Three Republican gubernatorial candidates will share their visions for Iowa in a debate hosted by Iowa PBS tonight, April 28.
State Rep. Eddie Andrews, former state Rep. Brad Sherman and former state administrator Adam Steen are attending the event.
U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra and businessman Zach Lahn have both decided not to participate.
The hour-long debate will begin at 7 p.m. and will air live on statewide Iowa PBS. It will also be streamed on iowapbs.org, YouTube and online here at The Des Moines Register.
It is being moderated by a panel of journalists, including Kay Henderson, host of Iowa Press; Erin Murphy, Des Moines bureau chief for The Gazette; and Brianne Pfannenstiel, chief politics reporter for the Register.
Feenstra entered the race as the likely frontrunner with higher name identification, millions of dollars in fundraising and high-profile backing from sitting and former Republican elected officials.
But he’s had difficulty connecting to factions of the GOP grassroots and consolidating widespread support within the party. His supporters say he’s focused on the general election rather than the primary.
That’s left an opening for his competitors, though they’ve yet to show an obvious surge of momentum as the primary season wanes.
Besides Feenstra, only Lahn and Steen have rolled out television ad campaigns — a key driver of name ID in a race where the candidates remain relatively unknown.
But Lahn also said he would not attend the debate, instead calling on Feenstra to participate in “series of discussions” with him across the state.
“Just had a great talk with PBS about an upcoming debate for our race, currently all but one of the candidates is willing to participate,” he posted to social media. “That being said, Randy Feenstra, in place of this I would like to invite you to a series of discussions across Iowa. No attacks, no smears. Just our competing ideas on how we make our state better.”
The primary election is June 2. Early voting begins May 13.
The winner of the Republican primary will face Democratic state Auditor Rob Sand in the general election.
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.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: The GOP gubernatorial primary debate is tonight. Here’s how to watch.
Reporting by Brianne Pfannenstiel, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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