Businessman Zach Lahn defeated Rep. Randy Feenstra in Iowa’s Republican primary for governor, NBC News projects, as party voters rejected President Donald Trump’s late endorsement in the race.
Earlier Tuesday night, Billy Fuerst, a spokesperson for Feenstra’s campaign, confirmed that he had conceded to Lahn.
It’s the first time in the midterm elections that a Trump-backed candidate for governor, the House or the Senate has lost a primary.
With 99% of the expected vote counted, Lahn had 37.8% of the vote to 37% for Feenstra.
“Clearly a Randy problem. Barely won his own district,” a Trump world strategist said in a text message. “But, it is what it is. So we go with Lahn. That’s fine. He did well.”
If no candidate had won at least 35% of the vote, the contest would have been thrown to a state convention later in the month.
Lahn aligned himself with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, and an outside group supporting him painted Feenstra as soft on immigration.
He also appeared to benefit from an endorsement of his own — that of former Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who lost to Feenstra in a bitter 2020 House primary. Lahn was leading Feenstra in 16 of the 19 counties King won in that contest when the race was called.
Feenstra portrayed himself as a loyal ally of Trump, using Trump’s late endorsement in his closing argument ad after he received it last week. He had also gone after Lahn for investing in a company that sells sex toys.
Former state government official Adam Steen was in a distant third place with about 15%.
Now Lahn will face Rob Sand, the Democratic nominee, who already has been able to focus his energy on November’s general election because he did not have a primary opponent.
Sand, the state auditor, has generated attention inside and outside the state with an anti-establishment message that takes shots at both parties and has him promising to be a governor “for all of Iowa.”
Even some Republicans in the state say Sand has run a strong campaign.
“It’s a toss-up, tight race,” said Will Rogers, a former GOP chairman for Polk County, which includes Des Moines. “Rob Sand is no dummy. He’s a sharp political operator, and I know they’ve already been doing a lot of ground-game work here in central Iowa and other parts of the state that had been neglected or outright ignored” by previous Democrats.
Sand is the only statewide elected Democrat in Iowa. The last Democrat to win a top-of-the-ticket race for president, senator or governor in Iowa was Barack Obama in 2012, and Trump has won the state three times since then. He won by the largest margin, 56% to 43%, in 2024.
While Trump retains the support of the vast majority of Iowa Republicans, some are struggling with his economic policies, including tariffs that have hurt farmers. They may be less motivated to go to the polls — especially without him on the ballot — and some may choose to send a message by voting for Democrats.
The GOP lost a proven vote-getter when Gov. Kim Reynolds decided not to seek a third full term this year. Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, who is finishing her second term, made the same choice.
With the governor’s race, the Senate race and the races in three of the four Republican-held House seats all considered competitive, Republicans are counting on newer candidates to step up.
