Franklin County Completes 2026 Election with 63% Turnout
Hampton — Franklin County voters recorded a 63.30% voter turnout in Tuesday’s general election, with 3,921 total ballots cast out of 6,194 registered voters across all 12 reported precincts. While county poll workers have finalized unofficial precinct tallies, statewide and district-wide contests remain subject to complete reporting and official canvassing across neighboring jurisdictions.
Federal Contests
In local returns for federal offices, Republican candidates gathered a majority of ballots cast within Franklin County:
• U.S. House District 4: Republican Chris McGowan received 2,458 votes (65.90%) to Democrat Dave Dawson’s 1,270 votes (34.05%) in Franklin County, alongside 2 write-in ballots.
• U.S. Senate: Republican Ashley Hinson gathered 2,317 votes (60.75%) locally. Democrat Josh Turek received 1,333 votes (34.95%), Libertarian Thomas Laehn received 161 votes (4.22%), and 3 write-in votes were recorded.
State Executive & Legislative Races
Precinct tallies across Franklin County showed strong local support for Republican slates across state executive and legislative ballots:
• Governor & Lieutenant Governor: The Republican ticket of Zach Lahn and Derek Wulf finished local counting with 2,284 votes (59.00%), while Democrats Rob Sand and Dave Muhlbauer received 1,582 votes (40.87%), alongside 5 write-in votes.
• State House District 55: Republican candidate Beau Klaver received 2,549 votes (68.17%) in Franklin County precincts, compared to Democrat Cynthia Oppedal Paschen's 1,189 votes (31.76%) and 3 write-ins.
• State Executive Offices: Local precinct totals favored Republican candidates across statewide executive contests, including Secretary of State Paul D. Pate (2,656 votes / 69.69%), Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig (2,697 votes / 70.69%), Attorney General Brenna Bird (2,508 votes / 65.71%), Treasurer Roby Smith (2,498 votes / 66.52%), and Auditor candidate Chris Cournoyer (2,480 votes / 65.87%).
Constitutional Amendment 1
Franklin County voters favored Constitutional Amendment 1, which proposes requiring a two-thirds supermajority vote in both houses of the Iowa Legislature for any future state income tax rate increases. Local voting favored the proposal 2,302 (66.17%) to 1,177 (33.83%).
County Government Contests
In local county offices running without multi-party opposition, precinct totals finished as follows:
• County Treasurer: Republican Chad W. Murray recorded 3,328 votes (98.55%) and 49 write-in ballots.
• County Attorney: Republican Andrea Miller recorded 3,221 votes (98.32%) and 55 write-in ballots.
• Board of Supervisors (District 1): Republican Larry Sailer tallied 1,135 votes (96.68%) across 5 reported precincts, alongside 39 write-in ballots.
• Board of Supervisors (District 2): Republican Richard Lukensmeyer tallied 771 votes (96.38%) across 3 reported precincts, alongside 29 write-in ballots.
• County Recorder: In the county’s only contested race, Republican Heather Bushbaum received 2,558 votes (70.35%) to no-party candidate Nancy Knipfel's 1,066 votes (29.32%), with 12 write-in ballots cast.
All totals represent complete precinct reporting within Franklin County only; official certification will occur following county and state canvassing schedules.