Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau

The Iowa Insurance Division is warning of scam calls from individuals claiming to be representatives of Medicare plans, requesting Social Security numbers over the phone.

Iowa Democratic congressional candidate Taylor Wettach outlines a sweeping rural economic plan, former Sen. Jackie Smith backs Zach Wahls for U.S. Senate and MAHA Action endorses Republican Zach Lahn in the Iowa governor’s race.

National women’s PACs are jumping into Iowa’s 2026 races, with EMILYs List backing Dubuque Democrat Lindsay James and conservative PACs lining up behind Peosta Republican Shannon Lundgren in the race for northeast Iowa’s U.S. House seat.

Also in the almanac, two insulator union groups endorse different candidates in Iowa’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary

A special investigation by the Iowa State Auditor’s Office found Crossroads Behavioral Health Services mishandled or misused more than $180,000 in federal and opioid settlement funds. Meanwhile, a state partnership with Ancestry.com has digitized over 1 million Iowa historical records at no taxpayer cost.

Muscatine Democrat Taylor Wettach is touting an aggressive ethics and campaign-finance overhaul in Iowa’s 1st District race, arguing plans from rivals Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Christina Bohannan don’t go far enough to curb the influence of money in politics.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is rolling out new victim assistance tools and has joined a multi-state push to scrutinize a major rail merger. Plus, Iowa lands $82 million for cleaner transit vehicles, and state economic officials approve new business aid and community projects.

Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan are backing ethics measures that would ban congressional lawmakers from trading stocks.

Republican Iowa AG Brenna Bird on Wednesday celebrated that a California climate reporting law was paused by a U.S. appeals court after she filed a brief alongside 24 other GOP-led states urging the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a stay on the law.

Council Bluffs Mayor-elect Jill Shudak said her endorsement of Wahls is not against another Democratic candidate, state Rep. Josh Turek of Council Bluffs, who represents the city in the Iowa legislature.

Mitchell is one of three Republicans seeking the party’s nomination in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District

Larry McKibben, a former state senator, longtime Marshalltown attorney and past member of the Iowa Board of Regents, died Sunday at age 78.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson threw his support behind Republican Iowa U.S. Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks ahead of the 2026 midterm elections in Iowa’s competitive 1st Congressional District.

Also in the Notebook, Gov. Reynolds orders flags at half-staff to honor former Vice President Dick Cheney

Rob Sand, Randy Feenstra and Zach Wahls all announced new endorsements