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.
Swampy Adam Steen had a horrible week after he tried and failed to get Eddie Andrews kicked off the ballot, was caught trying to cover it up, and is now facing calls to drop out from members of his own party. Iowa Agriculture Week put a spotlight on how the field supports costly tariffs, while Randy Feenstra admitted he voted to increase fertilizer prices and was hit by an E15 bailout from D.C. Iowans also called out Feenstra’s votes to spike health care costs on the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.
Let’s get into it.
Messy primary alert: Steen botches ballot challenge, was caught covering it up, and faces calls to drop out
Swampy Adam Steen is now facing calls from members of his own party to drop out of the governor’s race after he tried and failed to get Eddie Andrews kicked off the ballot, was caught red-handed trying to cover it up, and finally admitted to his backroom dealing.
Steen came clean on Thursday about coordinating with a donor to get Andrews kicked off the ballot — but only after the Secretary of State exposed Steen’s lies by confirming the only people who reviewed Andrews’ signatures were Steen’s Campaign Manager Rob Peters and Communications Director Rebekah Oleson.
This comes after Steen lied and claimed he had nothing to do with the challenge to Andrews’ petition signatures, while reporting also revealed that Steen himself called Andrews to bully him to drop out of the race.
Steen’s fellow Republicans are taking aim at his swampy political games, and some opponents are even calling on him to drop out:
- Republican gubernatorial candidate Eddie Andrews: “That’s a severe character flaw that should be nowhere near Terrace Hill … If he had honor, he would drop out.”
- Randy Feenstra’s campaign chair Brian Dumas: “Bold faced lies. Caught red handed. Steen should drop out.”
- Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn: “Mr. Eddie Andrews, it is an honor to be in this fight with you, to have you alongside as a candidate for governor of Iowa.”
- Republican gubernatorial candidate Brad Sherman: “Adam Steen had reason to worry about more people being on the ballot, and his continued pattern of telling half-truths and deceptive statements is extremely disturbing for someone who is asking for the trust of Iowans.”
Steen is now downplaying his slimy behavior, calling it a “little tit-for-tat” and “weird argument.” Steen even lashed out when questioned by reporters, saying “I have no desire to have this conversation.”
Feenstra fails of the week: Admitting he voted to raise fertilizer prices, hit by E15 bailout from D.C.
After voting to continue the war in Iran that’s making everything more expensive for Iowans, Randy Feenstra admitted — on National Agriculture Day — that his vote caused a “massive” increase in fertilizer and fuel prices, which will “be catastrophic for our farmers.”
- Feenstra in his own words: “This is a great concern. I mean, fertilizer prices right now are, you know, some have had it already booked, I hear. You know, probably 45% of the people did not have it booked yet. So this is going to be a massive problem, because fertilizer costs are at least going to be double … It’s going to be catastrophic for our farmers.”
- Iowa farmers are already struggling under the weight of a four-year downturn and filing for bankruptcy at the highest rate in the nation. Now, on top of it all, Feenstra is forcing them to budget for skyrocketing fertilizer prices, rising fuel costs, and higher grocery bills — adding “about $2,000 to farmers’” production costs.
Also this week, Randy Feenstra was hit with a temporary E15 bailout from the EPA after spending months claiming he was “close” to a deal on year-round E15. It’s the latest example of how Feenstra is too weak to secure a long-term sustainable solution for Iowa farmers after breaking his promise to advance an E15 bill, missing his self-imposed February 25 deadline for a vote on E15, and overlooking E15 in the long-delayed Farm Bill.
- Feenstra is the chair of a useless E15 council in Congress, which only exists because he caved to his D.C. party bosses and refused to stop them from stripping year-round E15 from January’s government funding bill.
- Feenstra’s latest fail on E15 means that Iowa farmers still don’t have a permanent guarantee on selling fuel nationwide and don’t have consistent access to markets they need.
GOP candidates agree: All in on reckless tariffs making everything more expensive
Iowa Agriculture Week put a spotlight on how Randy Feenstra, Adam Steen, Zach Lahn, Brad Sherman, and Eddie Andrews all support the reckless tariffs that are raising prices on Iowa farmers, small businesses, and working families.
The field all supports tariffs that are raising prices and hurting farmers:
- Randy Feenstra voted three times to rubber stamp tariffs that are raising prices on Iowa farmers, cheered on chaotic tariffs, and said “I applaud” Washington’s reckless trade policy.
- Feenstra has also failed to pass a meaningful Farm Bill after three terms in Congress and hasn’t delivered a deal on the nationwide sale of year-round E15, which would give Iowa farmers the certainty they need.
- Adam Steen defended the chaotic trade policy and even lectured struggling Iowa farmers, telling them “to be patient” and “to expand their infrastructure, expand their business” to make up for plummeting profits from tariffs.
- Zach Lahn cheered on cost-raising tariffs and downplayed farmers struggling with high input costs, saying “the tariffs are not the issue.”
- Brad Sherman dismissed and downplayed the harmful impacts of tariffs on Iowa farmers, saying “we all knew that the tariffs would have some ups and downs to it. I’m not too worried about it.”
- Eddie Andrews refused to speak out against the tariffs that are raising prices on hardworking Iowans and undercutting farmers.
Turning up the heat: Iowans call out Feenstra spiking health care costs on ACA anniversary
On the 16th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, Iowa leaders gathered to call out Randy Feenstra and Republicans in the Iowa legislature spiking health care costs.
Feenstra voted for Kim 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 while 117,890 Iowans see their health care premiums skyrocket.
See what Iowans had to say about Feenstra making health care more expensive and harder to find here.
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.