[Kay Henderson] Friday marked a second procedural deadline of this legislative session.

We'll talk about what's happening at the statehouse and the 2026 elections with our roundtable of political reporters on this edition of Iowa Press.

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Celebrating more than 50 years on statewide Iowa PBS, this is the Friday, March 20th edition of Iowa Press.

Here is Kay Henderson.

♪♪ [Henderson] We are on the cusp of spring, and we have already passed a couple of deadlines in Iowa, one of which was the deadline for candidates to file to participate in the Republican and Democratic Party primaries coming up on June 2nd.

Also, there was a deadline of sorts in the legislature.

We'll talk about that in a moment.

And when I say we, I mean a group of reporters who've been following all of this stuff for you, and we're going to share their reporting.

They are Stephen Gruber-Miller.

He is the Capitol bureau chief for the Des Moines Register.

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register.

And also, Erin Murphy is here.

He is the Des Moines bureau chief for the Gazette in Cedar Rapids.

Okay, Brianne, let's start with the primary deadline for filing your nomination petitions.

They have to have a bunch of signatures on it.

What did we learn?

What were the surprises?

[Brianne Pfannenstiel] Well, we learned quite a bit.

So this is a key deadline, as you mentioned.

And it can kind of weed out some of the candidates who aren't able to get, you know, the necessary signatures, can't put together kind of the infrastructure that they need.

So the governor's race is one that we saw narrow.

The Democratic primary for governor now will feature just state auditor Rob Sand on the ballot.

Julie Stout, she's a consultant, a political strategist.

She filed her paperwork early in the week.

Surprise.

Friday afternoon, got a call from the secretary of state that she was missing some key signatures in several counties that she needed.

So she will not be on that primary ballot in in June.

It will just be.

Rob sand on the Republican side, we've got five Republicans who ended up making it on the ballot.

At this point, there's still a possibility that those can be challenged.

And those signatures may come under question.

But we've got, Brad Sherman, Adam Steen, Zach Lane, Randy Feenstra and Eddie Andrews, who have all made that ballot at this point.

So that's a five person race.

It's still pretty, pretty boisterous, as it were.

[Henderson] And we have a Senate race that, you know, started out, you know, if we were six months ago, we'd be talking about a lot of candidates.

Erin, we're only talking about two.

[Erin Murphy] In the Democratic primary.

Yeah.

We have primaries in both Republican and Democratic fields of that race, probably a little more competitive on the Democratic side.

A couple of state legislators, Josh Turk from the House from Council Bluffs and Zach Wahls from the Senate from Coralville.

And that's going to be a very interesting primary to see unfold over these next few weeks.

[Henderson] Stephen, we saw a surprise in the fourth Congressional District.

There had been several forums at which a handful of candidates are there to answer questions from voters, and it turned out that we just had one left standing in.

Chris McGowan.

Were there other surprises in the lineup and Iowa's four congressional seats?

[Stephen Gruber-Miller] Yeah, we've seen a lot of the races really narrowed down.

And in part it's because of things like endorsements from President Donald Trump.

Right?

That's what sort of helped clear the field for Chris McGowan.

There were several candidates running in the Republican primary in the fourth district.

McGowan had been leading in fundraising already.

He got the Trump endorsement.

And that really caused those other competitors to to realize that they didn't have a realistic shot.

[Henderson] And, you know, we have a potential rematch in the First District with Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

She has a common foe in the Republican primary again.

And then on the Democratic side, there's also a two way primary.

[Pfannenstiel] That's right.

That's that's kind of a rematch for her.

And so we'll see what happens there.

[Henderson] Let's shift to endorsements, because we've seen a lot of those in the past week or so.

Erin, what's going on in the governor's race among the Republicans?

[Murphy] Yeah, we had on the same day this past week.

And please don't ask me which one, because all the days melt together when you're covering the legislative session.

But in the early afternoon, Bob Vander Plaats of the Family Leader Christian conservative advocacy organization, very broad in its scope and influence among that sort of bloc of voters in the state, which is very critical in Republican primaries, announced that the organization itself was endorsing Adam Steen, the former state agency head for governor, which is a big deal in a field where Congressman Randy Feenstra is sort of considered the favorite.

