Former assistant U.S. Attorney Judd Lawler and incumbent Elinor Levin secured victories in the two contested local legislative primary races on Tuesday, June 4.

Several Johnson County candidates also ran uncontested in their party’s primary, though voters had the option to write-in candidates.

More: What local legislative candidates had to say about their priorities and why they’re running

House District 91: Only area race without an incumbent

House District 91 will have a new face come November.

Current Republican seatholder Brad Sherman did not file to run for a second term after securing victory in 2022, opening the door for a showdown on the Republican ticket between newcomers Adam Grier and Judd Lawler.

Lawler, an ex-assistant U.S. Attorney, has lived in Hardin Township for 17 years, according to his campaign website. He is a seventh-generation Iowan and is seeking office for the first time. Lawler secured 79% of the 1,819 votes cast in Iowa and Johnson County.

Grier earned just 21% of votes on Tuesday. Grier has been part of Williamsburg’s city government since 2008 when he was elected to the city council. He has been mayor since 2021.

Jay Gorsh was unchallenged in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for District 91.

Gorsh is the director of the University of Iowa’s School of the Wild, an initiative that connects elementary and middle school students with nature. He garnered 538 votes on Tuesday and will take on Lawler in November.

More: ICCSD seeks to fill school board seat left vacant by VP J.P. Claussen’s resignation

House District 89: Levin bounces Bopp in lone contested Democratic primary

A first-time incumbent, Levin easily triumphed over the challenger Bopp in the District 89 Democratic primary, securing 91% of the 1,391 votes cast. Bopp garnered 8.4% votes. Levin won’t have a major party opponent in November’s general election.

Levin, a writing tutor in Iowa City with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell College, was first elected to the legislature in 2022. If elected in November, Levin said she wants to focus on retaining younger Iowans and expanding housing opportunities, funding for public education and affordable and available health care.

Bopp emailed the Press-Citizen this week to say that he was relocating for work and would no longer live in District 89. The 25-year-old previously ran for the House in District 92 in 2022.

If Bopp had won the primary and moved out of the district, he would have been required to submit his resignation to the Secretary of State’s office by Aug. 16, a spokesperson for the auditor’s office told the Press-Citizen. The Democratic Party would need to nominate a replacement before Aug. 28.

More: Meet the candidates running for the Johnson County Board of Supervisors

House candidates largely face few challenges

A few Iowa City-area House seats are set to remain as they are.

North Liberty Rep. Amy Nielsen, Coralville Rep. Dave Jacoby and Iowa City Rep. Adam Zabner carried near-unanimity in their unchallenged races on Tuesday night.

House District 85

Nielsen, the former mayor of North Liberty, is seeking a fifth term in House District that would bring her to a decade of service in the legislature. After earning about 64% of the vote against Republican and Libertarian challengers in 2022, Nielsen will enter this election without a challenger.

She secured 1,021 votes on Tuesday.

House District 86

Jacoby, who secured 1,093 votes on Tuesday, is seeking a sixth term in House District 86. He will not have a challenger in the November general election.

House District 90

Two years after prevailing in a three-person race for House District 90, Adam Zabner cruised to a primary election victory that will set the 25-year-old University of Iowa graduate student up for a second term in the House.

“I’m proud of my record and I’m proud that our great party has chosen to support me for reelection,” Zabner said in a statement. “For the next five months, I’ll be working to support my fellow Democratic candidates for the Iowa House. Iowans are tired of politics and they deserve a legislature that puts people first.”

Zabner secured 1,886 votes in total.

House District 92

In House District 92, incumbent Heather Hora and challenger Anna Banowsky formalized their spots on the November ballot with victories on Tuesday.

Hora, who was elected to her seat in 2022, secured 796 votes between voters in Johnson and Washington Counties on Tuesday as the Republican candidate.

Anna Banowsky, a University of Iowa graduate student, secured 519 votes as the Democratic candidate in the district.

Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Here’s what happened in the Johnson Co. legislative primary election