Jim Carlin

Republican Party

Candidate, U.S. Senate Iowa

Prior offices

Iowa House of Representatives District 6

---

Iowa State Senate District 3

---

Elections and appointments

Next election

November 3, 2026

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Personal website

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Jim Carlin (Republican Party) is running for election to theU.S. Senate to represent Iowa. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.^[source]

Carlin (Republican Party) was a member of theIowa State Senate, representingDistrict 3. He assumed office on December 21, 2017. He left office on January 2, 2023.

Carlin served in theIowa House of Representatives, representingDistrict 6 from January 2017 to December 2017.

Committee assignments

2021-2022

Carlin was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Education Committee
• Senate Ethics Committee,Vice chair
• Senate Human Resources Committee (decommissioned)
• Senate Veterans Affairs Committee,Chair
• Senate Ways and Means Committee

2019-2020

Carlin was assigned to the following committees:

• Labor and Business Relations Committee (decommissioned)
• Senate Human Resources Committee (decommissioned)
• Senate Veterans Affairs Committee,Chair
• Senate Ways and Means Committee

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2026

See also: United States Senate election in Iowa, 2026

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. Senate Iowa

The following candidates are running in the general election for U.S. Senate Iowa on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Chris Henry (D)
		Nathan Sage (D)
		Josh Turek (D)
		Zach Wahls (D)
		John Berman (R)
		Jim Carlin (R)
		Ashley Hinson (R)
		Joshua Smith (R)

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined.
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Joni Ernst (R)
• J.D. Scholten (D)
• Jackie Norris (D)

Endorsements

2022

See also: United States Senate election in Iowa, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Iowa

IncumbentChuck Grassley defeatedMichael Franken in the general election for U.S. Senate Iowa on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chuck Grassley (R)	56.0	681,501
		Michael Franken (D)	43.8	533,330
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,815

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,216,646
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

Michael Franken defeatedAbby Finkenauer andGlenn Hurst in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Iowa on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Michael Franken	55.2	86,527
		Abby Finkenauer	39.9	62,581
		Glenn Hurst	4.8	7,571
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	158

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 156,837
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Bob Krause (D)
• Dave Muhlbauer (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

IncumbentChuck Grassley defeatedJim Carlin in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chuck Grassley	73.3	143,634
		Jim Carlin	26.5	51,891
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	312

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 195,837
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Andrew Foster (R)

2018

See also:Iowa State Senate elections, 2018

General election

General election for Iowa State Senate District 3

IncumbentJim Carlin defeatedDave Dawson in the general election for Iowa State Senate District 3 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Carlin (R)	64.7	16,366
		Dave Dawson (D)	35.1	8,884
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	34

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 25,284
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 3

Dave Dawson advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 3 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dave Dawson	100.0	1,794

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 1,794
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa State Senate District 3

IncumbentJim Carlin advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa State Senate District 3 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Carlin	100.0	2,890

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 2,890
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2017

Iowa Senate District 3

See also:Iowa state legislative special elections, 2017

Aspecial election for the position ofIowa State SenateDistrict 3 was held on December 12, 2017. The seat became vacant following the resignation of incumbentBill Anderson (R) on November 1, 2017.^[1] The candidate filing deadline was November 17, 2017.^[2]

Jim Carlin (R) defeatedTodd Wendt (D) in the general election. Official results had Carlin winning with 54.5 percent of the vote.^[3]

Both parties held nominating conventions to choose candidates for the race. Republicans chose state Rep.Jim Carlin fromHouse District 6, and Democrats choseTodd Wendt, a former superintendent of Le Mars schools.^[4] At the Republican nominating convention on November 13, Carlin defeated Akron City Councilman Alex Pick for the nomination by a 58-42 percent margin.^[5] Wendt was the only candidate who sought the Democratic nomination at a convention held on November 11.^[6]

Iowa State Senate District 3, Special Election, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Jim Carlin	54.5%	3,707
	Democratic	Todd Wendt	45.3%	3,083
	Other	Scattering	0.2%	11
	Other	Overvote	0%	2
	Other	Undervote	0%	2
Total Votes				6,805
Source:Iowa Secretary of State

2016

See also:Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2016

Elections for theIowa House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 7, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 18, 2016.IncumbentRon Jorgensen (R) did not seek re-election.

Jim Carlin defeatedPerla Alarcon-Flory in the Iowa House of Representatives District 6 general election.^[7][8]

Iowa House of Representatives, District 6 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Jim Carlin	65.50%	9,655
	Democratic	Perla Alarcon-Flory	34.50%	5,086
Total Votes				14,741
Source:Iowa Secretary of State

Perla Alarcon-Flory ran unopposed in the Iowa House of Representatives District 6 Democratic primary.^[9][10]

Iowa House of Representatives, District 6 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Perla Alarcon-Flory (unopposed)

Jim Carlin defeatedJacob Bossman in the Iowa House of Representatives District 6 Republican primary.^[9][10]

Iowa House of Representatives, District 6 Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Jim Carlin	51.26%	1,159
	Republican	Jacob Bossman	48.74%	1,102
Total Votes				2,261

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Jim Carlin has not yet completedBallotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.Send a message to Jim Carlin asking him to fill out the survey. If you are Jim Carlin,click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?

Any candidate running for elected office, at any level, can complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Survey. Completing the survey will update the candidate's Ballotpedia profile, letting voters know who they are and what they stand for.  More than 23,000 candidates have taken Ballotpedia's candidate survey since we launched it in 2015. Learn more about the surveyhere.

You can ask Jim Carlin to fill out this survey by using the button below or emailing info@carlinforussenate.com.

2022

Jim Carlin did not completeBallotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Carlin's website highlighted the following campaign themes:^[11]

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in Iowa

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Iowa scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.

2022

In 2022, theIowa State Legislature was in session from January 10 to May 24.

• Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.

• National Federation of Independent Business

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

See also

2026 Elections

What's on the ballot?U.S. CongressU.S. Congress special electionsState executivesState legislaturesState courtsBallot measuresMunicipal governmentSchool boardsElection analysis hub

Government

Who represents me?U.S. CongressState executivesState legislatorsState courtsBallot measuresMunicipal governmentSchool boards

Newsletters

The Daily BrewThe Weekly BrewThe Ballot BulletinChecks and BalancesEconomy and SocietyHall PassNumber of the DayRobe & GavelUnion Station

External links

Footnotes

	v • e State ofIowa Des Moines (capital)
Elections	What's on my ballot? |Elections in 2025 |How to vote |How to run for office |Ballot measures
Government	Who represents me? |U.S. President |U.S. Congress |Federal courts |State executives |State legislature |State and local courts |Counties |Cities |School districts |Public policy