The fundraising leaders in Iowa’s race for governor have filed the paperwork to qualify for the June primary ballots. Candidates for governor are required to submit at least 3,500 signatures from eligible Iowa voters on petitions — and have at least 100 signatures from 19 of Iowa’s 99 counties. Democrat Rob Sand says the 24,000 signatures his campaign submitted is a record — and one-fifth of them came from independents and Republicans.
Republican Randy Feenstra says people from all 99 counties signed his nominating petitions.
Feenstra is likely to face four other Republicans in the June 2nd GOP Primary, candidates who’ve criticized Feenstra for failing to appear with them in debates.
Feenstra, who raised over 4 MILLION dollars for his campaign for governor, is spending more than a million dollars on a statewide ad campaign, targeting Rob Sand, the likely Democratic Party nominee for governor. Sand, who raised over nine-and-a-half MILLION dollars in 2025 for his campaign for governor, says Feenstra has to run a different kind of campaign because he faces a competitive primary.
Candidates have until 5 p.m. this Friday to submit nominating petitions for the primary. So far Brad Sherman, a Republican from Williamsburg, is the only other candidate for governor who has done so.
