Five Things to Watch for in Tonight’s GOP Gov Primary Debate

Simon Conway: “Feenstra is now a firm NO. That will make for some interesting questions.”

DES MOINES – Iowa Republican gubernatorial candidates Adam Steen, Zach Lahn, Brad Sherman, and Eddie Andrews will face off on the debate stage tonight, with one glaring absence: no-show Randy Feenstra. It’s the latest multi-candidate event Feenstra has bailed on in an alarming pattern of refusing to face his primary opponents, but it’s no wonder Feenstra didn’t want to show his face after Donald Trump gave him a major snub by refusing to endorse his campaign for governor today.

According to event organizers, Feenstra is a “firm NO” for the debate, despite literally being in the Des Moines metro area this afternoon to sell Trump’s disastrous economic agenda that has jacked up costs and gutted Iowans’ health care. Conservative columnist and former Americans for Prosperity staffer Althea Cole blasted Feenstra’s refusal to debate his fellow candidates, saying “Feenstra needs to be participating in stuff like that. If he wants to reach Republican grassroots voters, that’s the very first thing he can do, but there are a lot of things he needs to be doing differently.”

Here’s what to watch for in tonight’s GOP face off:

1. Mudslinging and finger pointing: Steen, Lahn, Sherman, and Andrews have spent months attacking Feenstra for hiding from the campaign trail and doubting his ability to win. Last week, Steen said the IAGOP will have to “drag [Feenstra] across the finish line” in a general election, adding “I don’t know if that’s possible.” Lahn also flamed Feenstra’s absence with an AI-generated image of the Republican field in his private plane and offered to pick Feenstra up and fly him out to the debate.

2. Staking out positions to Kim Reynolds’ right: Expect the candidates to praise Reynolds’ six week abortion ban that’s made Iowa worst in the country for OB-GYNs, then propose even more restrictions on reproductive rights. The entire field holds extreme positions that threaten access to IVF and contraception, with some going as far as opposing exceptions for rape, incest, or life of the mother. 

3. Further attacking our public schools: The entire slate has made it clear that they’re running to continue the failures of Reynolds and the last decade of one-party rule. Under Reynolds, Iowa fell from 5th in the country in education to 20th, setting parents, teachers, and children up for failure. School vouchers — Reynolds’ crowning “achievement” — have funneled $315 million in tax dollars to unaccountable private schools, leaving rural school districts to foot the bill for wealthy families and forcing cuts to local programs.

4. Backing harmful health care outcomes: The candidates have left no daylight between themselves and Reynolds’ failed policies that put Iowa first in the nation for cancer growth and 44th for physicians per capita. Randy Feenstra was a “key author” of his party’s deeply unpopular budget law, which threatens health care for 106,700 Iowans and puts 20 rural hospitals at serious risk of closure, while Zach Lahn has a record of opposing Medicaid expansion — a position even more extreme than Reynolds’ disastrous privatization scheme.

5. Cheering on an economy in decline: This month, an updated report from the nonpartisan Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found Iowa dead last in the country for economic growth, but none of the candidates would do anything to improve our situation. To make matters worse, Iowa is facing a $1.2 billion budget deficit in 2026 thanks to Reynolds’ fiscally irresponsible policies as working families are paying $1,303 more a year for everyday costs, but the Republicans running for governor would only continue this mismanagement.

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