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.
National Agriculture Week put a spotlight on how Randy Feenstra sold Iowa farmers out to China while he still refuses to commit to a Republican primary debate. Meanwhile, the field failed to speak out against raising health care costs on working families, and a nonpartisan race rater highlighted how the Iowa governor’s race is a top flip opportunity for Democrats in 2026.
Let’s get into it.
Feenstra fails of the week: Selling farmers out to China and refusing to debate his opponents
National Agriculture Week put a spotlight on how Randy Feenstra sold Iowa farmers out to China by pocketing over $20,000 in campaign contributions from Syngenta and Smithfield, two massive agriculture companies owned by the Chinese Communist Party, despite publicly claiming that blocking Chinese ownership of American farmland is a “cornerstone of his congressional career” and “highlight[ing] this position during his ongoing run for Iowa governor.”
- Syngenta and Smithfield “collectively control tens of thousands of acres of farmland across the U.S. … A significant portion of them are right in Feenstra’s backyard. Boone County, Iowa, which is in Feenstra’s congressional district, is home to more than 200 acres of agricultural land and roughly 70 acres of industrial land owned by the Chinese firm, county records show.” To make matters worse, “the Trump administration… accused SinoChem, Syngenta’s owner, of being backed by the Chinese military in 2020.”
Also this week, the “unsettled,” “chaotic and competitive” GOP gubernatorial primary matchup was set between Feenstra, Adam Steen, Zach Lahn, Brad Sherman, and Eddie Andrews. Back in February, Feenstra stated that he wouldn’t debate his opponents until the filing deadline of March 13 passed, saying “we don’t even know who’s going to be in the race. So once that’s settled, hey, that’s the time to debate.”
- Now that the filing deadline — and Feenstra’s self-imposed deadline — has come and gone, will Feenstra keep his word and agree to a primary debate, or will he punt the decision again and keep hiding from Iowans?
Every time no-show Feenstra refused to give a straight answer on debating his opponents:
- October 30, 2025: “We’ll be working it out over the next several months and see how that all plays out.”
- November 4, 2025: “We’ll debate. Sure.”
- November 26, 2025: “It’s just a matter of when they occur. But I look forward to that.”
- February 9, 2026: “There’s plenty of time for debates. I plan to do debates. We’ll get there but right now, I’m traveling all over the state.”
- February 17, 2026: “The filing deadline for governor is not ’til March 13, so we don’t even know who’s going to be in the race. So once that’s settled, hey, that’s the time to debate.”
Taking costs to new heights: GOP candidates support new $460 health care price hike
Republicans in Iowa’s state legislature are fast-tracking a bill that would increase health care premiums on working families by $460 this year. This deeply unpopular bill is a direct result of Kim Reynolds’ disastrous Medicaid privatization scheme, Randy Feenstra voting for the largest cut to Medicaid in history, and the state’s billion-dollar budget deficit — but the GOP gubernatorial field has refused to speak out against hiking health care premiums on working families.
The Republican gubernatorial field backed this health care price hike:
- Randy Feenstra voted for Reynolds’ disastrous Medicaid privatization scheme in the state legislature, which drove up costs and ripped health care away from working families. In Congress, Feenstra bragged about being a “key author” of his party’s deeply unpopular budget law that threatens health care for 106,700 Iowans and puts at least 20 rural hospitals on the brink of closure, as 117,890 Iowans are seeing their premiums skyrocket.
- Adam Steen praised D.C. Republicans passing the largest Medicaid cut in history, and Reynolds privatizing Medicaid, saying “I support everything that Governor Reynolds is doing.”
- Zach Lahn has a history of opposing Medicaid expansion entirely — a position even more extreme than Reynolds’ disastrous privatization scheme.
- Brad Sherman and Eddie Andrews voted to kick thousands of Iowans off Medicaid and made it harder to get health insurance.
All eyes on Iowa: Governor’s race the second-best pickup opportunity for Democrats in 2026
The nonpartisan National Journal’s Gubernatorial Power Rankings named Iowa the second-best pickup opportunity for Democrats in 2026, putting it among the top five governor’s races most likely to flip — up from seventh place in November.
National Journal: “The four other qualified Republican candidates have attacked [Randy] Feenstra for skipping debates and forums, and he has yet to lock down the Trump endorsement. This race will be all about hyperlocal issues. Under Gov. Kim Reynolds, the state faces a nearly $1.4 billion budget deficit and is ranked dead last for economic growth … Democrats see this as one of their best flip opportunities.”
Iowa’s two-spot jump is the latest indication that the governor’s race is a toss-up thanks to Reynolds and a decade of one-party rule crushing Iowa’s economy, failing our schools, and making it harder to get health care. Feenstra, Adam Steen, Zach Lahn, Brad Sherman, and Eddie Andrews are all running to continue Reynolds’ failed legacy, and the wide-open and messy GOP primary is splintering the Republican base.
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.