Feenstra launches campaign for Iowa governor, pledging to ‘take Iowa to new heights’

Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra on Tuesday laid out his vision for “taking Iowa to new heights” as he officially launched his campaign for governor, pledging to make the state the nation’s most business- and agriculture-friendly by cutting and freezing property taxes.

In an interview with The Gazette, Feenstra said his platform centers on four goals: lowering and freezing property taxes to attract investment; ensuring world-class education from preschool through college; expanding career and trade opportunities to keep young Iowans in the state; and improving access to affordable, high-quality health care — particularly maternity care in rural areas.

“We want to make sure women have the ability to have maternity care that’s less than 20 minutes away,” Feenstra said. “And these are all things that we can do, and that’s why, in that ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ we created $50 billion to take care of rural Iowa.”

Feenstra defended his support for Republicans’ sweeping tax cut and spending bill, saying it included $50 billion to strengthen rural health care, and misleadingly accused Democrats of trying to strip those funds during the federal government shutdown.

Dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the law made deep cuts to federal health care programs, including Medicaid. Republicans created a $50 billion fund to help rural hospitals cope with the reductions. But health policy experts and rural advocates say that fund falls far short of offsetting Medicaid cuts expected to hit rural providers. Democrats argue they sought to reverse those reductions and restore more sustainable funding.

Feenstra, 56, represents Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, covering the state’s conservative western counties. A fourth-generation Iowan from Hull, he said his campaign will focus on small-town values and opportunity.

“For me, it’s all about going across Iowa and telling people how we’re going to create the American dream right here,” he said, adding he plans to campaign “from the west coast to the east coast of the state, and from north to south.”

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Trump ties and conservative record

Feenstra formally launched his campaign by framing himself as a “workhorse” conservative who will bring his small-town values and alliance with Trump to the governor’s office.

“I’m excited to officially launch our campaign to take Iowa to new heights,” he said in a statement. “In Congress, I worked with President Trump to deliver the largest tax cut in U.S. history, keep men out of women’s sports and bathrooms, and stop China from buying Iowa farmland. As governor, I will work with President Trump to advance the America First agenda in Iowa.”

Feenstra has made his work on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act central to his campaign message, calling it “the largest tax cut for Iowa families, farmers, workers, seniors, and small businesses in American history.”

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As a member of the powerful House Ways and Means and Agriculture committees, Feenstra helped craft and advance provisions that increased the federal estate tax exemption for farmers, raised standard deductions, expanded the child tax credit, and created a permanent 23 percent deduction for qualified small-business income. He also supported investments in biofuels, rural manufacturing, and export market development for U.S. farm goods.

Democrats have criticized the measure’s deep spending cuts — including an estimated $187 billion reduction to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next decade.

Despite pushback, Feenstra has continued to tout the law as proof of his record of cutting taxes and promoting Iowa’s economic interests.

He enters the Republican primary with a financial advantage over his rivals. Feenstra can transfer money from his federal campaign accounts to a state race and ended the most recent quarter with about $1.3 million in cash on hand. His exploratory committee reported raising $3.2 million shortly after its formation. Candidates for governor are not required to file state campaign finance disclosures until early next year.

From Pizza Ranch to politics

Feenstra grew up in Hull, where he met his wife, Lynette, while working at a local Pizza Ranch. The couple has been married 32 years and raised four children. His campaign biography highlights a work ethic shaped by early mornings on a paper route and shifts at a local bakery, followed by working in sales for a large candy company, teaching business at Dordt University, and overseeing insurance operations for Iowa State Bank branches in northwest Iowa.

Before his election to Congress in 2020, Feenstra served as Hull city administrator, Sioux County treasurer, and served in the Iowa Senate for 12 years.

Crowded field for open governor’s seat

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ decision not to seek re-election has opened Iowa’s 2026 gubernatorial race — the first without an incumbent since 2006.

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Who’s running for Iowa governor?

Republicans state Rep. Eddie Andrews of Johnston, Williamsburg pastor Brad Sherman, and former state administrative services director Adam Steen have entered the race, while state Sen. Mike Bousselot of Ankeny is exploring a campaign.

On the Democratic side, state auditor Rob Sand and political consultant Julie Stauch are running for the office.

Paul Dahl, a Webster City man who previously ran unsuccessfully for governor and Congress, announced his candidacy for governor in November 2024, but does not appear to be actively campaigning.

Launch video attacks Sand as ‘radical liberal’

Feenstra’s launch video frames his campaign as a choice between conservative leadership and what he called Sand’s “radical liberal” agenda.

Over images of cornfields and small-town life, a narrator declares, “In Iowa, the crops grow tall and strong. Randy Feenstra is no different.”

The video portrays Sand as a career politician motivated by ambition rather than service, calling him “a liberal liar” who “pretends to be one of us.”

On the campaign trail, Sand has continued to cast himself as an independent, saying he registered as a Democrat to participate in Iowa’s primary elections. Sand has said he chose to register as a Democrat because his faith “teaches me to be for the little guy,” adding, “I think the Democratic Party is the party for the little guy.”

Sand campaign fires back

The Sand campaign quickly fired back following Feenstra’s announcement, accusing him of launching a campaign “built on attacks instead of ideas.”

“Randy Feenstra just spent half his launch video misleading Iowans about Rob Sand, failing to mention a single way he himself will improve Iowans’ lives or the state’s poor rankings,” said Emma O’Brien, Sand’s communications director.

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She said Feenstra and other “insiders who have driven Iowa into the ground over the last 10 years of one-party rule” are threatened by Sand’s bipartisan appeal. O’Brien pointed to Sand’s town hall tour, where he answered questions and outlined his vision for an Iowa that rises above partisanship.

“Feenstra hid from Iowans during his time in Congress, failed to pass a Farm Bill, and now wants to double down on failed policies,” O’Brien said. “Iowans are fed up and ready for a new direction.”

Democrats denounce launch amid shutdown

Democrats were quick to criticize the timing of Feenstra’s campaign launch, arguing it underscored misplaced priorities amid the ongoing federal government shutdown, which has furloughed or left unpaid thousands of federal workers in the state.

“Iowans are ready for change — not more of the same status quo,” said Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart.

Hart accused Feenstra of prioritizing special interests and wealthy donors over working families, pointing to what she called Iowa’s sluggish economic growth, declining personal income and underfunded schools under Republican leadership. She blasted Feenstra’s record on taxes and spending, arguing that his support for the GOP tax law will raise costs for families, reduce health care access for tens of thousands of Iowans, and put rural hospitals at risk of closure.

“Iowans want a leader who will put them first, not special interests, political parties or the millionaires and billionaires that any of the Republican candidates for governor would prioritize,” Hart said.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com