Republican Ashley Hinson is projected to unseat Rep. Abby Finkenauer in Iowa's 1st Congressional District

• Republican Ashley Hinson is projected to win against Rep. Abby Finkenauer in Iowa's 1st Congressional District.
• Iowa's 1st Congressional District, a key swing district in 2020, encompasses the northeastern region of the state.
• Rep. Abby Finkenauer is the second-youngest woman to be elected to the House of Representatives, less than a year older than New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
• See the live coverage and full results from all US House elections.
• In July 2020, Republican candidate Ashley Hinson was accused by the New York Times of plagiarism. Hinson later apologized and blamed staff for the mistake.
• Polls closed at 9 p.m. local time.

Republican Ashley Hinson is projected to defeat first-term Democratic Rep. Abby Finkenauer in Iowa's 1st Congressional District, Insider and Decision Desk HQ can report.

The candidates

Finkenauer, a Democrat, has represented the district since 2018 where she became the second-youngest woman to ever be elected to the House of Representatives. Alongside Rep. Cindy Axne, Finkenauer was also one of the first women from Iowa to join the House. Before her time in Congress, she was a member of Iowa's House of Representatives. In 2019, Finkenauer voted with Democrats to impeach President Donald Trump.

Finkenauer's Republican challenger, Hinson, is a current assemblywoman for the 67th District in Iowa's House of Representatives. Before joining the political scene, Hinson was a broadcast journalist for KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids where she won two Midwest regional Emmy Awards for her reporting. In July 2020, the New York Times reported that Hinson plagiarized over a dozen times on her campaign website and in published op-eds.

Hinson responded to the plagiarism accusations on Twitter where she blamed her staff and said, "I was unaware of the plagiarism when I reviewed drafts presented to me by staff. As a journalist I take this extremely seriously and am deeply sorry for the mistake. The staff responsible will be held accountable."See live coverage and full results for the US presidential election

See live coverage and full results for the US presidential election

The district

Iowa's 1st Congressional District is in the northeastern region of the state and includes Waterloo, Dubuque, and Cedar Rapids. It also contains Mitchell, Winneshiek, Allamakee, Worth, Howard, Fayette, Clayton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Dubuque, Delaware, Jackson, Linn, Jones, Benton, Iowa, Marshall, Tama, and Poweshiek counties.

The district flipped from voting for President Barack Obama by a margin of almost 14 percentage points in 2012 to vote for President Donald Trump by 3.5 percentage points in 2016, according to the Daily Kos.

The money race

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Finkenauer has raised $5.3 million, spent $5.1 million, and has around $250,000 in cash on hand. Hinson has raised $4.6 million, spent $4.2 million, and has around $339,330 in cash on hand.

What the experts said

The race between Finkenauer and Hinson was rated as "toss-up" by Cook Political Report, "tilts Democratic" by Inside Elections," and leans Democratic" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.