District court, Judicial District 5

David M. Porter

Chief Judge · District 5C · Polk County

About

Appointed to this post in 2015¹
Next on the ballot: November 2028, in District 5C²

Judge Porter, Polk County, was appointed to the District Court bench in October 2015 and Chief Judge in January 2026. He received dual Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Maryland at College Park. Judge Porter earned his law degree from Drake University Law School in 2004. Currently, Judge…

Full biography on iowacourts.gov

Retention votes

Election	Yes	No	Kept by
November 8, 2022	74,820	38,432	66.1% yes

What lawyers said

Before each retention vote, the Iowa State Bar Association asks lawyers who’ve appeared before the judge to rate them from 1 (very poor) to 5 (excellent), and whether the judge should be kept.³

87% of 158 responding lawyers said to keep the judge (2022).

Question	2022
Knowledge and use of the law	4.35
Sees the facts of a case clearly	4.13
On time for court	4.45
Listens to arguments and testimony	4.37
Runs the courtroom well	4.47
Temperament and manner	4.11
Clear, well-written decisions	4.13
Rules promptly	3.92
Uses technology to improve the courts	4.47
Avoids needless personal criticism	4.27
Decides on the law and facts, not outside pressure	4.32
Courteous and patient	4.23
Treats people equally	4.52
Fair to people without a lawyer	4.49
Said to keep the judge	87%
Lawyers responding	158

Source: Iowa State Bar Association Judicial Performance Review: 2022 (page 35).

Appeals from this judge’s cases

4 appeals on record; 1 reversed or vacated at least in part.⁴

Criminal appeal No. 25-0646
Iowa Court of Appeals · November 4, 2026 · Polk County · AFFIRMED
Criminal appeal No. 25-1470
Iowa Court of Appeals · November 4, 2026 · Polk County · AFFIRMED
Criminal appeal No. 25-2145
Iowa Court of Appeals · November 4, 2026 · Polk County · AFFIRMED
Linn County Auditor Joel Miller v. Iowa Voter Registration Commission
Iowa Supreme Court · October 11, 2024 · Polk County · Reversed and Case Remanded
AI summary A county auditor challenged a decision to dismiss a complaint regarding voter registration procedures. The district court originally ruled that the auditor did not have the legal right to bring the challenge, but the Iowa Supreme Court reversed that decision. …

Notes

From the Judicial Branch’s biography of the judge. ↩
Expected: retained judges serve 6 years before the next vote (Iowa Code §46.16). A judge who retires or reaches 72 leaves sooner. ↩
Scores from the Iowa State Bar Association Judicial Performance Review, a survey of Iowa lawyers who appeared before the judge. The ISBA publishes it before each retention election; only the numbers are shown here, with a link to the page of its report they’re on. ↩
Most cases are never appealed, and a reversal can turn on a change in the law or a close question, so these counts say little about a judge’s work on their own. Iowa Funnel has Supreme Court opinions since November 2017 and Court of Appeals opinions from November 2026. ↩

Sources: the Iowa Judicial Branch; retention votes from the Iowa Secretary of State and civicAPI; lawyers’ ratings from the Iowa State Bar Association.