G.O.P. Fatigue in Iowa Strains the Republican Primary for Governor

The five Republican candidates vying for their party’s nomination to be Iowa’s next governor mirror one another on policy issues: Abortions must be outlawed, as most are in Iowa; school choice, already state law, should be expanded; and religious freedoms must be protected, as they already are. But as they sprint toward the June 2 primary under such familiar Republican themes, the three top candidates — Representative Randy Feenstra; Zach Lahn, a farmer and businessman; and Adam Steen, a former aide to the governor he hopes to succeed, Kim Reynolds — can seem oddly removed from the political environment around them. Instead, with early voting set to start Wednesday, they are focused on one another, in a bare-knuckle, personality-focused primary fight that appears removed from the underlying issues that have made 2026 such a tough year for Republicans. And Democrats, outnumbered in voter registration and out of power for years, are the ones showing confidence in their presumptive nominee for governor, the state auditor Rob Sand. “The Democrats see the environment; I think they see Republicans are divided,” said Bob Vander Plaats, an influential Christian conservative in Iowa whose endorsement has been long sought-after by G.O.P. candidates. They see there is a fracture in the party,” he continued, “and they believe that Rob Sand, who comes off a churchgoing, gun-toting taxpayer watchdog, they believe he’s the kind of candidate that can win back the governorship.”