All politics are local. Probably worth noting that Colorado isn't a red state. Hillary won by a pretty comfortable margin. Nor is Wisconsin. Although Trump squeaked out a win, voters have since un-elected a Republican governor. Just looking at the 2016 election results, Iowa looked pretty red. Then in 2018, 2 Congressional seats flipped from R to D.
Generally speaking, regardless of the "color" of the state in question, the city in which the state university is located is very likely to look pretty blue. Especially true if that city isn't a huge metropolis. Iowa City is like Madison or Boulder in that respect. When the city's largest employer is the state university, that's going to have a very strong impact on local politics.
I always joke that I hate to drive from northern WI down to Iowa via Madison. My truck seems to want to turn left on me, no matter what I do.
