Welcome back to The Status Quo Squad — your weekly newsletter from the Iowa Democratic Party, bringing you the latest updates on the chaotic, messy, and wide-open Republican gubernatorial primary where all the candidates promise one thing: a continuation of the status quo that has failed Iowa for the last decade.
This week, new reporting outlined how the field wants to go even further than Kim Reynolds on banning abortion and gutting public education; Brad Sherman bragged about being endorsed by a January 6th rioter; and Randy Feenstra proposed a majorly flawed and long-overdue Farm Bill that does nothing on tariffs or E15. Reynolds was also exposed for traveling to two additional political events on the taxpayers’ dime.
Let’s get into it.
Racing to the right: Candidates want to go further than Reynolds on banning abortion and gutting public schools
New reporting from Talking Points Memo highlighted how the Republicans running for governor have pushed “eye-popping” and “questionable” abortion conspiracies, want to go even further than Kim Reynolds on ripping away reproductive freedoms, and agree on banning abortion from the moment of conception without exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother:
Also this week, the Des Moines Register revealed that 99% of Iowa’s private schools are now funded by taxpayer dollars under Reynolds’ unaccountable school voucher scheme that Randy Feenstra, Adam Steen, Zach Lahn, Brad Sherman, and Eddie Andrews support. The field has called for less oversight for school vouchers and claimed Iowa is “spending too much money on education,” even though public schools are chronically underfunded by $520 million per year, or over $1,000 per student.
REMINDER: We’re less than 90 days out from the June 2 primary, and the race is still an “unsettled,” “chaotic and competitive” mess with no clear frontrunner.
For more on the state of the race and Feenstra being “unable to clear the primary field,” click here.
Feenstra fail of the week: Failing farmers (again) on E15 and tariffs
After Randy Feenstra failed to deliver a new Farm Bill for over two years, he proposed a majorly flawed bill that does nothing to address year-round E15, give farmers relief from unconstitutional and cost-raising tariffs, or protect farmers from rising input costs.
Feenstra also keeps claiming he’s “close” to a deal on the year-round sale of E15 — moving the goalpost and making empty promises after he missed his self-imposed February 25 deadline for a vote on E15, failed to prioritize E15 in January’s government funding bill, and didn’t include E15 in the long-delayed Farm Bill.
Feenstra’s E15 council only exists because he caved to his D.C. party bosses and refused to stop them from stripping year-round E15 from January’s government funding bill.
Endorsement watch: Brad Sherman endorsed by a January 6th Capitol rioter
Brad Sherman’s troubling connections to dangerous rioters are in the spotlight again after he proudly accepted an endorsement from Luana Stoltenberg, who attended a rally at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, and claimed “there are NO riots here.”
This isn’t the first time Sherman has proudly accepted the support of Capitol rioters. Sherman’s largest donor, Leo Kelly, “was one of the first offenders arrested for his actions at the U.S. Capitol, and … was later found guilty of one felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding and six other misdemeanor offenses.” Sherman has appeared on Kelly’s podcast and praised him and the other violent rioters at the Capitol, calling them “patriots.”
The rest of the field has concerning ties to dangerous January 6th rioters: Randy Feenstra refused to speak out against letting violent rioters who assaulted police officers back on the street and even praised these violent criminals as “a wonderful group,” while Zach Lahn’s largest donor “was arrested by the FBI and … us[ed] a flag pole to break into the Capitol and hit a police officer.”
Taking corruption to new heights: Reynolds used state plane for MORE political travel
Bleeding Heartland uncovered that Kim Reynolds used her secret state-owned plane to travel to multiple political events in 2025, despite claiming the state plane is only “for official use” and saying, “I believe it’s the right thing to do. I don’t feel bad about doing it.”
- On October 13th, 2025, Reynolds “posted on her political Facebook page about attending a Webster County Republican fundraiser in Fort Dodge on the evening of Monday, October 13—the same day the Grand Caravan flew from Ankeny to Mason City, then to Fort Dodge in the late afternoon and to Ames in the evening.”
- On July 27, 2025, Reynolds used the state plane to attend the Allamakee County Republican Picnic At The Park. Reynolds’ “Grand Caravan flew from Ankeny to Decorah (Winneshiek County, a short drive from Waukon) that afternoon, returning to Ankeny the same day. It’s not clear what official business would have taken Reynolds to northeast Iowa on a weekend.”
Iowans deserve to know: Did Adam Steen — Reynolds’ former Department of Administrative Services Director, who said “I support everything that Governor Reynolds is doing” — know about Reynolds traveling to political events on the taxpayer’s dime?
Bottom line: No matter who emerges from this underwhelming and extreme crop of candidates, they are all running to continue Kim Reynolds’ failed policies that have put Iowa dead last in economic growth, set kids and public school teachers up for failure, and ripped away access to health care.
That’s a wrap for this edition of The Status Quo Squad. Thanks for reading, we’ll see you next week.