NEW RANKING: Iowa Governor’s Race is the Top Democratic Flip Opportunity in the Country
DES MOINES – New race ratings from the nonpartisan National Journal’s Gubernatorial Power Rankings name Iowa the best pickup opportunity for Democrats in the country. This comes after a messy, chaotic, and expensive Republican primary, which Kansas carpetbagger and career political operative Zach Lahn barely “squeaked by.”
In their analysis, National Journal writes that Democrats have successfully defined Lahn “before he could define himself” as a “carpetbagger from Kansas and an experienced political operative, undercutting the image he cultivated during the primary as an outsider.”
Inside Elections, Cook Political Report, and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball have all moved the governor’s race to a toss-up after Lahn pledged to continue Kim Reynolds’ failed status quo and “cast himself as the heir to” her deeply unpopular legacy.
From Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Terra Hernandez:
“Kansas carpetbagger and career political operative Zach Lahn has fully embraced Kim Reynolds’ failed status quo that has left Iowa families behind. He’s spent the majority of this campaign lying about where he lives and how much time he spends in Kansas. Iowans are fed up with the last decade of failed one-party rule, they’re looking for a full-time governor committed to solving their problems, and they’re ready to send Lahn packing back to Kansas.”
Read more from National Journal on their latest power rankings:
- Lahn is untested as a candidate, and Democratic state Auditor Rob Sand wasted little time defining him before he could define himself.
- Sand’s first ad attacking Lahn argued that, as a ‘part-time Iowan,’ Lahn was ill-equipped to take on issues like a sagging economy and rising cancer rates—the latter reference a direct shot on one of the core themes of Lahn’s MAHA-inspired platform.
- With the unpopularity of retiring Gov. Kim Reynolds and the strain of tariffs on the farm economy, Republicans know this is one of their toughest holds of the cycle.
- Just look at the $5 million the Republican Governors Association dished out for Lahn in the latest reporting period, which made up a majority of his contributions.
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