Gazette Staff Column: Feenstra’s “Anemic” and “Lackluster” Campaigning “Won’t Be Enough to Get Him Across the Finish Line”
DES MOINES – Iowa’s wide-open Republican gubernatorial primary is getting nastier by the day, as Randy Feenstra’s “anemic” and “lackluster” campaign continues to earn him criticism from not just the media, but also a growing chorus from within his own party.
After Feenstra faced a “skeptical” crowd at a MAGA Nation town hall, conservative columnist and former Americans for Prosperity staffer Althea Cole wrote that Feenstra himself “acknowledge[d] that getting past the June primary isn’t a slam dunk.” Besides once again refusing to debate his opponents — most recently punting the decision until after the filing deadline on March 13 — Feenstra also left the door open to more primary candidates filing for the governor’s race as he continues to face major problems with his own party.
This comes after a report revealed GOP activists are planning for the “very, very real possibility” of the “unsettled” primary going to a “contested” convention.
Read more from The Gazette here, or key quotes below:
- Some conservative and Republican organizations were beginning to wonder if Randy Feenstra, the U.S. congressman and candidate for Iowa governor, would ever accept their invitations to engage with the Republican grassroots before the June gubernatorial primary.
- Feenstra did at the MAGA Nation gathering exactly what was expected: he faced a tougher audience than he was accustomed to.
- Feenstra has earned that criticism. He’s ducked some notable events, such as the sold-out Jan. 27 primary debate organized by conservative group Moms For Liberty that was moderated by popular WHO Radio host Simon Conway. The debate had been scheduled for the evening of Jan. 27 — the same day as President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Iowa. Feenstra caught a ride to town with Trump on Air Force One.
- But instead of traveling 10 miles that evening to participate in the most widely broadcast GOP primary debate to date, Feenstra caught another ride back to Washington, D.C.
- Feenstra told members of the media Tuesday night that until the March 13 candidate filing deadline passes, “we don’t even know who’s gonna be in the race.” When I asked him if he expected any other candidates to file, he said he had “no idea” and didn’t answer a follow-up question about whether additional primary challengers would affect his campaign strategy.
- By putting so much emphasis on knowing who the other Republican candidates are, Feenstra seems to acknowledge that getting past the June primary isn’t a slam dunk.
- And it may not be. Lacking a Trump endorsement so far, Feenstra is reduced to assuring Trump loyalists that he is “working on” getting the President’s blessing and “earning it every day.” Meanwhile, some of those same loyalists have actively urged the President to withhold his backing.
- To date, the governor’s race is the only major race in Iowa in which Trump has not made an endorsement.
- Feenstra is also missing the endorsement of influential conservative evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats — who made waves in 2020 when he endorsed Feenstra for Congress over then-incumbent Steve King. Vander Plaats announced earlier this month that he was backing Adam Steen, the former head of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services whom launched his campaign in August.
- If Steen continues to gain steam or if any of the other candidates blossom, securing enough votes in the June primary could be a challenge. If no candidate receives a minimum 35%, the nominee will be chosen by state convention delegates — typically those who attend caucuses and participate in their county party functions.
- That won’t be enough to get [Feenstra] across the finish line in November.
- Tuesday’s event was better than what I’d previously observed, but it couldn’t cure me of my concerns about the governor’s race in Iowa.
- I said it in December, and I’ll say it again now: if Randy Feenstra is the nominee, Iowa Republicans will lose in 2026.
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