Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra made it official today. He’s running for governor.
Feenstra formed an exploratory committee in May to raise money for the race, but kicked his campaign off this morning, shortly after 8:30, with a video.
Feenstra has been appearing at campaign events, hinting at the theme of his campaign. “We want to take this state to new heights,” Feenstra said Friday in Coralville. “We want to make sure we are the most business- and ag-friendly state in the country. We want make to make sure that we have world class education right here.”
Feenstra has been promising to focus on Iowa’s workforce shortage. “We want to make sure our kids stay here, that when they graduate from high school that they have job with the trade they got from high school,” Feenstra said. “And finally, we want affordable and accessible health care. We can’t have moms traveling 50-75 miles for maternity care.”
Feensta served in the Iowa Senate before being elected to the U.S. House in 2020. Feenstra’s campaign video did not mention the three other Republican candidates who’ve been campaigning for governor for the past few months, but it did criticize State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat who’s running for governor.
A spokesman for the Democratic Governors Association says Feenstra has been “a rubber stamp for Trump” in congress and as governor would continue the same GOP policies that have led to “a failing Iowa economy, underfunded schools and an extreme abortion ban.”