Four of the five Republican candidates for governor participated in a debate Tuesday night in Des Moines and said they would work to make Iowa's abortion laws reflect their belief that life begins at conception.
Adam Steen, state Rep. Eddie Andrews, Zach Lahn and Brad Sherman were asked at the debate hosted by Moms for Liberty, "When does life begin?" They all said "at conception."
Steen, the former director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, said abortion is the most important issue of the governor's race.
"There's a few things I would love to see by the end of my time as governor here in the state," he said. "The first one is, I would love to see Iowa being the most pro-life state in the union. I'd love to see a 'life at conception' bill passed."
"Life at conception" bills typically ban all abortions and could threaten the availability of certain fertility treatments or contraceptives.
Lahn, a businessman from Belle Plaine, said this is "a foundational issue for civilization."
"My wife and I went through a process, and we were at a fertility clinic," he said. "We are now banned for life from that clinic because we refused to discard the embryos. And the ones we refused turned into our youngest son, Fritz. And so that's how far you have to go with this."
Andrews, a state representative and pastor from Johnston, said he was being considered for an opening on the board of an anti-abortion organization before he launched his campaign for governor.
"I believe life begins and conception, and I will protect life from conception until natural death," he said.
Sherman, a former state representative, said he was happy to vote for Iowa's six-week abortion ban. But he said the state needs to do more.
"It was a step forward, but now we have abortion pills being mailed into our state, and it's dangerous, and we have no way of even tracking that," Sherman said. "We need to do much, much better."
All four candidates also said they would be open to banning all mRNA vaccines, like those used for COVID-19.
Candidates share their ideas for improving education
Andrews said one of his top goals as governor would be to make Iowa first in the nation in education again. He said he would work to get rid of Common Core standards and restore the "Iowa model" and phonics in literacy education.
"We led the nation for decades," Andrews said. "We willingly gave up the Iowa model, took on the national model … and now we're number 23, and no one's talking about that. It's an outrage."
Sherman said there is enough money spent on education, but there are issues with how it is spent. He criticized school districts for hiring administrators focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. Sherman also said he fully supports Iowa's education savings accounts (ESAs) for private school tuition.
"I think we need to expand it, and in some fashion, make it even available to homeschoolers if they want that — some homeschoolers don't," he said.
Steen said school choice options like ESAs are important for creating competition.
"We do not have a funding problem within our public schools," he said. "We have a problem with ideology and requirements being pushed down upon our kids in public schools that are not right, that are downright evil, and they need to be wiped away."
Lahn said the state is spending too much money on education, and the quality is declining. He said he supports ESAs, but most kids go to public schools, and the governor should be "the number one advocate for public school kids."
"We need to wipe out the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners and put in place people that will hold teachers accountable for when they indoctrinate our kids — suspend their licenses or permanently take their licenses, if we have to," Lahn said. "But we have to get in there and say we're not giving up on public schools or public school kids, because that's where the battle is going to be fought."
The candidates also discussed their ideas for lowering property taxes, reducing cancer rates, helping veterans and supporting family-owned farms.
Rep. Feenstra's absence highlighted during debate
Fourth District U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra is the fifth Republican running for governor and was the only candidate who missed the debate. Organizers put a podium on stage for him.
Jenn Turner, chair of the Moms for Liberty Polk County chapter, gave a brief introduction in which she said the Republican grassroots are very important. She said the four candidates who came to the debate deserve a chance because they continue to show up for Iowans.
"It's not the big money, it is not the endorsements that matter — it's us," Turner said. "It's our boots on the ground that we're going to have to get out and do the work if we want the candidates that put Iowans first to be our next governor."
Andrews said Feenstra was in town Tuesday, and not attending the debate was "like throwing a middle finger at all of you."
Sherman said he thought Feenstra was "probably intimidated to be on this stage."
Steen said Feenstra's absence "puts our state at risk" of losing to Democratic candidate for governor Rob Sand.
Lahn said political consultants tell candidates that if they get enough money, they can avoid campaign events because they can pay for TV ads instead. He said that's why he loaned his campaign $2 million, and he said he raised $400,000 this month.
Feenstra has led the Republican field in fundraising with $4.3 million raised in 2025.
Feenstra flew from Washington, D.C., to Des Moines with President Donald Trump on Tuesday to attend Trump's rally in Clive.
Billy Fuerst, a spokesperson for Feenstra's campaign, said Feenstra was honored to fly on Air Force One with the president.
"Congressman Feenstra is proud of his conservative record working with President Trump to deliver for Iowa," he said. "Together, they passed the largest tax cuts for working families in U.S. history, completely secured the border and stood tall for our farmers and Iowa agriculture. Congressman Feenstra will continue to partner with President Trump to advance the America First agenda and take Iowa to new heights."
Trump has not endorsed a candidate in the Iowa governor's race. Feenstra was the only member of Iowa's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives who did not speak at Trump's event.
Terra Hernandez, a spokesperson for the Iowa Democratic Party, called this a "presidential-level snub" and highlighted a petition some Iowa Republicans have signed asking Trump to refrain from endorsing Feenstra.
"Randy Feenstra continues to have a big problem with his own party because he's more loyal to the Washington swamp than to Iowans," Hernandez said. "This is a major headache for the Iowa GOP, and just confirms that the wide-open Republican gubernatorial primary will remain a nasty and chaotic race to the bottom."
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