Iowa's 2026 Governor's Race: First Open Seat Since 2006

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican, announced she would not seek a third term, triggering the state's first open-seat gubernatorial primary since 2006. The announcement prompted multiple candidates to enter or explore bids for the 2026 race, including within the Republican Party and among Democrats. Republican State Senator Mike Bousselot announced an exploratory committee for a gubernatorial run less than two weeks after Reynolds' announcement, according to reporting from September 2025. Zach Lahn, another Republican candidate and co-founder of a private school in Wichita, Kansas, ran an "Iowa First" campaign in the primary; Kansas voter registration records showed he voted in Kansas as recently as 2022 before registering to vote in Iowa in 2024. Iowa Auditor Rob Sand, the sole Democrat currently holding statewide office, was widely expected to enter the race as a Democratic contender. NBC News tracked results of the 2026 Iowa gubernatorial primary election as they came in. The outcome of the 2026 Republican and Democratic primaries, including whether Bousselot, Lahn, or Sand secured their respective party nominations, was not specified in the available reporting. The full field of candidates who ultimately competed in the primary and the final vote totals remain unconfirmed based on the supplied sources. Questions about Lahn's residency history and its relevance to his candidacy were raised in reporting but not resolved.