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 Sioux City gathered to call out Randy Feenstra and Kim Reynolds for gutting health care, Republicans melted down after Cook Political Report moved the governor’s race to “Toss Up,” Tax Day put a spotlight on how Republicans are misusing your tax dollars, and Feenstra continued hiding from Iowans while being exposed for taking campaign contributions from a megadonor accused in a sex trafficking sting.
Let’s get into it.
Health care headaches: Iowans speak out against Feenstra and Reynolds’ health care cuts in Sioux City
Today Iowans gathered for the second stop of the Iowa Democratic Party’s “Decade of Denied Care” Tour in Randy Feenstra’s congressional district. Speakers called out Feenstra’s vote to gut Medicaid and put rural hospitals on the chopping block, Kim Reynolds’ Medicaid mismanagement, and how Iowans’ health care has suffered under a decade of one-party rule.
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.
Hitting the panic button: Republicans melt down after Cook Political shifts race to “Toss Up”
Republicans had a meltdown and “warned they will face headwinds” in the governor’s race after Cook Political Report moved the race to “Toss Up” last week.
Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann was ridiculed after a complete and total social media meltdown meant to try — and fail — to explain away the ratings change, while Kim Reynolds rambled about her failed record and admitted “I definitely don’t think” the race will be a “cakewalk” for Republicans. Republicans are conceding the ratings change is “concerning news,” and their “lackluster” candidates are “a wake-up call for … the Republican Party of Iowa.”
What Iowa Republicans are saying about 2026:
- Randy Feenstra’s campaign: “Team Feenstra calls Cook Report rating ‘concerning news’ for Iowa Governor’s race”
- Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig: “The ‘26 cycle is not going to be easy. Democrats are definitely energized. Rob Sand is a strong candidate.”
- Republican political operative Todd Blodgett: “A year ago, it was solid Republican … Now it’s toss up. He’s (Sand) got $13.2 million in the bank. I think the most any Republican has, which is Mr. Feenstra, is $10 million … less than that. I’m worried about that.”
- Conservative outlet The Iowa Standard: “Feenstra cannot connect with an audience. And keep in mind, he’s pretty much speaking in front of exclusively conservative, Republican, friendly audiences … All this, combined with the fact that the Cook Political Report shifted Iowa’s race for governor to a ‘toss-up,’ should serve as a wake-up call for Feenstra, his supporters, and the Republican Party of Iowa.”
GOP candidates agree: All-in on misusing your tax dollars
Tax Day put a spotlight on how Iowans are seeing their tax dollars being recklessly misspent by Iowa Republicans while working families struggle to make ends meet and face rising costs.
Here’s how Iowa Republicans are misusing your tax dollars:
- Ballooning the budget deficit: Reynolds blew a nearly $1.4 billion hole in the state budget to fund tax breaks for powerful insiders and special interests, and her years of fiscally irresponsible policies have made Iowa the worst state in the country for economic growth. Iowa Republicans also forced working families to pay $500 more this year for health insurance due to Reynolds’ Medicaid mismanagement and health care budget shortfall.
- Gutting the auditor’s office: Reynolds admitted to gutting the auditor’s office and covering up for powerful insiders by signing SF478, “the worst pro-corruption bill in Iowa history.” The partisan bill blocks the state auditor from seeing how public funds are being spent, making it harder to hold Reynolds’ administration and government insiders accountable.
- Unaccountable school vouchers: The Republicans running for governor support private school vouchers that drive up costs and rip away tax dollars from our students, teachers, and parents to foot the bill for Iowa’s wealthiest families. Feenstra voted for Reynolds’ unaccountable voucher scheme in the state legislature and voted in Congress to rip public funds away from public schools to fund unaccountable private schools, while Adam Steen and Zach Lahn want to go even further by attacking public school funding and oversight for vouchers. Brad Sherman and Eddie Andrews have both praised Reynolds’ vouchers.
- Secret taxpayer-funded state plane: Reynolds used a $4.7 million secret state-owned plane to attend multiple political events on the taxpayer’s dime, something not one GOP gubernatorial candidate has said was wrong. Steen was Reynolds’ right hand man as former Iowa Department of Administrative Services director, bragged about serving as a “C.O.O. type of role for the state,” and said “I support everything that Governor Reynolds is doing,” but has refused to say what he knew about the plane, when he knew it, and whether he signed off on it.
- Funding campaign with taxpayer dollars: Before the midterm caucuses, Feenstra spent $33,000 in taxpayer-funded resources on statewide radio ads to “make a good impression on activists” and shore up support for his campaign. Despite that, he still flopped and finished a distant third in straw polls. A taxpayer even asked Feenstra point-blank why he misused her money on campaign ads, but Feenstra shamelessly refused to give a straight answer about his shady and unethical behavior.
Feenstra fails of the week: Refusing to debate and exposed for corrupt campaign cash
No-Show Randy Feenstra is continuing to hide from Iowans by skipping multi-candidate events and refusing to agree to a primary debate with his opponents.
- Feenstra’s fellow candidates and members of his own party have not held back on attacking his no-show campaign. Adam Steen harshly criticized Feenstra’s absences, calling him “Runaway Randy” and questioning Feenstra’s ability to unite his base in a general election, while Bob Vander Plaats warned that Feenstra’s “nomination places all [Republican] gains at risk.”
- There is a Republican primary debate in Denison — which is in Feenstra’s own Congressional district — on May 3. So far, Feenstra is the only candidate who has not confirmed his attendance at an event in his own backyard.
Also this week, Feenstra was exposed for taking campaign contributions from billionaire John W. Childs, who was charged with solicitation of prostitution from a sex trafficking operation. As Iowa Starting Line reports, Childs “is dropping serious money in Iowa’s biggest races” and has given “Feenstra $12,000 since 2020.”
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.