A multi-million dollar affair is brewing in Iowa as three of four U.S. House seats are considered competitive races.

Congressional campaigning began in May last year and got aggressive on the heels of the presidential caucuses Monday night. Candidates reached out to voters gathered in one place, encouraging them to sign petitions and spread the word about the race. 

Three of the four seats in Iowa are swing districts and could help determine whether Democrats will maintain control of the House after the midterm election win in 2018 where they flipped two seats in the Hawkeye State.

Races for seats held by Democratic Reps. Abby Finkenauer, Cindy Axne and Dave Loebsack are considered toss-ups, according to The Cook Political Report.  

The 1st District in northeastern Iowa, including Cedar Rapids, likely will pit incumbent Finkenauer, who has raised over $1.8 million for her campaign, against Republican front-runner state Rep. Ashley Hinson, who raised almost $1.1 million. Finkenauer endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden in his presidential race and raised almost $500,000 from PACs, with 77 percent of her donations coming from outside the state. 

Meanwhile, Hinson received over $116,000 from PACs and roughly $865,000 from large individual contributions. This race in Iowa is also seeing large sums of outside money, with super PAC Americas PAC spending more than $226,000 campaigning against Finkenauer.

The same conservative super PAC spent more than $153,000 in advertising against Axne, who is running a tight race with Republican candidate David Young in District 3. The district includes Des Moines and southwestern Iowa. Axne unseated Young in 2018 and has raised almost $2.1 million this election cycle. Axne also endorsed Biden. Young has raised over $1 million. 

District 2’s open seat features former Democratic state lawmaker Rita Hart running to succeed Loebsack –– who will be retiring at the end of his term. She could face Republican candidate Marianette Miller-Meeks, who unsuccessfully challenged Loebsack three times and has raised almost $260,000 in 2019. Hart has raised more, bringing in about $844,000. That district includes Iowa City and southeast Iowa.

Meanwhile, keeping his seat in the deeply red Fourth District in northwest Iowa could be a challenge for controversial GOP Rep. Steve A. King,  who faces a primary challenge from three fellow Republicans. The congressman’s comments about white supremacy, rape and incest led to him being stripped of his committee assignments. 

State Sen. Randy Feenstra is considered King’s top challenger. While King has raised over $252,000, Feenstra has received more than double that amount at roughly $721,000. 

Running from the Democratic party will be J.D. Scholten who lost to King by less than 3 percent of the vote in 2018. Scholten, who endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) for the presidential contest, has raised over $726,000.

Iowa’s primary elections for the Congressional race are scheduled for June 2, with general election on Nov. 3.

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