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, Iowans in Ottumwa gathered to call out Randy Feenstra and Kim Reynolds for gutting health care, Feenstra continued hiding from Iowans while downplaying the impact of rising costs, and the Cook Political Report moved the governor’s race to “Toss Up.”
Let’s get into it.
Health care headaches: Iowans speak out against Feenstra and Reynolds’ health care cuts in Ottumwa
On Monday, Iowans in Ottumwa gathered for the first stop of the Iowa Democratic Party’s “Decade of Denied Care” Tour at a clinic that closed due to Randy Feenstra’s vote to gut Medicaid and put rural hospitals on the chopping block. Speakers called out Kim Reynolds’ Medicaid mismanagement, Feenstra’s health care cuts, and how Iowans’ health care has suffered under a decade of one-party rule.
What Iowans are watching and reading about the event:
→ KYOU: Closures and reduced services raise healthcare concerns in Ottumwa
→ KTVO: Iowa Democratic Party begins “Decade of Denied Care” Tour in Ottumwa
→ Ottumwa Radio: Local candidates & activist slam Republicans for clinic closing, reduced health care services
The Republicans running for governor support this health care disaster:
- Randy Feenstra voted to pass Kim Reynolds’ disastrous Medicaid privatization scheme in the state legislature, which drove up costs, ripped away health care, hurt Iowans with disabilities, and closed rural hospitals.
- In Congress, Feenstra bragged about being a “key author” of his party’s deeply unpopular budget law that threatens health care for 110,000 Iowans and puts at least 23 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 cuts 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.
Feenstra fails of the week: Downplaying the impact of rising costs while hiding from Iowans
As gas prices in Iowa continue to skyrocket, reaching nearly $4 per gallon, Randy Feenstra is downplaying the impact that rising costs are having on working families and telling Iowans that “we might have to pay a little higher gas price temporarily.”
- Where Feenstra once bragged about gas prices as a campaign talking point, in Iowa they are now up by over a dollar a gallon this year alone. Surging diesel costs have already been making everything more expensive and “straining household budgets,” but Feenstra’s vote to continue the war in Iran will only make matters worse.
- The “atrocious” increase in gas prices has been described by Iowa drivers as “especially painful for people living on fixed incomes” and “a severe burden.”
Also this week, Feenstra continued hiding from Iowans and remains the only Republican or Democratic gubernatorial candidate yet to appear on Iowa Press, the must-do public affairs show for any serious candidate in Iowa.
- Moderator Kay Henderson noted during last week’s episode featuring candidate for governor Zach Lahn that they “invited all Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates in 2026 to join us here at the Iowa Press table. Most were here this past fall.” The glaring omission? Feenstra.
- Feenstra isn’t just skipping multi-candidate events and refusing to debate his primary opponents — he’s blatantly refusing to answer tough questions about the issues that matter most to Iowans.
All eyes on Iowa: Cook Political Report shifts governor’s race to “Toss Up”
Cook Political Report was the latest race-rater to confirm the Iowa governor’s race is a top flip opportunity for Democrats in a new analysis that moved the race to “Toss Up.”
As Cook Political Report’s Matthew Klein writes, “the political environment in Iowa appears primed for Democratic inroads” thanks to the costly tariffs hurting farmers, Kim Reynolds’ record of failing Iowans, and Randy Feenstra’s inability to clear the primary field. Feenstra has “never been a darling of the party’s populist right” and “could have a base problem heading into the general election” after he failed to get Donald Trump’s endorsement and was snubbed by Bob Vander Plaats.
Klein notes that “Democrats plan to make [Feenstra] answer for” voting to cut health care for 110,000 Iowans and put rural hospitals on the chopping block, which has already led to the closure of a medical clinic in Ottumwa. Fact check: true!
Read more from Cook Political Report here.
Tweet of the week: Most unpopular governor in the country brags about her failed record
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.