United States Senate election in Iowa, 2008

United States Senate election in Iowa, 2008

2002 ← November 4, 2008 → 2014

Nominee Tom Harkin Christopher Reed Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 941,665 560,006 Percentage 62.7% 37.3%

County results

U.S. Senator before election Tom Harkin Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Tom Harkin Democratic

The 2008 United States Senate election in Iowa was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tom Harkin won re-election to a fifth term.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Tom Harkin - Incumbent U.S. Senator

Results

2008 Iowa U.S. Senator Democratic primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Tom Harkin	90,785
Turnout			105,849

Republican primary

Candidates

• Christopher Reed - small businessman and Navy veteran
• George Eichhorn - former State Representative
• Steve Rathje - businessman

Results

2008 Iowa U.S. Senator Republican primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Christopher Reed	24,964
	Republican	George Eichhorn	24,390
	Republican	Steve Rathje	21,062
Turnout			85,832

General election

Candidates

• Tom Harkin (D) - Incumbent U.S. Senator
• Christopher Reed (R) - Navy Veteran

Polling

Poll Source	Dates administered	Tom Harkin (D)	Christopher Reed (R)
Survey USA	October 29, 2008	61%	35%
Rasmussen Reports	October 23, 2008	57%	41%
Survey USA	September 17-18, 2008	60%	37%
Rasmussen Reports	August 7, 2008	60%	36%
Rasmussen Reports	July 10, 2008	55%	37%
Rasmussen Reports	June 10, 2008	53%	37%
Research 2000	April 21-23, 2008	59%	20%

Results

General election results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Tom Harkin	941,665	62.7	+8.5
	Republican	Christopher Reed	560,006	37.3	-6.5
		write-ins	1,247	0.0	n/a
Majority			381,659
Turnout			1,546,453
	Democratic hold		Swing

External links

• Voter/Elections from the Iowa Secretary of State. Source for official results and turnout summaries.
• U.S. Congress candidates for Iowa at Project Vote Smart
• Iowa, U.S. Senate from CQ Politics
• Iowa U.S. Senate from OurCampaigns.com
• Iowa U.S. Senate race from 2008 Race Tracker
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org
• Reed (R) vs Harkin (D-i) graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com
• Official campaign websites
  • Tom Harkin, Democratic incumbent nominee
  • Steve Rathje, Republican candidate
  • Christopher Reed, Republican nominee
  • George Eichhorn, Republican candidate