The midterm elections are ramping up. We launch our candidate series with Dave Dawson, the Democrat running in Iowa’s 4th District. Dawson is running against Siouxland Chamber of Commerce president Chris McGowan, a seat currently held by Rep. Randy Feenstra. We talk with him about running as a Democrat in a red district. But first, we revisit a conversation with an astrophysicist who discusses new research on white dwarf stars 200 light-years away and learn about scientists at the University of Iowa working on a virtual lunar landscape complete with low gravity and lunar dirt. (Portions of the episode were originally produced Feb. 3, 2026.)
Shaun Griswold
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Source New Mexico
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A longtime Iowa State Fair tradition gave Republican Zach Lahn and Democrat Rob Sand a chance to make their case to voters. They offered different visions for the state while portraying themselves as willing to challenge politics as usual. -
New campaign finance reports show Democrat Rob Sand with a fundraising edge over Republican Zach Lahn. But the biggest difference isn't just how much money they're raising — it's where the money comes from as they compete for Iowa's highest office. -
The Iowa Democratic Party and the Republican Party of Iowa both gained voters over the past month, while the number of voters with no party affiliation dropped significantly.
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Democratic nominee for governor Rob Sand launched a statewide town hall tour in Decorah on Wednesday. It was the first stop on a trip that will bring the candidate to each of Iowa’s 100 county seats between now and the end of September. -
Three Libertarians who filed to run for governor, lieutenant governor and U.S. House in Iowa won't appear on the ballot. That's after members of the Republican party challenged their paperwork, and the state objection panel voted to remove the names of Nicholas Gluba, Jules Cutler and Marco Battaglia from Iowa ballots. In this episode, host Ben Kieffer recaps that decision as well as the state party conventions with Megan Goldberg of Cornell College and Jonathan Hassid of Iowa State University. They also discuss looming changes to Social Security and the tentative peace deal with Iran. -
The Democratic candidate for governor and his running mate attended an event in Manning, where they focused on issues including clean water, data centers, education savings accounts and government accountability.
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Iowa Democrats were approved to present their case to national Democrats on why the state’s Democratic caucuses should go in the early presidential nominating window in 2028. The DNC approved 11 other states' early contest waivers, as well. -
Most Iowa Democrats who responded to a survey about the future of the party’s caucuses want the state to be early in the presidential nominating process, but they were divided on "going rogue" and holding an early contest even if national Democrats don't allow it. -
Maryland U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen called on those at the Polk County Democrats' Steak Fry to seize responsibility in face of President Trump's agenda.
