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, No-Show Randy Feenstra skipped another Republican primary debate and Zach Lahn avoided questions about spending more time in Kansas than Iowa. Feenstra also voted again to continue the war in Iran that’s sent Iowa gas prices skyrocketing, even though costs in his own congressional district are among the highest in the state.
Let’s get into it.
Messy primary alert: No-Show Randy Feenstra skips ANOTHER Republican primary debate
With less than two weeks to go until the June primary, the Republicans running for governor met for another primary debate — with another glaring absence from No-Show Randy Feenstra. Feenstra has skipped every primary debate of the 2026 cycle.
- The debate was taped in Des Moines on Saturday, May 16. KCCI noted that “every Republican candidate on the ballot was invited to participate,” but Feenstra once again broke his promise to debate his primary opponents and refused to show up for Iowans.
Feenstra’s absence led to more attacks from his opponents and warnings from the base over his ability to win in November.
Even the media has questions about Feenstra’s pattern of hiding from the campaign trail:
- When WHO 13’s Teodora Mitov asked Feenstra if he feels like he needs to debate, he brushed the question off by inexplicably saying “I love to meet people!”
- KGAN’s Skylar Tallal also asked Feenstra about his choice to skip multiple GOP primary debates, and he told her “there’s plenty of time for debates” — despite refusing to participate in any and once again refusing to give a straight answer on debating his primary opponents.
Lahn plane: Zach Lahn avoids questions about living in Kansas while running for Iowa governor
Recent reporting from the Des Moines Register revealed that career political operative Zach Lahn “maintains a home in Kansas” and re-registered to vote in Iowa just before the two year minimum residency requirement to run for governor.
Lahn flies to his Kansas home once every six days on average, and has spent more nights in Wichita than on his Iowa farm.
Feenstra fail of the week: Gas prices in Feenstra’s district are higher than the Iowa average
Gas prices in Iowa continue to climb on Randy Feenstra’s watch and are higher in his congressional district than the Iowa average, despite Feenstra bragging about gas prices and promising to “reduce prices at the gas station” as a campaign talking point.
- Gas is $4.28 a gallon in Feenstra’s home county of Sioux as a result of his votes to continue the war in Iran that’s making everything more expensive for working families.
- As costs continue to climb under his watch, Feenstra is telling Iowans to put up with “a little higher gas price temporarily.”
In March, Feenstra admitted his vote to continue the war in Iran caused a “massive” and “catastrophic” increase in fertilizer and fuel prices for Iowa farmers.
Tweet of the week: We’re not in Kansas anymore!
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.