor.

In his communications with the newspaper, Sash said he and his fellow petition drivers made the decision to pursue another ballot measure purely for fiscal reasons.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“We never needed five supervisors – it was only brought up because TCAT wasn’t getting their way, and look what happened…turbines got built anyway. My motivation was financial for the county – why pay two extra supervisors when three are effective? It makes no sense and those dollars can be best allocated elsewhere.”

Sash also told the newspaper he was far from the only citizen driving both the petition and subsequent campaign to drop back to three supervisors.

“We had a very good petition team. I need to make that very clear, I wasn’t the leader of it, it was a group effort. We had signature sheets in every single community in the county. People asked us where to sign, we pointed them in the right spot or drove to them and got signatures. We forced the issues on no one – if they didn’t want to sign, we just moved on. Many people had told us the previous petition team years ago harassed them until they’d sign, that did not happen this round. Several stated while they voted to go to five (supervisors in 2022), they realized it clearly wasn’t best for the county.”

When contacted Wednesday morning, former Supervisor Bill Faircloth (R-Toledo) – who lost his primary bid to Mark Doland in 2024 during the move from three to five supervisors and was publicly in favor of moving back to three – said he was glad to see passage of Public Measure TX.

“I would like to thank all the voters of Tama County for coming out to vote,” Faircloth said in a statement provided to the newspaper. “I was glad to see the ‘yes’ vote for three supervisors pass – this was big. I would like to thank the committee that worked so hard to get the facts out to the voters, I know they put in many hours to get this done. Some votes did not go like I would have liked to have seen, but that is what happens in elections. I would like to wish (Tama County Treasurer) Amanda (Kriegel) the very best in the future and thank her for the great work she has done for Tama County. Again thank you for the ‘yes’ votes!”

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Splitting tickets; local red wall stands

After voting for President Trump three times in past elections, Tama County voters narrowly favored the Democratic nominee for governor, Rob Sand, on Tuesday, with the state auditor and his running mate Dave Muhlbauer earning 3,599 votes and Republican Zach Lahn and his running mate Derek Wulf garnering 3,516 votes – an 83-vote separation. In Grundy County, Lahn won with 3,429 votes to Sand’s 2,371 votes.

Sand won the race to be Iowa’s next governor with 55.38% of the overall vote and Lahn with 44.49%, with more than 99% of precincts reporting as of presstime.

Tama County also favored the Democrat in the Iowa House District 53 race, which pitted longtime incumbent Republican Dean Fisher of Montour against Democratic challenger Berleen Wobeter of rural Toledo. Wobeter won her home county with 2,581 votes to Fisher’s 2,563 votes – an 18-vote margin. In the overall race, which includes all of Poweshiek County, Fisher won reelection with 51.68% of the vote, according to the Secretary of State’s website. Wobeter’s loss to Fisher was one of the narrowest margins in the statehouse this cycle for a Democratic challenger.

Statewide, Tama County went for the Republican, favoring Secretary of State Paul Pate, Treasurer Roby Smith, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig and Attorney General Brenna Bird in their respective races for reelection. Tama County also favored Republican Chris Cournoyer in the open race for Auditor of State.

First-time voter Neeley Hennings, left, casts her ballot with assistance from poll worker Deb Kupka early on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, in Clutier. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Pate, Smith and Naig all won their statewide races, while Bird fell to Democratic challenger Nate Willems and Cournoyer lost to Democrat Taylor Wettach.

In the statehouse, Tama County maintained its red wall, including the race to replace state Rep. Derek Wulf in Iowa House District 76. In the open race for his seat, which includes the northeast quarter of Tama County, Republican Matt Reisetter of Hudson defeated Democrat Calvin Horn of Elk Run Heights with 55.09% of the vote (8,187) to Horn’s 44.85% (6,665).

In Grundy County, Democratic challenger Leila Staton of Reinbeck failed to unseat Republican Rep. Joshua Meggers of Grundy Center in his race for reelection to Iowa House District 54. Meggers garnered 66.11% of the vote (8,984) and Staton 33.76% (4,587).

Republican Annette Sweeney, who was running unopposed on the ballot, sailed to reelection in Iowa Senate District 27 with more than 95% of the vote across the five counties she wholly or partially represents, including Tama and Grundy. Independent Ben Robertson of Reinbeck launched a write-in campaign in October for Sweeney’s seat. The write-in share of the race garnered 976 votes for just under 5%.

Further down the ballot in Tama County, two county supervisors were up for reelection and running unopposed. Republicans David Turner of Tama (District 2) and Heather Knebel of Traer (District 3) both won their races.

Poll workers assist voters at the Dysart Community Building just after 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, as part of the midterm general election which garnered high turnout across the county. Nearly 79% of registered voters in Dysart cast a ballot in this year’s election. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Also running unopposed, Republican Kathy Holtz won the county treasurer’s race with 4,722 votes. The current county treasurer, Amanda Kriegel, won a plurality of votes in the June GOP primary but did not garner enough votes to be the nominee in the four-way race. A special county convention was called by the GOP central committee over the summer during which Holtz received the nomination. Kriegel launched a write-in campaign this fall. Some 979 write-ins were cast in the race.

Tama County Recorder Amelia Kemper and Tama County Attorney Brent Heeren, both Republicans, were also running unopposed and won their reelection races.

In Grundy County, Republican Heidi Nederhoff, running unopposed, won reelection to the Board of Supervisors District 2 seat. Newcomer Barry Ehrig of rural Grundy Center, also a Republican and also running unopposed, won the District 4 race, which includes Reinbeck, to replace retiring Supervisor Mark A. Schildroth. Schildroth was first elected in November 2002 to replace retiring Supervisor Don Schildroth, his father, who had served from 1974 to 2002. The elder Schildroth passed away in 2010.

Republicans Lori K. Kruse, Travis Case and Erika L. Allen, all Republican incumbents running unopposed in Grundy County, won their respective races for treasurer, recorder and attorney.

On Wednesday morning, Gov. Reynolds issued the following statement regarding the midterm election results.

“Iowans exercised their right to vote yesterday, electing Rob Sand as Iowa’s next governor. I spoke with him this morning to offer my congratulations and express my personal commitment to a strong transition. Now that the election is over, it’s time to work together so Iowa remains the best state in the nation to live, work, and raise a family for generations to come. My team and I will do our part to ensure the incoming administration is ready for their first day in office. Iowans deserve nothing less.”

In a Truth Social post Tuesday evening, President Trump wrote, “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

Reinbeck fire station bond falls short

A $4 million public measure – Public Measure IP – to fund a new fire and EMS building using general obligation bonds was part of Tuesday’s ballot in Reinbeck. Despite a series of town halls and multiple community mailings, the measure failed to garner the required 60% supermajority.

Of the 778 votes cast, 397 were cast against the measure (51.03%) and 381 were in favor (48.97%), according to unofficial results.

In a social media post late Tuesday evening, Fire Chief Chris Heasley thanked supporters.

“We would like to thank everyone for their support throughout this process. Outcome wasn’t what we’re hoping for but we will keep our heads up and keep pushing forward to build a new facility in the future. Again thanks to the residents of this GREAT COMMUNITY for their continued support of the fire department!”

A pair of brothers 'stick' to the plan alongside their grandparents as they voted Tuesday, Nov. 3, in Clutier. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER