MAYA MARCHEL HOFFand ERIN MURPHY Lee-Gazette Des Moines Bureau MAYA MARCHEL HOFFand ERIN MURPHY Lee-Gazette Des Moines Bureau
DES MOINES — The 2026 general election is more than a year away, but candidates nonetheless are participating in the time-honored tradition of greeting Iowans at the State Fair.
Iowans will elect a new governor in 2026 – Republican incumbent Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has held the post since 2017, announced earlier this year she will not seek re-election. And they will elect a U.S. senator – Republican incumbent Joni Ernst has not yet said whether she plans to run for another term.
There are already four Republicans and two Democrats running in the gubernatorial election, and four Democrats running in the U.S. Senate campaign. And that doesn’t include Iowa’s four U.S. House elections.
Many of those candidates – and other politicians – are expected to appear at the Iowa State Fair. The Lee-Gazette Des Moines Bureau will cover those candidates’ appearances at the fairgrounds.
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The Iowa State Fair started Aug. 7 and runs through Aug. 17.
Iowa’s primary election is June 2, 2026, and the general election is Nov. 3, 2026.
Mike Bousselot
Election: Governor
Party: Republican
Other Republicans running: Eddie Andrews, Brad Sherman, Randy Feenstra
Incumbent: None (Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds is not seeking re-election)
Bousselot, a state legislator from Ankeny, has been campaigning across the state as he considers a full-blown run for governor. He said he will decide by Labor Day.
Bousselot’s political experience includes helping to encourage former Gov. Terry Branstad in 2010 to run for a second stint as governor, then serving as Branstad’s legal counsel and chief of staff.
“This summer, I’ve spent a lot of time traveling the state, listening to voters, raising money, and just trying to understand what the election is going to look like,” Bousselot said Sunday at the Republican Party of Iowa’s booth. “And it’s been a really positive response. But it’s not something I take lightly. I know very closely what that job looks like, both to campaign for and win. So I’m prayerfully considering it with my family and friends in terms of what the next step is.”
Bousselot said he continues to hear from Iowans about their property taxes, an issue legislators have attempted to address in recent years. At a recent candidate event, Bousselot said he is working on a plan to completely phase out state individual property taxes.
“This is a growing state, a state that people have a lot of pride in, and they want it to be a place where people want to continue to live, invest in and grow,” Bousselot said. “So property taxes are a huge inhibitor for families staying in rural Iowa, for businesses moving to Iowa, for growing in Iowa. That’s one thing that’s really resonated. We have to lower that property tax burden. We can control that.”
Ryan Peterman
Election: Iowa Secretary of State
Party: Democrat
Other Democrats running: None
Incumbent: Paul Pate
Since launching his campaign for Iowa Secretary of State, Democrat Ryan Peterman has been traveling the state and talking to Iowans, from Sioux City to Davenport. Peterman, standing by the Iowa Democratic Party’s state fair booth, said he’s seen an excited response to his campaign so far.
“I want the people to have the power to decide our elections and I would never try to shape an election in a way that would benefit me, personally or politically,” Peterman said.
Peterman, a former U.S. Navy pilot from Davenport, jumped into the race in May. He’s heard concerns from Iowans regarding recently enacted voting laws, including one passed by the Iowa Legislature this year, allowing voters to have their citizenship status challenged at the polls.
“The big problem with that (legislation) is it doesn’t tell anyone how they can rectify or prove that they are, in fact, a citizen,” Peterman said. “I’ve heard concerns about the reduction in time that we have to vote.”
Paul Pate
Election: Iowa Secretary of State
Party: Republican
Other Republicans running: None
Incumbent: Paul Pate
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said while he’s focusing on his reelection campaign, he is also concentrating on his current job as the local 2025 election season nears.
“I’m more focused on doing my day job, and we’re pretty busy,” Pate said in between talking to fairgoers at the Iowa secretary of state fair booth Saturday. “We have the State Fair, obviously, where we’re encouraging Iowans to learn about how to vote, and we’re also encouraging businesses to know what services we have available.”
Pate will be running for a fifth four-year term as Iowa’s secretary of state. He has held the office for the past three terms, since 2015; he previously held it for one term, from 1995 to 1999.
Pate said while he feels good about the state of Iowa’s election system, he said he will continue to combat misinformation about elections.
“Don’t want to rest on your laurels,” Pate said. “We want to make sure we’re battling the myths and disinformation all the time, letting them know this is the facts.”
Ashley WolfTornabane
Election: Iowa’s 4th Congressional District
Party: Democrat
Other Democrats running: Stephanie Steiner
Incumbent: Randy Feenstra
Less than two months after kicking off her congressional campaign in July, Ashley WolfTornabane said she’s been traveling to county fairs across the 36-county district and connecting with voters through listening sessions.
“We’re hearing a lot of things about the economy,” WolfTornabane said. “People are having a hard time, and they’re living paycheck to paycheck, and people getting kicked off of their Medicaid.”
WolfTornabane, a stay-at-home mom from Storm Lake, is running in the reddest congressional district in Iowa. She said she is talking to people from across the political spectrum about the issues that they care most about.
“I don’t really even introduce myself as a Democrat, not because I’m ashamed, just because I’m a human and I just want to represent their voice, and that’s whether they’re a Democrat, Republican or independent,” WolfTornabane said. “I just want everybody to have a voice. I don’t think that the people of our district really have a voice right now. Instead, the representatives for our district have been representing the billionaires and special interests.”
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