Iowa Republican loses to Democrat who suspended campaign two months ago

• Eric Armstrong won 55.2% of the vote, defeating Republican Keith Jones in Iowa's 20th House District.
• Armstrong suspended active campaigning in September, citing unspecified health issues.
• Despite his absence from the campaign trail for nearly two months, he remained on the ballot and won the Republican-leaning district.

Democrat Eric Armstrong won 55.2 percent of the vote in a Republican-leaning Iowa district despite stepping away from his campaign in September over health issues, adding to Republican losses in the state.

Republican Keith Jones lost his bid for Iowa's 20th House District to Democrat Eric Armstrong, who secured a decisive victory despite suspending his campaign nearly two months before Election Day.

Armstrong, a former railroad executive, received 55.2 percent of the vote in the southwestern Iowa district, defeating Jones, a retired police lieutenant. The district covers parts of Council Bluffs and Carter Lake in Pottawattamie County.

In early September, Armstrong announced that he was withdrawing from active campaigning because of unspecified health issues, saying he needed to prioritize his recovery.

“Our District deserves a representative who can give 100 percent of their energy to this race,” he wrote in a social media post. “Right now, I must focus on healing so that I can continue to serve our community in other ways in the future.”

Despite suspending his campaign, Armstrong remained on the ballot and went on to win the seat. Speaking to The New York Times in a phone interview on Wednesday, he said he intended to do his best to represent the district, while acknowledging that he continued to experience health problems.

The result adds to a series of Democratic gains in Iowa, where Democrat Josh Turek defeated Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson in the race for the state's open Senate seat.

Turek, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball, won the contest to replace outgoing Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, becoming the first Democrat elected to an Iowa Senate seat since 2008.

The Senate result came despite President Donald Trump making two campaign visits to Iowa in support of Hinson ahead of Election Day.

Armstrong's victory was particularly notable given the district's Republican lean and his prolonged absence from the campaign trail, with Democrats securing the seat despite their candidate having stepped back from active campaigning weeks before voters went to the polls.

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