Before her win, Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, incumbent Iowa representative to District 45, spent the day at work and did some last-minute campaigning, trying to make sure everyone had voted.

The Ames native won what will be her third term as a state representative in the Iowa Legislature.

“The day was filled with a lot of suspense,” she said. “In the end, I think it’s a great night with a good win.”

Her day, however, was not focused on the election until the afternoon.

Wessel-Kroeschell, who is also a lecturer in political science, spent the morning on campus for her other job, teaching. She had office hours this morning and taught a class — Women in Politics — in the early afternoon.

“I am a citizen legislator,” she said. “I have another job on top of being a state legislator. I always multitask.”

Once she finished teaching her class, she went home. But soon enough she was campaigning again.

Wessel-Kroeschell went to Story County Democrats’ headquarters and began to do some last-minute, get-out-the-vote work.

She was assigned to go door-to-door to people who were checked as those who had not yet voted on the west side of Ames, around Thackeray Drive and Wilder Boulevard, most likely received phone calls earlier in the day, asking them to vote, she said.

“I do what I can for the party,” Wessel-Kroeschell said. “I have a good feeling about this election. It should bring some great change in Iowa and the country.”

After the door-to-door work, she went back to headquarters to make phone calls for the rest of the evening, until polls were close to closing for the night.

Wessel-Kroeschell went back home to be with her husband, athletic department communications manager Tom Kroeschell, and two children.

“It was a great time to relax before the evening celebration,” she said. “All of [my family] was home, and my children love to watch TV as election results come in.”

At 10 p.m. Wessel-Kroeschell arrived at Legends, 119 Stanton Ave., where Story County Democrats was having its victory party. There, she celebrated her victory, as well as the wins by Sen. and president-elect Barack Obama and other local officials.

“I believe this day has paid off,” she said. “I worked to make sure voting was available to everyone — you can even register on election day now.”

Her daughter had been active in the Democrats campaign up to election day when she was making phone calls.

“I feel good about my history in the Legislature,” she said. “But running for re-election like me, you never know who is going to come out and vote.”

In the Iowa House, Wessel-Kroeschell has served on the judiciary, human resources and environmental protection committees and is the vice-chairwoman on the state government committee.

Before her legislative work, she was a high school English teacher, at-home designer and did non-profit work.