Des Moines, Iowa: Heather Sievers Flips Iowa House District 40, Beats Bill Gustoff

Democrat Heather Sievers won Iowa House District 40 on Tuesday night with 54 percent of the vote, defeating Republican incumbent Bill Gustoff in a rematch of the 2024 race that Gustoff won by one percentage point. Decision Desk HQ showed Sievers leading by 8.78 points with more than 95 percent of the vote counted, matching the Des Moines Register's call.

The district includes Altoona and parts of Des Moines, in eastern Polk County. Sievers, a registered nurse from Altoona, ran on funding public education, affordability and rebuilding the economy. Gustoff, a Des Moines attorney, was seeking a third term after first winning the seat in 2022.

A rematch that flipped

The two candidates met for the second straight cycle. On Nov. 5, 2024, Gustoff held the seat with 50.9 percent to 49.0 percent for Sievers, a margin of one point. Both ran unopposed in the June 2, 2026 primaries and spent the fall in one of the Des Moines metro's most watched state House races. This time Sievers finished the job, turning a Republican held seat in a district that voted Republican for president in 2024.

Sievers works as a nurse and care navigation advocate for patients with complex medical and social needs, according to the Register's campaign finance reporting. Her campaign focused on public schools, the cost of living and the local economy, and she carried the Altoona end of the district where she lives.

Part of a metro shift

District 40 was one of 18 Iowa House seats on the ballot across the Des Moines metro on Tuesday, Nov. 3, with ten more central Iowa seats uncontested. Heading into the night, Republicans held a 66 seat majority in the 100 seat Iowa House, and the Republican winning streak in the chamber dates back to 2011. Sievers was not the only metro Democrat to flip a Republican incumbent on Tuesday: in District 41, Democrat Molly Buck won with 54 percent and unseated Republican Ryan Weldon in a seat representing part of Ankeny, according to the Register.

For District 40 voters, the change is practical. Altoona and northeast Des Moines will be represented in the Iowa House when the new legislature convenes in January by the nurse who spent two cycles asking for the job, instead of the attorney who held it for two terms. Results are unofficial until Polk County and the state canvass them.