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.
Another week went by with Randy Feenstra refusing to debate his opponents and getting nothing done on E15, new reporting revealed that three additional Iowa hospitals are at risk of closing their doors, and another race rater noted the chaos of the Republican primary, moving the race in favor of Rob Sand. This week also put a spotlight on how none of the Republicans running for governor would do anything to reverse Medicaid privatization or make government more transparent — and all support costly tariffs.
Let’s get into it.
Feenstra fails of the week: STILL refusing to debate and getting nothing done on E15
We’re two months out from the Republican gubernatorial primary election, and no-show Randy Feenstra has still refused to agree to a primary debate with his opponents.
- Back in February, Feenstra promised it was “time to debate” after the filing deadline on March 13 passed and the primary field became official. Since then, he’s continued to hide from Iowans and has yet to agree to a primary debate — let alone even show up at a single event with his opponents — despite being on recess from Congress until April 14.
- WHO Radio host Simon Conway announced Tuesday that he will host the next GOP primary debate in May. After Feenstra skipped Conway’s Moms for Liberty Debate in January, will he finally break his no-show streak? So far, he’s given Iowa voters little reason to think he’ll show up — or that he’s ready to lead as Iowa’s next governor.
Also this week, a Clinton County voter called Feenstra out for repeatedly failing Iowans on E15. Feenstra, the chair of a useless biofuels council in Congress, promised in January to get an E15 bill on the floor. Three months later, he still has nothing to show for it.
Read more from a concerned voter in The Gazette here.
Health care headaches: Rural hospitals at risk and a decade of privatized Medicaid
New reporting from NBC News reveals that three additional Iowa hospitals are at high risk of closing their doors thanks to Randy Feenstra voting to gut health care for 110,000 Iowans.
- CHI Health Mercy Council Bluffs, MercyOne Oelwein Medical Center, and Ottumwa Regional Health Center are all at high risk of closing or cutting services. This is in addition to estimates that at least 20 rural hospitals were already at risk of closure in Iowa when Republicans voted to gut Medicaid.
- These hospital closures will force Iowans to pay more and travel farther for basic care, puts health care workers’ jobs at risk, and threatens the economy in local communities.
Also this week, the ten year anniversary of Kim Reynolds’ privatized Medicaid disaster reminded Iowans of how the Republicans running for governor would do nothing to reverse it:
- Feenstra voted to pass Reynolds’ disastrous Medicaid privatization scheme in the state legislature. In Congress, Feenstra bragged about being a “key author” of his party’s deeply unpopular budget law that threatens health care for 106,700 Iowans and puts at least 20 rural hospitals on the brink of closure, as 117,890 Iowans are seeing their premiums skyrocket.
- Adam Steen praised D.C. Republicans passing the largest Medicaid cut in history and Reynolds privatizing Medicaid, saying “I support everything that Governor Reynolds is doing.”
- Zach Lahn has a history of opposing Medicaid expansion entirely — a position even more extreme than Reynolds’ disastrous privatization scheme.
- Brad Sherman and Eddie Andrews voted to kick thousands of Iowans off Medicaid and made it harder to get health insurance.
Read IDP Chair Rita Hart’s statement on Reynolds’ Medicaid mismanagement here.
GOP candidates agree: Supporting tariffs and running to make government less accountable
One year of “Liberation Day” tariffs that cost Iowans $566 million put a spotlight on how tariff-lover Randy Feenstra and the rest of the Republican field support D.C. Republicans’ trade war that is raising prices on working families, small businesses, and farmers.
- Reckless and unconstitutional tariffs cost Iowa families an estimated $1,000 in 2025 alone, killed 350 jobs at Whirlpool’s Amana factory, and have been described by Iowa small business owners as an “astronomically” painful price hike.
- Tariffs have also pushed Iowa’s agriculture industry to the brink of another farm crisis, as farmers are already struggling under the weight of a four-year downturn and filing for bankruptcy at the highest rate in the nation.
Also this week, Iowans were reminded of how the Republicans running for governor want to continue Kim Reynolds’ failed record of using the governor’s office for their own personal gain by siphoning taxpayer dollars away from public schools, refusing to speak out against Reynolds’ shady political joyrides on the taxpayer dime, protecting predators, and using government funds to bankroll political ads.
All eyes on Iowa: Nonpartisan analyst shifts governor’s race in favor of Rob Sand
Inside Elections was the second nonpartisan race-rater in a month to move the Iowa governor’s race in favor of Rob Sand thanks to the wide-open and messy primary splintering the Republican base.
Inside Elections: “Republicans have a crowded primary to sort through that’s no more clear than when unpopular Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she wouldn’t seek another term. Rep. Randy Feenstra … hasn’t gotten past the perception he was too distant from Trump during the 2024 presidential primaries. Special elections continue to break against Iowa Republicans as well.”
Randy Feenstra, Adam Steen, Zach Lahn, Brad Sherman, and Eddie Andrews are locked in a nasty primary with no clear frontrunner. While Feenstra continues to face major problems with his own party, GOP activists are planning for the “very, very real possibility” that this wide-open primary goes to a “contested” convention.
Tweet of the week: Exposing Randy Feenstra’s hypocrisy on the Affordable Care Act
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.