The 1920 United States Senate election in Iowa was held on November 2, 1920. Incumbent Senator Albert B. Cummins was re-elected to a third term in office, defeating challenges from Smith W. Brookhart in the Republican primary and Claude R. Porter in the general election.
Albert B. Cummins was a progressive senator from an earlier generation who distrusted both corporate interests and trade unions. Brookhart campaigned against railroad regulations Cummins had co-authored, the Esch–Cummins Act, which Brookhart claimed did too little to wrest ownership and control of railroads away from Wall Street interests.[1] Brookhart attempted to register rank-and-file blue-collar workers as Republicans so that they could vote for him in the primary,[1] which prompted Cummins to associate Brookhart with radical workers movements such as "the Socialists, reds and Industrial Workers of the World."[2] Cummins was sidelined by illness in the weeks leading up to the primary but defeated Brookhart.[2][3]
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