Iowa U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s announcement that she will not seek a third term in office creates an open seat for the 2026 election. Not since 2014 — and only four times in nearly six decades — has a U.S. Senate election in Iowa been without an incumbent. Here’s who is — and isn’t — running for the seat.
This week on the podcast, we’ll talk about candidates entering and exiting races and last weekend’s story about the new approach some Iowa Democrats are using on the campaign trail. Plus, a special election in Western Iowa for a seat in the Iowa Legislature.
Rivals no more, the two Iowa legislators hit the campaign trail together with an event in Council Bluffs.
More than 2,000 fairgoers participated in the nonscientific straw poll conducted by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office
J.D. Scholten is dropping out of the crowded Democratic primary in Iowa’s U.S. Senate election, and endorsing fellow Democratic state legislator Josh Turek, who just announced his candidacy this past week.
Iowa Democrats’ campaign speeches sound different this year as the party attempts to win back voters they have lost in the state over the past decade.
Iowa’s crowded field of Democrats running for U.S. Senate in 2026 pitched themselves and their campaigns to an audience of party members as they gear up for next year’s primary.
Iowa Democratic U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Scholten held a campaign event Monday at a central Iowa farm to highlight his federal agriculture policy proposals.
Plus, we discuss the continued messaging battle over the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” and Iowa Republicans taking on Rob Sand.
This week on the podcast, we have more Congressional candidates jumping into the fray. Plus, we discuss the Rescissions Act of 2025.
Iowa state Rep. J.D. Scholten, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate, described himself as a “baseball-playing, monopoly-busting, beer-drinking, Bible-reading, working-class proud prairie populist from Sioux City, Iowa, and a sixth generation Iowan” when he spoke with dozens of people who turned out for a Cedar Rapids campaign event Tuesday evening.
Campaign fundraising from April through June in Iowa’s 2026 U.S. Senate election was competitive between some of the top candidates, according to new federal campaign reports filed Tuesday. But Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst holds a hefty financial advantage over all challengers — should she choose to run for re-election.
This week on the podcast, we discuss U.S. senate candidates in Iowa. Plus, backlash to and fallout from Gov. Kim Reynolds’ veto of pipeline and property rights legislation.
The 33-year-old state senator from Coralville is the 3rd Democrat to announce in Iowa’s 2026 U.S. Senate election
This week on the podcast, the Iowa DOGE Task Force pitches fewer counties. Plus, two more candidates announce they’re running for governor.
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