(Radio Iowa) – Republicans scored clear wins in Iowa’s first, second and fourth congressional districts, but the Associated Press and other media organizations have not yet called the race in Iowa’s third district. Unofficial results show Republican Zach Nunn leading Democratic Congresswoman Cindy Axne by just over two-thousand votes and Nunn declared victory shortly before midnight. “I have been privileged to fight for you on the battlefield…I now am humbled to serve as your congressman in Washington, D-C,” Nunn said.

The race was touted as one of the keys to Republicans taking back control of the U-S House. “This district, this race, changes the course of America,” Nunn said to cheers. “So I want to say thank you.” By 2 a.m., all 21 counties in the third district had reported results and Nunn’s lead was just over half a percent.

Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion defeated Democrat Liz Mathis by 18 points in the second district race. In a speech to supporters, Hinson celebrated her win and other G-O-P victories. “I think it goes without saying, but wasn’t this a decisive victory for Iowa tonight?” Hinson said, to cheers. “It was very clear that tonight Iowans embraced the Iowa way and we rejected the D.C. way.” The outcomes of several House races around the country are yet to be decided, but Republicans appear poised to have a narrow majority in 2023. “When I’m seeing, it is the most critical time to stand up and speak up and fight for our values,” Hinson said.

Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks of LeClaire has won a second term in the U.S. House. At 2 a.m., Miller-Meeks held a 20-thousand vote lead — far larger than her narrow six-vote win in 2020.  “People wanted to send a message to Washington, D.C., that they wanted to get the country back on track,” Miller-Meeks says, “and they wanted someone who was paying attention to their pain and suffering.” Miller-Meeks says the Republican-led congress needs to hold the Biden Administration accountable for the mistakes made during the withdrawal from Afghanistan and congress should investigate how the Centers for Disease Control responded to COVID-19 under the Trump and Biden Administrations.

“There certainly may be other things that other members of congress want to investigate,” Miller-Meeks says. “I think we need to be very tempered in our approach and, most importantly, we need to pass legislation to show that we can govern and that we’re attentive to the needs of people.”

Secretary of State Paul Pate says due to technical issues, two counties in the first congressional district have not yet released the results from 30-thousand ballots that were cast in Warren and Des Moines Counties. Christina Bohannan, the Democrat who challenged Miller-Meeks, told supporters in Iowa City there were still votes to count and she was not conceding the race, but would accept the final results.

In Iowa’s fourth district, Republican incumbent Randy Feenstra of Hull won with 67 percent of the vote. Feenstra held an election night event at the library in Hull. “The voters look at whatever has done the past two years and they understand that they need somebody with a loud voice,” Feenstra said, “when I think of our agriculture community, our small businesses and our families — they need somebody that can have a seat at the table and get things done for them — not for the nation, but for Iowans.” Feenstra’s Democratic opponent Ryan Melton of Nevada says he woke up feeling invigorated — and getting 30 percent of the vote was a solid result considering all the variables involved in a district with 95-thousand more Democrats than Republicans.