The dust is settling on a primary election night in Iowa that saw some expected victories, the conclusions to some aggressive intraparty battles and one major upset.
Here are five major takeaways from Election Day in Iowa.
Trump’s endorsement fails to get Feenstra over the line
In a rare loss for President Donald Trump, his last-minute endorsement of U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra failed to propel the congressman to victory in Iowa’s crowded Republican governor’s race.
Feenstra narrowly lost to businessman Zach Lahn, who topped the field with 37.6% of the vote to Feenstra’s 36.9%, according to unofficial results from the Iowa Secretary of State.
Former state administrator Adam Steen won 14.5%, former state Rep. Brad Sherman received 7% and state Rep. Eddie Andrews received 3.6%.
Going into Tuesday’s elections, Trump had a 100% win rate in all 118 House, Senate and governor’s races where he had endorsed candidates this year, according to Fox News.
Trump’s other endorsed candidates in Iowa all won their races June 2.
They include U.S. Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, 1st Congressional District nominee Mariannette Miller-Meeks, 2nd Congressional District nominee Joe Mitchell, 3rd Congressional District nominee Zach Nunn and 4th Congressional District nominee Chris McGowan.
Zach Lahn pulls off stunning upset in governor’s race
Lahn, a first-time candidate, pulled off an upset over presumed frontrunner Feenstra in Iowa’s Republican governor primary.
Lahn is a businessman, entrepreneur and farmer who has aligned himself with Robert Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement.
On the campaign trail, he has targeted Iowa’s rising cancer rates and water quality problems, directly linking those issues to big agriculture in the state. He has also focused much of his message on fighting special interests and corporate monopolies.
During the primary campaign, Lahn aired a series of TV ads emphasizing his conservative roots, arguing that “Marxists” have “hijacked” public school curricula and that government jobs should not go to H-1B visa holders in an effort to end illegal immigration.
He secured endorsements from MAHA Action PAC and Turning Point USA, the group founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Now he’ll face off against state Auditor Rob Sand, who was uncontested for the Democratic nomination.
Iowa’s Senate seat grows more competitive with Josh Turek nomination
A pair of election forecasters are shifting Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat to a more competitive category with the nomination of Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek.
Turek, of Council Bluffs, defeated state Sen. Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, 63% to 37%.
Turek, a gold medal-winning Paralympian who was born with spina bifida and uses a wheelchair, argued he is “battle tested” after winning his Iowa House seat in a western Iowa district that Trump also carried in 2024.
As the race was called for Turek, independent elections analysts at Sabato’s Crystal Ball shifted their rating of the race from a “likely Republican” victory to the more competitive “leans Republican.”
Also on June 2, the Cook Political Report shifted its own rating from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican.”
Republican nominee U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson maintains a formidable financial advantage over Turek. And both Republicans and Democrats plan to spend heavily in Iowa this fall to boost their candidates.
“Even though Hinson is a strong candidate who has amassed a formidable war chest, the overall environment in the Hawkeye State is an increasingly favorable one for Democrats, given backlash to tariffs and rising fuel and fertilizer prices as a result of the Iran War,” Jessica Taylor, Senate and governors editor for the Cook Political Report, wrote in her analysis.
Three of Iowa’s congressional districts could be competitive this fall
Iowa is expected to be home to some of the most hotly-contested congressional races in the country this year.
In southeast Iowa’s 1st District, Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks faces a rematch from Democrat Christina Bohannan after both candidates overcame primary challengers.
Bohannan lost to Miller-Meeks in 2024 by roughly 800 votes.
In the 3rd District in central Iowa, Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn will face Democratic state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott. Both were uncontested for the nomination.
And state Rep. Lindsay James won a three-person primary in northeast Iowa’s 2nd District. She will face off against former state Rep. Joe Mitchell, who won his own primary.
While not considered as competitive as the 1st and 3rd districts, Democrats won the 2nd District as recently as 2018.
Dave Dawson won the Democratic nomination in the 4th District, where he will face Republican nominee Chris McGowan. But Republicans are heavily favored in the conservative western Iowa district.
Three Iowa lawmakers lose their primary races
Three Iowa House lawmakers — two Republicans and one Democrat — lost to primary challengers Tuesday night.
Rep. Brian Lohse, R-Bondurant, lost the Republican nomination to Austin Stubbs in Iowa House District 45, which includes Bondurant, Polk City and Mitchellville in Polk County.
Stubbs won handily over Lohse, 75% to 25%.
Rep. Jane Bloomingdale, R-Northwood, lost her primary to Dani Ollenburg in Iowa House District 60 in Mitchell, Worth, Cerro Gordo and Floyd counties.
Ollenburg won 58% of the vote to Bloomingdale’s 42%.
Lohse and Bloomingdale were the only two sitting GOP representatives to lose their primaries of the 10 who faced challengers.
And on the Democratic side, state Rep. Ken Croken, D-Davenport, lost to challenger Adam Peters in Iowa House District 97 in Daveport.
Peters won with 63% of the vote to Croken’s 37%.
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. She writes about campaigns, elections and the Iowa Caucuses. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on X at @brianneDMR.
Stephen Gruber-Miller is the Capitol bureau chief for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com, by phone at 515-284-8169 or on X at @sgrubermiller.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: A stunning upset, a failed Trump endorsement — 5 Iowa election lessons
Reporting by Brianne Pfannenstiel and Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
