DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra on Tuesday confirmed that he is running for governor after a monthslong exploratory campaign in which he amassed support and raised money for an open election in a high stakes midterm year.
Feenstra released a video that touted his vote for the massive tax and spending cuts bill passed this year, emphasized his relationship with President Donald Trump and criticized his likely Democratic opponent, Rob Sand.
Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds made a surprise announcement in April that she would not run for reelection next year. The two top-of-ticket statewide races in Iowa next year — for governor and for U.S. Senate — will both be open seats for the first time since 1968 after Reynolds and two-term Sen. Joni Ernst said they would retire from office at the end of their terms. It’s led to a shake-up on the ballot in the once-competitive state where Democrats are eyeing seats they think they can flip.
Republicans now control the U.S. House by a razor-thin margin. Feenstra’s 4th Congressional District is overwhelmingly Republican, so next year’s race for his successor is not likely to be a competitive pickup opportunity for Democrats. That means Feenstra’s entry into the governor’s race will have little impact on Republicans’ efforts to maintain the balance of power in the House.
But the other three congressional districts in the state have far more politically mixed electorates and stand to be some of the closest — and highest funded — races in the country. The one in Iowa’s northeastern corner, represented by Rep. Ashley Hinson, is now open after Hinson jumped into the race for Ernst’s Senate seat.
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Even before officially jumping in Tuesday, Feenstra has announced several millions in fundraising and nearly half a million in paid advertising. He could face a well-funded competitor in Sand, who has experience running a statewide campaign. As state auditor, Sand is the only Democrat currently elected statewide. Sand is running in a primary against longtime Democratic consultant Julie Stauch, but he reports a hefty $10 million in campaign cash, much of which comes from his extended family.
Iowa state Rep. Eddie Andrews, former state Rep. Brad Sherman and former director of the state department of administrative services Adam Steen are already in the running against Feenstra for the GOP nomination. State Sen. Mike Bousselot is also exploring a campaign.
There was much speculation about who would run for Reynolds’ seat after she unexpectedly opted out of another term — and who might enter with an endorsement from President Donald Trump in the first open GOP primary for Iowa governor since Trump took command of the party. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, long a supporter of Trump’s, had immediately said she was considering a bid but didn’t say one way or another until July.
Feenstra took her lengthy pause before a decision as an opportunity to say in May that he was launching an exploratory campaign, which included raising nearly $4 million in five weeks and buying $400,000 in television and radio advertising. Bird ultimately chose not to run for governor.
Feenstra was reelected to his third term last year by about two-thirds of voters in the region, which is heavily populated with conservative evangelical communities. Iowa’s 4th District is made up of counties marked by sprawling fields and pig farms in the northwest quadrant and along the Western border. The district could help Feenstra in the Republican primary; nearly 30% of active registered Republican voters in Iowa live there.
The congressman was first elected to the U.S. House in 2020 after launching a well-funded primary campaign to oust former Rep. Steve King, a Republican who lost his seat after years of controversy involving his previous support of white supremacist groups.
