Tom Harkin wins Iowa Senate seat, defeating Republican incumbent Roger Jepsen

Democrat Tom Harkin defeated Republican incumbent Roger Jepsen in Iowa's 1984 U.S. Senate election, winning 55.5% of the vote. Harkin, then a five-term U.S. House member, ran on a populist economic platform emphasizing farm policy and opposition to Reagan-era budget cuts. The win began a 30-year Senate tenure that would make Harkin Iowa's longest-serving senator and the last Democrat to hold either Iowa Senate seat.