And that's also a big deal because it's again, it's the organization, not just Bob Vander Plaats, which is an important distinction because of the work that that organization can now do on behalf of of Adam Steen's campaign.

Later that same day, in an op ed in my newspaper, former Governor Terry Branstad, the longest serving governor in U.S.

History, endorsed Feenstra.

So that was a fascinating day with those sort of competing endorsements in, again, another very competitive primary that's going to be interesting to watch.

[Henderson] Stephen, there was also some endorsement action in the U.S.

Senate race.

[Gruber-Miller] Yeah.

We're starting to see this Democratic Senate primary get some attention from national figures.

I think now that primaries in some other states like Texas, for instance, are past us, some more attention might be turning to Iowa.

And so that manifested in the form of three sort of swing state senators, Bob Casey, Catherine Cortez Masto and Maggie Hassan endorsing Josh Turek.

And then Zach Wahls responded with an endorsement from Elizabeth Warren, former presidential candidate, Massachusetts senator.

So, The national figures are starting to weigh in here a little bit.

The tourist endorsements are maybe seen as more centrist.

Elizabeth Warren is really seen as a progressive.

So that might be clues for some people about kind of where support for each of these candidates are coming from.

[Henderson] And Brianne, on the Republican side, the coveted endorsement here is with President Trump.

And we saw in the U.S.

Senate race that Ashley Hinson got it almost the moment that she announced that she was running in September.

And she faces a primary challenge from Jim Carlin, a former state legislator.

What is the value of a Trump endorsement in a GOP primary?

[Pfannenstiel] I think the value of Donald Trump to these Republicans is, is invaluable this election cycle.

Having a conversation with Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, he, he basically said that, you know, Donald Trump is not on the ballot, but we still need those Trump voters to turn out.

And we need to do everything we possibly can as a party to make sure that they show up and that they see these down ballot candidates, these Republicans running for various offices across the state to, to, to see them as, as worth showing up and voting for just as much as Donald Trump.

So we're seeing these candidates do everything they possibly can to tie themselves to Donald Trump.

So that endorsement is super important.

We've seen it in every congressional race so far, but we've yet to see it in the gubernatorial primary.

That's something that Randy Feenstra has really, you know, put out there that he would like to see that he's working to earn from Donald Trump, but has not yet received.

[Henderson] Are there any other endorsements out there, guys that you think could really be valuable to someone?

Do endorsements matter?

[Murphy] Well, let me answer your second question first.

And it's going to be in the face of what we just have been talking about.

I think generally the answer to that question is no.

However, there are always exceptions to the rules, and the one we've been just talking about is maybe the biggest one.

Obviously, yes, the endorsement of Donald Trump matters hugely, as Brianne and Stephen have both already clearly, clearly pointed out in these Republican primaries.

And even to the ones I talked about, like I said, the family leader, one probably matters just because of the the campaign mechanisms that can go in place now, the support they can provide.

Adam Steen's campaign and for Randy Feenstra, if you're going to get a gubernatorial endorsement, the longest serving one in history is not a bad one.

But largely know when a voter goes to a primary voting booth and they're deciding whether to pull the lever, they're not deciding that based on what US senator, what state senator or what House member, what local activist, whether they endorse that candidate or not, they have their own reasons that are much more personal.

[Gruber-Miller] I would say.

You know, sometimes it can be a clue for people who haven't been following the races closely.

Oh, I know who this is.

And they support this person.

I would say in the Democratic Senate primary, maybe one that a lot of people are curious if they'll weigh in is former U.S.

Senator Tom Harkin.

This would be his Senate seat that's up on the ballot this year.

He knows both of the Democrats running.

I'm not sure whether he will jump in, but I think if he did, a lot of people would pay attention to that.

[Henderson] Moving on to what else happens in a primary, debates, this network, Iowa PBS, has sponsored debates in the past among candidates who are running for statewide office for governor and U.S.

