Iowa Republicans increased their voter registration edge over Democrats for the fifth consecutive month. New numbers released by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office show Republicans outnumbered Democrats 620,584 to 598,995. That’s a difference of 21,589, a marginal increase of more than 200 over last month’s totals. Independents continue to outnumber both parties, with 659,838 registered voters.

Democrats held the registration edge over Republicans in Iowa for almost six years. The GOP finally surpassed them in March. The biggest gains for Republicans in July came in the 1st and 4th congressional districts. Republicans outnumber Democrats in the 4th district by 53,657 voters. That’s an increase of 443 over the previous month.

“Iowans in the 4th Congressional District are leaving the Democrat Party because they see the run-away spending, massive tax hikes and government-takeover of health care agenda of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Christie Vilsack has led to massive unemployment and record debt. Congressman King is working to provide stability and predictability in Washington allowing businesses up and down Iowa’s main streets to grow,” said Jimmy Centers, spokesperson for Congressman Steve King’s campaign.

Republicans cut the registration deficit in the 1st District by 570 voters, and in the 2nd District by 257. Republicans maintained a healthy edge of 14,222 voters in the 3rd District. That is down from 14,741 in June. However, Republicans saw a gain of 3,535 that month.

Here is a breakdown of the voter registration numbers in Iowa: