Republicans just gave Trump a 'shock defeat' in a GOP stronghold

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, U.S., May 25, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

U.S. President Donald Trump, in a recent series of GOP primaries, unseated one prominent Republican after another — including Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), none of whom will be competing with Democratic candidates in the 2026 midterms' general election.

But on Tuesday, June 2 in Iowa's GOP gubernatorial primary, Trump suffered what the New York Times' Reid J. Epstein describes as a "shock defeat."

Trump, four days before the election, endorsed Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) for governor of Iowa. But Feenstra narrowly lost that primary to businessman/farmer Zach Lahn.

"The primary loss for Rep. Randy Feenstra, whom the president endorsed on Friday afternoon, came at a time of mixed signals of Mr. Trump's power over the Republican Party," Epstein explains in the New York Times. "He has won a series of dominant primary victories over Republican opponents, but has faced rising pushback from his party in Congress."

In the past, GOP and Democratic strategists considered Iowa a swing state. Former President Barack Obama won Iowa in both 2008 and 2012. Yet the midwestern state has trended Republican in recent years. Trump carried Iowa in three presidential elections in a row, defeating Democratic nominee Kamala Harris by roughly 13 percent in the state in 2024.

But Trump's endorsement wasn't enough to get Feenstra past the finish line in Iowa's 2026 GOP gubernatorial primary. And Epstein describes that outcome as a "rare high-profile primary loss" for the president.

"In modern Republican primary politics," the New York Times reporter notes, "Mr. Trump's endorsement is the gold standard. In the last month, it has ousted sitting senators, a congressman and state legislators whom the president deemed insufficiently loyal. So when Mr. Feenstra won Mr. Trump's endorsement for governor last week, it felt like the push he needed to get past four candidates in the primary."

Epstein continues, "Yet Mr. Feenstra was toppled on Tuesday by Zach Lahn, a conservative political operative and farmer who ran an insurgent campaign. Mr. Feenstra was seen as having run a lackluster campaign, and also faced the wrath of former Rep. Steve King, who lost to Mr. Feenstra in a 2020 primary and backed Mr. Lahn. Mr. Feenstra's defeat makes him the highest-profile candidate endorsed by Mr. Trump to lose a Republican primary race in years — perhaps since Luther Strange, an appointed senator in Alabama, fell to Roy Moore in a 2017 special election primary. Mr. Moore went on to lose the general election to Doug Jones, a Democrat."

The presumptive nominee in Iowa's gubernatorial race is State Auditor Rob Sand. Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, decided not to seek reelection.

Iowa's last Democratic governor was Chet Culver, who left office in January 2011.

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