As the June 2 primary drew closer, the two candidates leading the field of five Republicans running for governor spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in less than two weeks, according to the latest campaign finance reports from the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board (IECDB). This latest report covers the 12 days from May 15 to 26.
These are the third set of campaign finance reports for the 2026 election that IECDB has published. The first, covering all of 2025, was published in January. The second, covering Jan. 1 to May 14, was published earlier this month.
Republican Zach Lahn reported spending $633,310 during the 12-day period covered by the latest filings, while his fellow Republican Randy Feenstra reported spending $476,056.
Feenstra has been considered the frontrunner for the Republican nomination since he officially entered the governor’s race in October, five months after filing to run for the office and creating an exploratory committee that functioned like a campaign organization. Feenstra had greater statewide name recognition than any other Republican candidate thanks to his four terms in Congress representing western Iowa. His time in Congress, and the connections he made there, also gave him an advantage in fundraising, as his campaign finance report for 2025 showed.
Feenstra easily outdistanced the other Republicans when it came to campaign contributions in 2025, collecting $4,303,832. That amount includes $1,420,936 from his previously existing congressional campaign.
Zach Lahn, who has emerged as the most serious contender among the other Republicans for the nomination, collected $156,931 in campaign donations in 2025. Lahn, who entered the race last November declaring “I’m my own biggest donor,” also loaned his campaign $2 million in 2025. Without that loan, Lahn would have finished fourth out of the five candidates in fundraising.
That changed this year, and Lahn outraised Feenstra during both the Jan. 1 to May 14 reporting period and the May 15 to 26 period.
During the reporting period starting in January, Lahn raised $980,152 compared to Feenstra’s $739,059. Three donors, only one of whom is listed as living in Iowa in Lahn’s campaign finance report, were responsible for donating $650,000 of his total.
Lahn outraised Feenstra during the final 12-day reporting period before the primary, receiving $60,050 in donations, while Feenstra raised $38,566. On May 22, Lahn loaned his campaign another $500,000. Because they are loans, Lahn can use money raised by his campaign to repay himself the quarter million dollars he’s provided to the campaign.
Both Feenstra and Lahn have spent heavily on advertising. As the primary race draws to a close, the two candidates have launched attack ads against each other. Last week, Feenstra unveiled an ad attacking Lahn for investing a million dollars in a company that makes penis rings. Speaking to the Des Moines Register earlier this month, Lahn defended the investment saying he was only interested in the company’s Fitbit-style penis ring — calling it “a grade two medical device” — and not in the penis rings advertised as “pleasure” products. Feenstra’s commercial says the investment shows “Zach Lahn’s phony values end where his profits begin.”
Lahn’s ad attacks Feenstra for chairing an immigrant outreach group in his hometown of Hull in 2003 while he was Hull’s city administrator. The group was part of Iowa State University’s Extension Service “Community Voices” program, and was intended to help new immigrants adjust to life in Iowa. Lahn’s ad describes the program as “handing taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal immigrants.” As the ad’s ominous music continues in the background, the narrator continues, “That’s right: Feenstra gave Iowa taxpayer benefits to illegals.”
The impact of Lahn’s melodramatic and xenophobic ad has likely been blunted by Donald Trump’s endorsement of Feenstra, which happened the same day Lahn’s ad was launched.
Lahn finished the last campaign finance reporting period before the primary with $636,189, while Feenstra had $148,660. Lahn’s significant advantage in cash-on-hand isn’t just the result of the additional $500,000 he loaned his campaign on May 22. It also because his campaign has $484,338 in bills that haven’t been paid yet, according to Lahn’s campaign finance report. Feenstra’s campaign has no unpaid bills.
