Evans wins District 3 primary, eyes November matchup with Frantz

Lynn Evans’ decisive primary win did more than settle a GOP contest in Senate District 3. It showed that, across Buena Vista County and the rest of northwest Iowa, Republicans still expect Evans to set the pace on the agenda coming out of Des Moines, and they backed him by a wide 4,279 to 1,689 margin over Cherokee County Supervisor Shane Bellefy.

The victory gave Evans 71.5% of the Republican vote Tuesday night, while Bellefy finished at 28.3%. Evans said nearly 6,000 voters took part in what was described as an off-cycle summer primary, a turnout level he said surprised him and left him humbled. For a district that stretches across all of Buena Vista, Osceola and O’Brien counties, along with parts of Cherokee and Clay counties, the result pointed to a strong appetite among local Republicans to keep the seat in Evans’ hands.

Bellefy tried to make the race about bread-and-butter issues that hit rural county budgets and family finances. He entered the contest Jan. 9 and campaigned on property-tax relief, local control, school stability, agriculture, public safety and rural health. Evans, who first won the seat in 2022 by defeating Anthony LaBruna, argued that primary races sharpen candidates and keep them connected to voters. The size of his win now gives him more room than pressure as he heads toward November, where he is likely to keep defending Republican priorities on taxes, schools and local government funding without looking over his shoulder at a serious intraparty challenge.

The general election will bring a different test. Evans will face Democrat Mike Frantz of Storm Lake, a former Buena Vista University administrator and retired college admissions, financial aid and marketing consultant. Frantz said no Democrat had been on the District 3 ballot since 2022, and that the last contested race in the district came in 2018 before Iowa’s post-redistricting maps took effect with the 2022 elections. He said party leaders, including Ashley WolfTornabane and Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner, encouraged him to run.

Frantz has framed his campaign around strengthening education, expanding personal freedoms and relying on science for policy on water quality and public health. Ballotpedia lists his degrees from Simpson College and the University of Iowa, and the general election is set for Nov. 3. In a district where Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than three to one, Evans’ primary margin suggests he enters the fall as the clear favorite, but with Buena Vista County and the rest of District 3 still watching how he uses that mandate.