Sieck defeats Adams in special election to Iowa House

 The third time wasn’t the charm.

In his third time running for political office, Steven Adams of Red Oak lost the race for a vacant House District 23 seat against David Sieck of Glenwood Feb. 10. 

Sieck, a Republican, secured the seat with over 72 percent of the vote. The special election had a total of 1,491 voters from Fremont, Mills and a portion of Montgomery counties. 

Sieck said that he was surprised that he out-polled his opponent in Adams’ own county. 

“Having an opponent made me work harder,” Sieck said. “I called a lot of people in Montgomery County to make sure people knew I was on the map.”

The special election was held to replace Mark Costello, who was elected to the Iowa Senate on Dec. 30, 2014, replacing Joni Ernst. 

The three counties reported 1,082 ballots cast for Sieck, 404 ballots for Adams and 5 write-in votes. 

The new representative will serve on four committees and one sub-committee. As of now, Sieck is slated to serve on the education, environmental protection, human resources and public safety committees. He will also serve as the vice-chair for the administration and regulatory committee that deals with budgets. 

He said that he may not get the committees that he’s strongest in, but he looks forward to learning and doing what is best for his district. 

Sieck will be sworn in Feb. 17 at the capitol in Des Moines. 

“I’m really excited,” Sieck said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’m ready to get up there and start working. I have a lot of catching up to do, but this is what I signed up for, so here we go.”

Adams previously lost to Costello in the race for Iowa Senate and Dolecheck for Iowa House in 2008. 

In this election, Adams received 47 percent of the vote in Mongtomery County, compared to 53 for Sieck.