Dan Gehlbach, Waukee School Board member, wins Republican nomination for House District 46
Republicans have their nominee for an upcoming Iowa House race after an inconclusive primary election.
At a special convention in West Des Moines on Monday, party delegates chose Dan Gehlbach, a Waukee School Board member who also runs a Mathnasium Learning Center, to run in the November election for Iowa House District 46. The district covers Grimes, western Urbandale and other parts of Dallas County.
The Republican Party held the special convention under Iowa law after none of the five candidates who ran received more than 35% of the vote in the June 7 primary election.
16 delegates from precincts in the district, who were selected at the party's caucuses earlier this year, convened to pick the nominee. Their votes were weighted based on how many Republicans there are in each precinct.
Gehlbach was chosen with roughly 55% of the vote. He won the nomination over Dave Dicks, who had 17%; Jeremy Freeman, who had 12%; Esperance Hope Ikora, who had 11%; and Dan Kelley, who had 6%.
Gehlbach will face Democrat Bridget Carberry Montgomery, an Urbandale City Council member and a small business owner, in the November election. He pointed to his experience in education and elected office and his long ties to the district, and told the delegates ahead of the vote that he's the one candidate Carberry Montgomery doesn't want to take on.
He told the delegates he has moved his daughters to a Christian school, saying he is bringing his teenage daughter back from "the brainwashing that the culture and the schools were putting in her head" and that said that her identity was in the letters LGBTQ and not in Christ. Gehlbach said that he has heard from other parents who no longer trust public schools.
The results of the special convention were quite different from the primary election. In that vote, Freeman, a Grimes business owner, had the largest percentage of votes with 33%, according to an Associated Press tally of unofficial results.
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Kelley, a former state lawmaker, came in second with 26%, followed by Gehlbach with 25%. Hope Ikora had 9% and Dicks had 8%.
Chris Higgins covers the eastern suburbs for the Register. Reach him at chiggins@registermedia.com or 515-423-5146 and follow him on Twitter @chris_higgins_.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Dan Gehlbach wins Republican nomination for Iowa House District 46
