Renee Hardman

Democrat Renee Hardman beat her Republican opponent by more than 40 percentage points.

Hardman's win also means Republicans are one seat short of a supermajority and will need Democratic support to approve the governor's appointees.

Hardman will represent part of West Des Moines where she serves on the city council.

She also leads a nonprofit, Lutheran Services in Iowa.

Hardman says running a successful campaign in the winter was a group effort.

The seat was formerly held by Democrat Claire Salsey, who died in October.

For NPR News, I'm Isabella Liu in Des Moines.

We just decided as a collective that we're going to get this job done and we are going to prevent the supermajority.

And that is what helped drive our motivation to get this job done.