MAHA-backed farmer Zach Lahn dealt President Donald Trump his first major endorsement loss of the 2026 primaries as he bested the president’s pick, Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA), in the Iowa GOP gubernatorial primary.
Lahn defeated Feenstra by approximately 1,600 votes in the Tuesday night showdown, with Lahn receiving about 37.79% of the vote and Feenstra receiving about 37.01%, as of early Wednesday. Feenstra is one of the first Trump-endorsed candidates to fall in the GOP primaries, marking a bump in the road for the president’s resounding success rate in sending his candidates to the general election and ousting incumbents such as Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
As Feenstra ran on an agenda centered on his support for Trump’s policies, boosting affordability and agricultural traditions in Iowa, and an anti-China and anti-DEI message, Lahn made the ideals of the Make America Healthy Again movement the focal point of his campaign. Lahn, endorsed by MAHA Action, the campaign arm of the movement, talked about health and lifestyle issues such as how to tackle the rising rates of cancer diagnoses, ensuring Iowa has safe drinking water, and keeping family farms safe from corporate interests.
