Nine Questions That Should Be in the Iowa 2026 Gubernatorial Debates

Lazy Uni-Potty Platitudes and Posturing or Genuine Problem-Solving Leaders?

Publisher's Notes October 27, 2026:  Since this article below was published in print on October 8, 2026 the two candidates have had two "debates". The first debate in Davenport, Iowa was held at St. Ambrose University's Galvin Fine Arts Center and the public was not allowed access. The local KWQC Channel 6 station owned by Gray Media was the host and the station did not broadcast the debate on any of their platforms including over the air or at their website. The only way to watch the first debate via KWQC was to load their mobile app to one's phone.  Their sister station KTIV did carry the debate live on their website in a video stream and one had to read the fine print to figure that out.  The college radio station KALA 88.3FM is in the same building as the debate site and surely that station had a microphone at the podium and broadcast the "debate" on the airwaves? No, they did not. The limited accessibility to this debate series begs the question:

"Have the Iowa governor debates been captured by a single media outlet Gray Media to be used both as leverage to secure mobile app subscribers and as a beta testing ground with limited visibitliy to sus out the nuances of how these two uni-party candidates shall present themselves in the final stretch to November 3rd election day?" 

My take is this is exactly what is happening with this so called race. The finger pointing about each other's past is glaringly absent of any discernment that would clarify reailty for all voters. Neither camp wants to get into the weeds on substantive issues like ethanol, election integrity, lazy legislation, or prioritize steps to mitigagte big agriculture driven policiies from ostensibly poisoning an Iowa population already suffering from youth flight that had six US House of Represenatives 50 years ago, and now has only four.  As Kathleen points out in her essay How Does One Vote for the Undeserving? "It occurs to me that, especially as Iowa's Auditor, if Rob believed Zach lived somewhere other than Iowa, why would he not just file a challenge to Zach's candidacy as a nonresident? I have to say, for a billionaire-by-betrothal, Rob's gossip in Zach's case is just not classy." 
Moreover, all Lahn has to do is call Sand out for not disqualifying him, and the unsubstantiated allegation Lahn is not qualified to run for governor is put to rest. But no, Lahn's response as it was on the first debate night is, "He's bringing my kids into the campaign and I am not standing for it."  I don't recall Sand ever bringing Lahn's kids into his Kansas allegations. Both candidates are peformative actors in this race that resembles two girls slap fighting. Queue up the two aruging over radon as a possible cause of cancer in Iowa and ignoring numerous other causes and establishing zero priorities for the Iowa legislature to address the number one issue. 

Article which appeared in print below: 

The two candidates for Iowa governor (the uni-potty worked very hard to eliminate any third-party candidate from getting on the ballot) will be “slugging it out” on four televised debates: Tuesday, October 6, at 7 p.m. Davenport, hosted by KWQC; Wednesday, October 14, at 7 p.m. – Sioux City, hosted by KTIV; Wednesday, October 21, at 7 p.m. – Iowa PBS debate, airing statewide; Tuesday, October 27, at 6:30 p.m. – Cedar Rapids, hosted by KCRG and The Gazette.

My expectations are very low as to whether any of these debates will be meaningful other than reinforcing the loyalists in each parties' base which lever they will pull, no matter what. There's very likely lots of jockeying going on right now as to what is on and off limits for the spectacle, and we will see if each candidate gets to call the other out on the bullshit allegations their campaigns have made about each other. (Read editor Kathleen's column on page 4 for more on that front.) We provided these questions below to both campaigns and Sand's team directed us to a more proper e-mail to re-send and then eventually emailed, “We're going to decline this,” with no reasoning. Lahn's camp stated they would participate and even asked for an extension which we extended to both parties, and they ghosted us when it was deadline time. Who wants to reach literate open minded critical thinkers?! We encourage you to contact these TV stations above and direct them to one or more of these questions that you would like answers to in order to make your decision. You can refer anyone to the websites AskZachLahn.site and AskRodSand,site or a shortcut to the full text below. [Special thanks to George Sedlak for the cover illustration. Check his work at GeorgeSedlak.com.

1. Is Ethanol Good or Bad for Iowans?
Critics have described Iowa's ethanol industry as the “unethical treatment of corn” and the original premise to subsidize ethanol was to be temporary. Now more than 90 percent of food grown in Iowa is exported out of Iowa.