Senate.

And I know that invitations have been issued to the crop of Republicans and Democrats who are running in 2026.

After the filing deadline.

Brianne, again, what's the value of a debate and would it have more value in this particular instance when you have so many candidates on the GOP side?

[Pfannenstiel] Yeah, I think debates can be hugely impactful.

And sometimes you run the gamut, right?

You can have a debate that really kind of cements what what voters may be already know.

But I'll take us back to the summer of 2024, when Joe Biden was about to be debating Donald Trump.

And I had a pre-scheduled vacation planned and said, you know, debates don't matter, and checked out and came back to see that the whole race had changed.

So debates have the potential to really shift the narrative and change the way that people see, see these candidates, especially early on, where they're still trying to establish themselves in the field.

And I would say particularly in primaries, right, where you've got different messengers and oftentimes very, very different messages from these candidates.

I'll be interested to see, you know, if the Republican governor candidates debate, if these Senate Democrats debate, I think those are going to be very clarifying for people and kind of figuring out who these who these people are because they haven't had a chance to be on TV.

They've gone out and started campaigning, but it's probably mostly your activists, the people who are really engaged in politics, who've seen them close up.

And this is really an opportunity for voters to see them at, at kind of an extended period of time and understand where they're coming from.

So I think in that sense, especially in primaries and especially early in a campaign cycle, debates can be hugely important.

[Henderson] And Erin, the debate in 2014 featuring Joni Ernst and the others that were running against her seemed to be important as well.

[Murphy] Yeah.

There's to Brianne's point, there's debates can very much not matter and just kind of fade into the woodwork of a long campaign.

But there are moments that happen sometimes that can launch a candidate or can bury a candidate in.

In the case of missteps.

So.

So yes, they can absolutely be impactful.

And forgive me for kind of repeating, but I 100% agree with Brianne that that especially in races like these that we're talking about this year.

There's a certain element of introduction that still has to happen with a lot of these candidates to a lot of Iowa voters, and that's what those debates can do.

[Henderson] Stephen, let us talk about the Iowa legislature, such as it is at this moment.

Let's just brief people on what has the legislature accomplished that the governor has signed into law?

[Gruber-Miller] Yeah, the governor has signed just two bills into law so far.

There are some others on her desk, but the only two she has signed are the annual funding increase for for K-12 education and a bill that prevents local city governments from having ordinances that protect civil rights more broadly than the State Civil Rights Act, which removed gender identity protections last year.

So that's that's all she signed so far.

There are, as you might imagine, a lot of other issues out there, including two of the big ones that they had promised to address coming in property taxes and eminent domain, and they haven't reached resolution on either of those, which we'll talk about a little bit more.

[Henderson] Okay.

Before we do, though, Erin, this past week for people who pay attention to the legislature, let's give a little bit more context.

The governor has outlined a plan for Iowa to draw down more federal funds for the Medicaid program, and the House took action on a bill on Thursday.

What does that bill do?

[Murphy] Yeah, it basically puts a temporary increase on a tax that is placed on health insurance plans in Iowa.

And then it's a way to help the state pay for Medicaid, which is growing ever more expensive.

And it was as you noted, it was a sort of mechanism that was made available by the federal government to the states.

Iowa would like to take advantage of it to help cover its its Medicaid spending.

And it's been a fascinating debate to watch because you have so many things going on, not the least of which is Republicans passing a tax increase, which even on a short term, I think this is a nine month span that this would cover is not something that they're usually excited to do.

And then you have the insurance companies that are very upset about this and pushing back very hard at the legislation and expressing their displeasure in very strong words up at the statehouse that we're not always used to.

Usually, the state has been seen as very friendly to insurance companies, which is how Des Moines became the insurance capital of the Midwest, or whatever the official unofficial title is.

So it's been a very fascinating legislative debate to follow.

[Gruber-Miller] And Democrats would love nothing more than for this narrative to be Republicans raise taxes on health care in an election year.

So that's what they were really trying to hammer into the debate.

