Iowa Governor 2026
Election day is November 3, 2026. A statewide contest in Iowa.
Who is favoured in Iowa Governor?
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What the Iowa Governor election decides
State government decides most of what touches daily life directly: schools, roads, policing, public health, utilities regulation, and the state's share of healthcare programs. A governor's veto and budget proposal set the boundaries of what a legislature can do.
A governor signs or vetoes state law, proposes the state budget, commands the state's emergency response, and in most states shapes how elections themselves are administered. Iowa decides this alongside its 4 House seats and a U.S. Senate seat. Governors are judged on results inside the state rather than on national mood alone, which is why governor's races often break differently from federal contests held the same day.
How Iowa votes
Iowa's politics run through its farm economy, small cities and a long tradition of retail campaigning. Once a national bellwether, it has trended Republican in recent cycles while remaining competitive in the right conditions. That backdrop is the ground any Iowa campaign fights on, and it is what the Electorate HQ simulation reads first when it weighs a ticket's platform against this contest.
About this race
The 2026 Iowa gubernatorial election will be held on November 3, 2026, to elect the governor of Iowa. Republican businessman Zach Lahn and Democratic state auditor Rob Sand are the nominees for their respective parties. Republican incumbent Kim Reynolds is not seeking a third term.
Primary elections were held on June 2, 2026. In the Republican primary, congressman Randy Feenstra emerged as the frontrunner after being endorsed by President Donald Trump, but Lahn won the nomination in an upset with 37.65% of the vote. Sand was the only candidate to qualify for the ballot in the Democratic primary.
This is the first open gubernatorial election in Iowa since 2006 and the first to be held at the same time as the open Senate election since 1968. The 2006 gubernatorial election is the most recent won by Democrats in Iowa.
Latest coverage of the Iowa Governor race
New poll shows tight races for Iowa governor, U.S. Senate in 2026Iowa 2026 Poll: Sand Has an Edge in Governor’s Race; Hinson Holds Narrow Senate Advantage9 key races on the 2026 ballot in Iowa and what's at stakeIowa Senate race a 'toss-up,' governor race 'leans Democrat' | ReportLahn criticizes ‘personal attacks’ on residency, family in Iowa governor raceIowa primary results: Trump-backed Feenstra concedes to Lahn in governor primary; Hinson and Turek will compete for open Senate seatIowa governor nominee Zach Lahn beat Trump's pick by fewer than 1,700 votes. Now he's trying to build a base.The rest of the Iowa ballot
Every Iowa House district, the counties inside each one, and an address lookup that resolves your exact districts are on the Iowa state page.
Other 2026 races in Iowa
Analysis covering Iowa
Twenty-six states elect a senator and a governor on the same day in 2026
The overlap between the Senate class and the gubernatorial cohort is a coincidence of two unrelated calendars, and it decides where money goes.
The 2026 Senate map covers 62% of the country and 70% of the states
Thirty-five of fifty states vote for Senate this year. Weighted by people rather than states the share drops, and that gap is the design of the chamber.