Live Results: Sen. Chuck Grassley defeats Democrat Mike Franken to win an 8th term representing Iowa

• Sen. Chuck Grassley defeated Democrat challenger Mike Franken in Iowa's Senate race.
• Grassley's win means he'll have a historic 8th term that could keep him in office until age 95.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the eighth-longest-serving senator in US history, has won the Iowa Senate race against Democratic hopeful Mike Franken. The win marks Grassley's eighth election as Senator, and could lead to the 89-year-old staying in office in Washington, DC, well into his 90s.

Iowa Senate candidates

Grassley, who won an eighth term that would keep him in office well into his 90s, is one of the chamber's feistiest octogenarians.

Throughout his career, he's championed a variety of GOP priorities. He's shepherded trillions of dollars in tax cuts through the Senate. He helped stall, but ultimately could not stymie passage of, President Barack Obama's signature Affordable Care Act. And he continues to be a force both in terms of congressional oversight, and moving Republican-backed Supreme Court nominations through the hyperpartisan 50-50 Senate.

Franken, a veteran of the US Navy and former Defense Department employee, previously ran for Senate in 2020. He came in second in that year's Democratic primary. Republican Sen. Joni Ernst went on to win that year by 5 points.

Voting history in Iowa

Grassley has held the seat since 1981 and spent three terms in the US House before that, becoming the longest serving Iowan in congressional history during his nearly 50-year tenure on Capitol Hill.

The lifelong farmer helps shape all manner of public policy via his work on various high-profile committees, including the agenda-setting Budget Committee, tax-writing Finance Committee, and Supreme Court nominee-vetting Judiciary Committee.

Former President Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in Iowa by 8 points in 2020. Grassley got 60% of the vote during his 2016 reelection bid.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Grassley has raised more than $9.8 million, spent more than $8.6 million, and has $2.16 million cash on hand, as of October 19. His opponent, Franken, has raised more than $9.2 million, spent $8.6 million, and has $608,000 million cash on hand, as of October 19.

As of November 7, more than a dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups had combined to spend about $2.75 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase.

Most of this money has been dedicated to supporting Grassley's re-election campaign, with the nonpartisan National Association of Realtors Congressional Fund super PAC alone accounting for more of half of the race's outside spending.

What experts say

The race between Grassley and Franken was rated as "Solid Republican" by Inside Elections, and "Likely Republican" by The Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.