Trump-endorsed Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) conceded in a tightly contested GOP primary for Governor of Iowa.

Feenstra lost to MAHA-backed Zach Lahn, a businessman and farmer, by a razor-thin margin.

“With 99% of the expected vote counted, Lahn had 37.8% of the vote to 37% for Feenstra,” NBC News noted.

It’s the first time in the 2026 midterm elections that a Trump-endorsed candidate for governor, the House, or the Senate lost a primary.

Lahn campaigned on an “Iowa First” message.

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In his speech to supporters gathered in West Des Moines Tuesday night, Lahn shared the story of his family farm, how the family lost it in 2005 and how he got it back in 2014 to raise his family there.

“I fear every day we are losing the Iowa we love. We’ve lost 10,000 family farms since 2000. Our young people are leaving faster than 46 other states because they don’t see enough opportunity here,” Lahn said. “Wall Street hedge funds and foreign interests are buying and selling their land, driving up costs, so our kids are priced out of the market. They treat Iowa land like it’s a commodity instead of our inheritance. They treat us like numbers, not neighbors. This is over when I’m governor.”

As governor, Lahn said he would ban secret land ownership and tax hedge funds to bring money back to Iowa families as well as “take on the big ag cartels and break up their monopolies.”

He also brought up Iowa’s high cancer rates, saying he will find out what “big ag and big pharma” companies know about the safety of their products and direct state universities to fight the cancer rates.

“It’s hard to talk about, but we must talk about it. Iowa has the fastest growing cancer rate in the world,” Lahn said. “We all know something is terribly wrong, but too many politicians from Washington, D.C., to Des Moines have had their heads stuck in the sand, while big ag and big pharma printed money. This will not go on when I’m governor.”

The fight to lower Iowa’s cancer rates “should have happened long ago,” Lahn said, but “politicians like Rob Sand” have ignored it as “corporate interests have pillaged our state.”

“Congratulations to Zach Lahn on his victory! He will be a great Governor for all Iowans. Iowa is one of the most important states in the nation. Proud of our team @TPAction and the work ahead to deliver more MAGA and MAHA wins for the President,” Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk said.

Lahn will face Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand in November’s general election.

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Sand was the only candidate in the Democratic primary.

NBC News shared further:

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.

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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.

Watch Lahn’s victory speech below:

 

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