And, you know, these insurance companies testifying on this bill have said they will pass on this tax increase in the increase in the form of rate increases.

Republicans pushed back really strongly during debate saying these insurance companies are profitable.

They don't need to pass on those increases.

And in fact, you know, this is a responsible move to take in those federal dollars by raising the state tax temporarily, and that we have a shortfall in the state's Medicaid budget.

And there needs to be some money coming in to address that.

And this is one way to do it.

[Henderson] Also, this week, a procedural deadline, the so-called final deadline for the progress of policy bills in the legislature.

And, I'll just throw this out here is, is any policy proposal truly dead or is it just comic book dead?

[Laughter] [Murphy] It's just comic book character dead.

They can always come back to life at any given moment.

Yeah.

And that's always the caveat that these deadlines are set up to sort of winnow the focus of legislation as it moves on, but leaders have multiple ways that they can resurrect any bill at any point that they want.

[Henderson] Is there anything in particular that people are watching as the most to be revived?

[Murphy] Yeah.

There's, one in particular that both Speaker Grassley and Leader Clemens were outwardly talked about that is still very much on the table, as the legislation that would require an in-person visit to receive abortion medication.

Sort of taking a putting constraints on telemedicine in that field.

So that's one that we fully expect to hear come back around as the session moves on, even though technically it's dead.

[Henderson] Anything that appears dead, dead.

[Gruber-Miller] Dead, dead.

There are some things that that are dead, dead.

And watch me get myself in trouble by naming the wrong ones.

But it seems clear that there's not going to be support for bills that would place restrictions on libraries that aimed at sort of stopping minors from accessing books.

Maybe that have more adult content.

Republicans in the Senate, including Majority Leader Klimesh, have said that they are not interested in moving forward a bill that would allow some community colleges to offer four year degree programs in specific fields.

And, then I don't want to call this one dead.

Dead.

But both Grassley and Klimesh made it clear that it's a hard ask to ask them to raise the tobacco tax, the tax on cigarettes this year, as Governor Reynolds has requested.

[Henderson] You mentioned Governor Reynolds and, Brianne, I want to bring you in on this.

She's entering her final year as governor.

She obviously still has influence since she has the pen to sign or veto things.

As you look at what her influence is at this moment, what would what would your assessment be?

[Pfannenstiel] Well, I think it stands in pretty stark contrast to, to maybe what was the peak of her political influence, kind of right around the 2022 election cycle.

She was kind of a force to be reckoned with at that time.

She won her own reelection by double digits.

She she had this massive bus tour across the state where she pulled other Republicans along with her.

It was a great year for Republicans.

She she really helped to kind of lift, lift all boats that year.

And she really used that power pretty aggressively immediately.

You know, challenging, Republicans in the legislature who opposed s was one of her signature policy proposals.

So she and then she immediately turned around and got involved in the caucuses.

She endorsed Ron DeSantis against Donald Trump that year.

So we really saw her kind of at the height of her powers.

And I would say that that has changed pretty significantly.

You know, there's been blowback to to some things that she's done, including vetoing eminent domain legislation at the end of last year.

And, and I think, you know, we'll see how that plays out in the degree to which lawmakers want to kind of give her what she, she would like to have done.

But I think we'll also see it play out on the campaign trail.

You know, people talk about Donald Trump maybe being the boogeyman for Democrats, but, Rob sand when he had a gaggle with reporters up at the Capitol, he, he said all of these Republicans would continue the Kim Reynolds agenda.

So he's really bringing her in and tying her as the person that that people should run against.

And he's trying to attract Republicans and independents to that race.

So I, I think we'll see how much power she has to move some of these big things across the finish line, including property taxes.

[Henderson] We'll get to property taxes.

But Brianne just mentioned eminent domain.

At the beginning of this session, the House passed yet another of its eminent domain carbon capture pipeline proposals.

And it is over in the Senate at this point.

Does that, I guess, sort of foretell that nothing again is going to happen on eminent domain?

[Gruber-Miller] I will say that what we heard from leader Klimesh at the beginning of the session is that he wanted to get this issue resolved quickly.

