“Chaotic and Competitive” GOP Gov Primary Drags on as Republicans Plan for “Contested” Convention

DES MOINES – Iowa Republicans’ “chaotic and competitive” gubernatorial primary will be on full display at the Caucuses tonight, as new reporting from the Des Moines Register lays out how GOP activists are planning for the “very, very real possibility” of the wide-open primary going to a “contested” convention.

Randy Feenstra, Adam Steen, Zach Lahn, Brad Sherman, and Eddie Andrews are locked in a messy primary with no clear frontrunner after Feenstra was snubbed by Donald Trump in Clive last week and failed to secure the president’s endorsement. No-show Feenstra’s “milquetoast” campaign is also facing a major challenge from the conservative grassroots, as a petition circulating among Iowa Republicans begging Trump to endorse anyone but “absent congressman” Feenstra has garnered nearly 700 signatures.

If no one gets 35% of the vote in the June primary, delegates will select their nominee for the general election at a “contested” convention. This is the worst-case scenario for Feenstra, who’s been flamed by his opponents and by the grassroots for bailing on events with the rest of the primary field, including last week’s Moms for Liberty debate. Bob Vander Plaats attacked Feenstra’s debate no-show, saying “the only one who lost tonight” was Feenstra, while Steen warned that if Republicans choose Feenstra as their nominee, they would be “toast” in a general election. Steen added “we do not have the ability, as a populace, to drag him across the finish line” in November.

From Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Terra Hernandez:

“Iowa Republicans planning for their wide-open gubernatorial primary to go to convention is a nightmare scenario for no-show Randy Feenstra and the entire Republican field. No matter what happens tonight, it’s clear the field is locked in a bruising, chaotic race to the bottom as each candidate is more focused on attacking each other than ending the failed status quo that they’ve helped create, which has made life too expensive and left working families behind.”

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