With his wife Marilyn at his side, Rep. Steve King is introduced for his victory speech during the election watch party at Santa Maria Winery in Carroll, Iowa, Tuesday evening, November 6, 2012. (Jim Lee, Sioux City Journal)

After competitive races in both newly redrawn districts, voters in central and western Iowa looked to be on their way to re-electing two Republicans, Tom Latham and Steve King, to the U.S. House on Tuesday.

Thanks to redistricting, the 3rd District race pitted two incumbents against each other in a bitter race — nine-term Latham and eight-term Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell.

With 72 percent of precincts reporting, Latham had 50 percent of the votes to Boswell’s 46 percent.

The 4th District race saw former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack, the wife of U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, aiming to unseat the outspoken King, who was elected to Congress in 2002.

King was leading Vilsack by a margin of 56 percent support to 42 percent last night, with 71 percent of precincts reporting.