Jake Highfill Will Face Kelsey Clark on House District 39 November Ballot

Only one could move on to the final ballot in November.

While there was a Republican primary election, there was a winner.

, 22, will face Democratic challenger Kelsey Clark, of Grimes, on the ballot Nov. 6.

Highfill narrowly defeated two-term incumbent in Tuesday's republican primary.

According to the unofficial results, Highfill received 51.79 percent, or 622 votes to Helland's 47.63 percent or 572 votes. There were seven write-in votes.

Highfill, a recent University of Iowa graduate, spent the majority of his campaign knocking on doors, a tactic that seemed to work.

"I don't have the money," he said. "I don't know how much he (Helland) spent, but I did door knocking the entire time."

Highfill credited the face-to-face contact to for his victory and thanked his supporters.

"I'm happy; we won," he said. "It's awesome. I appreciate all the support people gave me."

His next order of business is catching up on some needed sleep.

"I'm going to sleep for three days, then back to the campaign trail," he said.

Helland commended Highfill on Tuesday's showing.

"Congratulations to Jake on a great night. He obviously worked very hard," Helland, who is the Iowa House Majority Whip, said Tuesday night. "We'll see how things sit in the morning. He should be commended for working so hard."

Helland said provisional ballots will come in and then residents will see how the margin looks.

"Right now, Jake should be commended for working hard and knocking on so many doors," Helland said.

"I want to thank everyone that has given me their support. I think I've voted the way Johnston would have wanted me to vote."

Helland said he looked forward to continuing to serve the area as Iowa House Representative for the next six months.

Election Included Controversy

The race for the Republican spot on the House District 39 ballot included accusations of bribery.

In March, Highfill filed a with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign disclosure Board and chief clerk of the Iowa House that Helland had tried to bribe Highfill.

Highfill not to run for the District 39 seat.

The complaint charged that Helland offered Highfill two jobs if he agreed to not to run for the seat.

On March 19, the Iowa House Ethics Committee ultimately dismissed the complaint against Helland in a 4 to 2 vote.

The committee, comprised of three Democrats and three Republicans found that Highfill did not fall under the list in state law of officials who can be illegally bribed.

House District 69 was redrawn this year in accoradnce with changes from the 2010 census to create House District 39.

The new district includes Johnston, Grimes and a portion of rural Polk County west of Saylorville Lake.

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