This Groundhog Day, GOP Gov Candidates Are Stuck in Kim Reynolds’ Shadow

DES MOINES – Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, and Randy Feenstra, Adam Steen, Zach Lahn, Brad Sherman, and Eddie Andrews are all stuck in the shadow of the most unpopular governor in the country for two years running: Kim Reynolds.

The field is going full Groundhog Day: The Sequel by running to give Iowans four more years of the same failed Reynolds-style insider policies that have put us dead last in economic growth, landed us with a massive $1.2 billion budget deficit, set kids and teachers up for failure, threatened access to health care, and pushed our agriculture industry to the brink of another farm crisis.

For Iowans, every day is Groundhog Day after a decade of failed one-party rule: 

• Iowa’s economy is under major strain. Iowa is dead last in the country for economic growth and 44th in the country for hourly wages — last among all Midwestern states — but none of the candidates would do anything to improve our situation. Iowa is also facing a $1.2 billion budget deficit in 2026 thanks to Reynolds’ fiscally irresponsible policies as working families are paying $1,303 more a year for everyday costs. Republicans running for governor can’t see their way out of Reynolds’ shadow, so they are stuck in a cycle of poor management. To make matters worse, Moody’s Analytics found that Iowa’s economy is “in a recession or on the precipice” of one. Iowa is in need of new leadership.

• Iowa’s schools are in decline. Under Reynolds, Iowa fell from 5th in the country in education to 20th, setting parents, teachers, and children up for failure. The field supports Reynolds’ disastrous school vouchers program that has funneled $315 million in tax dollars to unaccountable private schools, leaving rural school districts to foot the bill for wealthy families and forcing cuts to local programs. It’s going to continue to be difficult to raise Iowa’s education scores when public schools where the vast majority of Iowa children attend are struggling to make ends meet.

• Iowans are losing access to health care. Thanks to Reynolds and a decade of one-party rule, Iowa is first in the nation for cancer growth, 44th for physicians per capita, and last for OB-GYNs — but the field would only continue these outcomes. Randy Feenstra was a “key author” of his party’s deeply unpopular budget law, which threatens health care for 106,700 Iowans and puts 20 rural hospitals at serious risk of closure, as 117,890 Iowans are seeing their premiums skyrocket. Zach Lahn has a record of opposing Medicaid expansion, a position even more extreme than Reynolds’ disastrous privatization scheme. The field agrees on going even further than Reynolds’ six week abortion ban with their belief that life begins at conception, and some even oppose exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.

• Iowa’s farmers are in crisis. Costly tariffs and chaotic trade wars have pushed Iowa farmers to the brink of another farm crisis, but the field has refused to speak out. Randy Feenstra voted for legislation to protect tariffs, has failed to pass a new Farm Bill after three terms in Congress, and kicked the can down the road on the sale of year-round E15 — failing time and time again to give Iowa’s agricultural industry the certainty it needs. Zach Lahn has also cheered on cost-raising tariffs.

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