Stephanie Steiner said she doesn’t fit the mold of a typical party politician.
“I'm a little more purple than I am blue or red. But that's the system we live in, right?" Steiner said. "If you want to be in our primaries, you've got to pick a side, right? So I picked a side. Why did I pick that side? Because I wanted to represent everybody.”
Steiner supports fiscal responsibility, the Second Amendment and the LGBTQ community, which includes three of her seven children.
“I'm a little more purple than I am blue or red. But that's the system we live in, right? If you want to be in our primaries, you've got to pick a side, right? So I picked a side."Stephanie Steiner
“I supported that community long before they ever came out to me,” Steiner said. “What I'm asking is for people to be respectful of other people, that's it. That's it. Make sure they have the same rights the rest of us have: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, right? Everybody should have that. They don't need to be called out.”
Steiner, who lives outside of Sutherland, worked in women’s health care for Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City before hitting the road as a traveling nurse for several years. She put her career on hold in 2019 after the death of her ex-husband to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
“He lost all access to the medications he needed to live the last six months of his life. I jumped through every hoop I could to try and get him help,” Steiner said. “Even though we were divorced, he was still my best friend. We had three young children when he died.”
Steiner said President Donald Trump’s "Big Beautiful Bill," which was supported by Iowa’s Republican congressional delegation, will harm people by removing their access to health care.
"Hard-working people need that insurance to live — 93,000 Iowans will lose their Medicaid,” Steiner said.
The 4th Congressional District is the most conservative in the state. The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office shows Republicans outnumbering Democrats almost 2:1.
Steiner admitted that winning in a red region will be tough, but plans to represent everyone.
“There are a lot of people here in this district who check Republican. I'm hoping I can reach them where they live. My plan is, I'm gonna show up on their doorstep and say, 'Hi, I'm Stephanie Steiner. I'm here. I want to talk about what you feel like I can do to help you,'” Steiner said. “I'm gonna fight like hell for them, for their health care, for their schools, for their farms, for our landscapes."
Who else is running in the 4th District?
Ashley WolfTornabane is the other Democrat running for the office currently held by Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra of Hull. WolfTornabane is a stay-at-home mom from Storm Lake. Feenstra is exploring a run for governor in 2026.
Other Republicans who have announced their candidacies are: Chris McGowan, the head of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce; Iowa House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley; Kyle Larsen, a farmer and land appraiser from Humboldt; and founder of the Iowa Tea Party, Ryan Rhodes. Rhodes is a businessman from Ames and the former CEO of the social media platform Parler.
The 4th Congressional District covers 36 counties in western and northwestern Iowa. It includes Council Bluffs, Sioux City, Ames and Marshalltown.