It has not been resolved.

So that would suggest to me that there are still some issues to be worked through on that.

And he told us this week that he's continuing to have conversations.

Just to recap, the House passed a bill that would ban eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines.

Klimesh has his own bill that would say, basically, you have to exhaust all alternatives before you can use eminent domain.

It would allow it would widen the path that pipelines can be built.

He says this would basically eliminate the need to use it, but the opponents say it doesn't actually eliminate it.

So that's kind of where the sticking point is.

And, you know, they're having those conversations behind the scenes.

But again, you know, it hasn't come up for a vote, which suggests to me that there's issues getting the votes.

[Murphy] Yeah.

The problem here, the issue here is that this isn't just even necessarily a straight policy disagreement.

There's almost there's like a philosophical, ideological difference in approaches between the House Republicans and the Senate Republicans.

As Stephen just described, House Republicans are fine.

Almost want to pass a bill that would effectively kill the pipeline project and Senate Republicans that's currently proposed out there.

And Senate Republicans don't want to go that far.

And how they bridge that gap is a question that has remained unanswered for literal multiple years, as you've noted, and I haven't seen any indication yet that they're going to be able to do that this year.

[Henderson] Speaking of bridging the gap, Stephen, Governor Reynolds unveiled a property tax proposal in January when she delivered her annual condition of the state message.

We've seen a proposal from House Republicans get a little bit revamped this past week, and Senate Republicans released theirs several weeks ago.

What's going to happen?

[Gruber-Miller] Yeah.

And it's not unusual for, you know, the governor, the House and the Senate to all to have their own proposals.

This year, the governor and the House are much closer in what they're trying to do, which is maybe a change from previous years when it seemed like often the governor in the Senate were on the same page this year, the Senate's plan is pretty different than the House plan.

And, Senator Dan Dawson, who's been the lead author of that Senate bill, has said we really need to do more than just a band aid.

We need to really redo basically the way the entire property tax system works, which is complicated because it affects cities and counties and schools.

And, you know, there's a lot of moving parts to the property tax system.

So the House and governor plan is a little bit simpler.

2% cap on on revenue growth, the Senate plan, a lot more complex, a lot of moving parts.

And, you know, last year we we saw the Republicans come into the session and say, this is the number one priority.

And they left without getting something done.

This year, it's an election year.

The pressure might be on, but at the same time the clock is winding down, so they're running out of time.

[Henderson] Speaking of the clock winding down, we have about 90s left, Erin.

Legislators haven't even started crafting a state budget.

And that is the number one task of the Iowa legislature is to produce an annual budget.

What's going on?

Why are they, at this point so far behind in drafting?

[Murphy] Well, we just got the latest big revenue estimates about a week or so ago.

So now they at least have that from the LSA to start working on those numbers.

We expect to hear those budget targets soon.

The problem is the same it's been for the last couple of years.

There's not as much money coming in as there are as the state spending because of the recent income tax cuts.

So they have to use reserve funds to cover that state budget shortfall.

And that's going to be a fascinating process.

Again, as they they work through that and making sure that they have enough money to, to cover all the services that they've planned.

I assume that work, now that we're past that funnel, that work will really pick up, in the coming weeks.

[Henderson] Brianne about 30s left.

We've talked about a lot of issues at the state House.

When you look at the 2026 race, do you think state House issues will be predominant or do you think something else is going on?

[Pfannenstiel] I think it varies across the different races.

And it's interesting to have a governor's race where I think state issues are going to be really preeminent.

And and I think what happens at the state House is going to affect a lot of these races, whether they, you know, can, can, can finish property taxes.

That was a big promise they made to voters.

Adam Steen has said that if they don't get eminent domain done, it's going to be a big problem for them in the governor's race.

So I think all of these things are going to trickle through.

[Henderson] Well, we have no more time for our discussion, but we will assemble again later, in a few months to sort of review what's going on.

Thanks for watching this edition of Iowa Press.

For everyone here at Iowa PBS, have a good day.

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