U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra is one of five Republican candidates hoping to represent his party in the 2026 Iowa gubernatorial election.

Feenstra, who grew up in the small town of Hull, said he is running as a fourth-generation Iowan to take the state to “new heights,” adding that he worked with President Donald Trump on a tax cut he describes as the “largest” in American history.

“I’m in my third term in the U.S. Congress, where I worked with President Trump and wrote the largest tax cut in U.S. history,” Feenstra said. “I’m running for governor because I want to take this state to new heights. I want to make sure that we make Iowa the best state in the country.”

Before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Feenstra served in the Iowa Senate for 12 years, worked as a city administrator, the Sioux County treasurer and was a sales manager for the Foreign Candy Company in Hull, which is credited as the first American company to import the popular candy “Warheads” from Europe.

Feenstra said he has also worked as a volunteer EMT for 15 years, and wants to ensure high-quality and affordable health care for Iowans.

“For me, it’s all about making sure that ambulances show up within minutes and not hours, making sure that we lower the health care premiums for our families and for our small businesses, reduce pharmaceutical costs, and make sure that we protect our rural hospitals and our pharmacies,” Feenstra said.

Feenstra said that his background and experience have produced results, emphasizing that he wants Iowa to be the most business and agriculture-friendly state in the nation.

“We’ve got to be the best. That means we lower and freeze property taxes, create higher wages for workers, create affordable living for families and farmers and we invest in our main street businesses,” Feenstra said. 

Feenstra added that Iowa used to be the number one state in the country for education, saying that the state needs a “robust school choice” program, citing support for Iowa’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program while emphasizing that all Iowa students should receive quality education.

The ESA program, created in 2023 by House File 68, allows eligible Iowa families to use state funds to cover private school tuition costs, non-traditional education and other fees.

“I think every parent should have the ability to decide where they want their child to be educated, but I want to make sure all schools have the resources to take care of all children, both those that have special needs and those that have other disabilities,” Feenstra said. “That is my whole focus, to have this world-class education and school choice.”

Feenstra said that he wants to keep young residents in Iowa, emphasizing a need for affordable education and available job opportunities.

“We need to make sure that when people graduate from Iowa State or another institution, that there is a skill and a job waiting for them,” Feenstra said. “I want them to live in Iowa, to have a great job, to have great wages and to have a great quality of life and that’s what I will deliver for this great state.”

State Auditor Rob Sand is the lone Democratic gubernatorial candidate left in the race. Feenstra said he differs from Sand on many issues and has repeatedly labeled Sand as an “extreme liberal.”

“We have to understand that Rob Sand has said he is an ‘extreme liberal,’ and I take him for his word,” Feenstra said. “He’s obviously going to tax people and take more money away from people. He just came out with his farm policy that regulates more of the farming community and more of the producers. He wants to create more regulations.”

According to a Gallup poll, affordability is a prominent concern among Americans, and Feenstra said that lowering health care premiums and freezing and lowering property taxes are priorities of his campaign.

“We have seniors, we have small businesses that say ‘We can’t afford to stay in our homes’ and ‘We cannot afford to stay on our main street because we cannot afford property taxes,” Feenstra said. “I hear from small businesses and families that they cannot afford their health care premiums. We are going to lower healthcare premiums. That’s paramount.”

Feenstra said that a figure in American history he looks up to and aspires to be like is Abraham Lincoln. 

“I’m a historian, and reading the book ‘Team of Rivals’ and reading other books about Lincoln, I am impressed that he was a servant leader, and yet, he was very aggressive and got it done,” Feenstra said. “I look at him and his way of leading, and I think he’s somebody that we can look to and aspire to be like.”