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, Iowans spoke out against Kim Reynolds’ failed record and how the Republicans running to replace her would only keep Iowa on her failed path. Meanwhile, gas prices have continued to skyrocket on Randy Feenstra’s watch, and new reporting on Reynolds’ secret state-owned plane also put Adam Steen in the hot seat.
Let’s get into it.
Reynolds apology tour: Iowans call out Reynolds’ failed record, GOP gubernatorial field
Outside of the first stop of Kim Reynolds’ “legacy tour” in Cedar Rapids, over 40 Iowans gathered to call out Reynolds’ record of failure and how the Republicans running to replace her would only keep Iowa on her failed path.
Reynolds and a decade of one-party rule have crushed Iowa’s economy, failed our schools, and made it harder to get health care, but Randy Feenstra, Adam Steen, Zach Lahn, Brad Sherman, and Eddie Andrews are all running to continue the failed status quo that puts powerful insiders first and working families last.
What Iowans are watching, reading, and hearing about the event:
- KGAN: Iowans call out Reynolds’ failed record, GOP gov field outside legacy tour
- The Gazette: Protesters rally near Reynolds’ ‘Legacy Tour’ stop in Cedar Rapids, accusing her of weakening public schools, civil rights protections
- Daily Iowan: “Outside the building were dozens of protesters bundled up from the onslaught of evening wind, gathering honks from passing cars and holding signs denouncing Reynolds.”
- Des Moines Register: “Democrats also took the opportunity to try to drive home their own message about Reynolds’ leadership.”
- Radio Iowa: “Last night, about three dozen protesters gathered in Cedar Rapids to criticize the governor’s record on issues like water quality and for diverting state tax dollars into accounts that cover tuition costs for nearly all the students in Iowa’s private K-12 schools [regardless of parental income levels].”
- WVIK (Quad Cities NPR): “Reynolds and her guests were welcomed to the event by dozens of protestors outside the hotel.”
Bonus: Read Linn County Supervisor Sami Scheetz’s op-ed in The Gazette calling out Reynolds’ failed record and how the Republicans running to replace her would only keep Iowa on the wrong path.
Feenstra fail of the week: Failing Iowans on skyrocketing gas prices and reckless tariffs
Randy Feenstra has campaigned on lowering gas prices, promising last month to “reduce prices at the gas station” and telling Iowans that “gas prices are at their lowest levels in years thanks to President Trump!” Now, under Feenstra’s watch, gas prices in Iowa are up 55 cents in the last week alone.
- Iowa leads the Midwest with the biggest spike in both gas prices and diesel averages over the last week, and is tied with Texas for the highest spike in diesel costs nationwide.
- Feenstra tweeted eight times about gas prices since January, but as Iowans now see costs spike at the pump, he’s refusing to speak out, and has failed to deliver a deal on year-round E15.
Also this week, Axios Des Moines detailed how small businesses across Iowa are “feeling the pain of tariffs” and “astronomically” higher prices that Feenstra repeatedly voted to protect.
- Feenstra is all-in on the reckless and unconstitutional tariffs that have cost Iowa families an estimated $1,000 in 2025, raised prices on small businesses, and pushed Iowa farmers to the brink of another farm crisis.
Taking corruption to new heights: What did Steen know about Reynolds’ secret state plane?
The Des Moines Register revealed Kim Reynolds used her $4.7 million dollar secret state-owned plane “about once every two weeks over the course of a year” to attend multiple political events on the taxpayer’s dime — raising the question of what Reynolds’ right hand man Adam Steen knew about the plane, when he knew it, and whether he signed off on it.
Steen served as Reynolds’ director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services and bragged about serving as a “C.O.O. type of role for the state.” As the Register reports, Reynolds used the plane for 20% of its total trips taken and jetsetted to political events under Steen’s watch, including in Sioux City, Decorah, and Fort Dodge.
Iowans deserve to know: Did Adam Steen, who said “I support everything that Governor Reynolds is doing,” sign off on these taxpayer-funded political joyrides?
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.