Skip to content
Elections Simplified

Shall Joseph W. Seidlin be retained in office as a District 5C District Judge?

Unofficial result: Won — Joseph W. Seidlin (Nonpartisan)

Source: electionresults.iowa.gov

Polk County, Iowa
Retention race

What does this office do?

  • Deciding trials in the county
  • Ruling on evidence and setting sentences in criminal cases
  • Deciding family, probate, and civil disputes

Affects: Public Safety and Crime Control, Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties, Housing Affordability,

Joseph W. Seidlin

Nonpartisan · Incumbent · Official site

Joseph W. Seidlin has been a district court judge in Polk County since 2018. Before that, he was a district associate judge from 2013, a Polk County magistrate for eight years, and a private lawyer for 28 years.

Track record

Track record — General

General · 7 records

  • The Iowa Supreme Court reversed his order blocking the 2023 abortion law, which let the law take effect.

    June 28, 2024

    Source: iowacourts.gov

  • Temporarily blocked Iowa's new 2023 law banning most abortions after about six weeks, while the court challenge went forward.

    July 17, 2023

    Source: nbcnews.com

  • Voters in Polk County kept him as a district judge in the 2020 retention vote, with 69.2% voting yes (106,644 yes to 47,475 no).

    November 3, 2020

    Source: sos.iowa.gov

  • The Iowa Court of Appeals reversed his Duff v. Reynolds ruling in part, holding Duff had no legal standing to sue as a past applicant.

    February 19, 2020

    Source: iowacourts.gov

  • Ruled that lawyer Thomas Duff could sue over the 2019 law changing how Iowa's judicial nominating commission is chosen, as a past applicant. He dismissed Duff's other claims and denied an injunction.

    October 22, 2019

    Source: bleedingheartland.com

  • Governor Kim Reynolds appointed him a district court judge for Polk County (District 5C).

    November 28, 2018

    Source: businessrecord.com

  • Voters in Polk County kept him as a district associate judge in the 2014 retention vote, with 72.5% voting yes (75,544 yes to 28,630 no).

    November 4, 2014

    Source: sos.iowa.gov

Track record — Legal Competence

Legal Competence · 2 favorable

  • In the Iowa State Bar Association's 2020 lawyer survey, 95% of the 179 lawyers who rated him said he should be kept as a judge.

    September 28, 2020Favorable on Legal Competence

    Source: nebula.wsimg.com

  • In the Iowa State Bar Association's 2014 lawyer survey, 97% of the 130 lawyers who rated him as a district associate judge said he should be kept as a judge.

    October 1, 2014Favorable on Legal Competence

    Source: s3.amazonaws.com

Sources: polkcountyiowa.gov2