Question 1: How is Iowa's ethanol industry, fueled by state and federal regulations and taxpayer funded subsidies, a net gain or net loss for everyday Iowans?

2. Can a governor Restore Iowa's Agrarian Bio-Diversity While Both Major Parties Prop Up Special Interests?
Lawmakers from both parties religiously support grossly incompetent, unfair advantages and taxpayer subsidies for growing corn strictly for Ethanol production that depletes Iowa's soil's nutrients, requiring more nitrate laden fertilizer, which begets toxic runoff contaminating Iowa's aquifers, streams, lakes, ponds and rivers. Which in turn poisons/kills the trees, Iowa's natural landscape and wildlife. And quite possibly is responsible in part for Iowa's meteoric rise in cancer cases per capita.

Question 2: How would you utilize the governor's office and executive branch to modify, reform, or eliminate such enabling and destructive policies, especially when Iowa's legislators, in both parties, sustain the load bearing belief that the mono-cropping industry is beneficial to Iowans both short and long term?

3. Sign or Veto Lazy Legislation?

Early in 2026, the Iowa legislature entertained a bill that would allow police departments to use drones to video record, without a warrant, while in pursuit of a vehicle eluding, or attempting to elude, law enforcement, then use these videos as evidence in a court hearing or trial. Legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=91&ba=HF%202295 The State House Public Safety Committee Chairman and Bill Floor Manager Mike Vondran was asked, in the absence of warrants yet admissible as evidence, if there were guardrails in this public surveillance legislation to prevent law enforcement from using drones to video record other perceived infractions by the public, without warrants and admissible as evidence, thereby violating Iowan's Fourth Amendment protected rights for due process? Representative Vondran responded, "The courts will never let that happen.”

Question 3: As Iowa's governor, if/when such well intentioned legislation reaches your desk for your signature that leadership acknowledges (or not) is ripe for potential abuse Iowans will have to remedy in the courts to ensure a constitutionally protected right is not violated by said new law's unintended consequences … will you sign the bill and rely on concerned citizens to right the bill's enabling wrongs in the courts, or will you veto the bill, forcing the legislature to update the bill to mitigate unintended harmful consequences?

4. Federal Overreach, State Sovereignty, and Emergency Proclamations
In 2020, Governor Reynolds issued a COVID-19 emergency proclamation citing guidance from the derelict World Health Organization (WHO) and Collins/Fauci controlled National Health Institute (NHI), governed by the Federal Health and Human Services Department (HHS).

Question 4: As Iowa’s Governor, would you commit to your fellow Iowans that any emergency proclamations will be supported by Iowa specific facts, and not merely to comply with a federal agency or global non-governmental organization like the WHO or the World Economic Forum (WEF), especially when guidances, proclamations/declarations, treaties ignore or undermine Iowan's constitutionally protected rights?

5. Iowa Pesticide Code Chapter 206

According to the Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship's website's FAQ: Are farmers impacted by drift eligible for damages? The answer is: “Iowa Code Chapter 206 does not contain any provision for compensation to be made to individuals for a loss due to pesticide use. As a result, the Department cannot require someone to pay for a loss due to pesticide use or misuse.”

In July 2026, the Reader published a article titled “Volatilizing Iowa's State Trees,” interviewing Tony Singh, who began rewilding his North Scott County land in LeClaire, Iowa, to restore its oak savanna, native prairie, woodlands and wetlands. Singh recounted his twenty year effort to hold his farming neighbors accountable for pesticide drift damaging and killing his 200 years old oak trees. Singh's repeated filings of complaints with the Iowa Agriculture Department's Office of Land Stewardship, despite evidence of Acetochlor and dicamba, two widely used herbicides, in samples taken on his property, have resulted in no remedies or punitive efforts by the agency, due mostly in part to the lack of authority in Iowa Code Chapter 206 governing “Pesticides.” Full story here: RCReader.com/volatilizing-iowa-state-trees-cannot-be-punished

Question 5: Should Code Chapter 206 be updated by the Iowa Legislature to enable the Iowa Agriculture Department to hold sprayers accountable for damages their use or misuse of pesticides causes property owners like Singh? If yes, how should the code be updated? If no, why not?

6. Election Integrity

Local election officials in each county must rely on Iowa state government approved, privately owned vendors using proprietary systems not available for public inspection. With this lack of election operational transparency, many voters prefer precinct by precinct hand counted paper ballots to restore/ensure election accuracy, security, and fairness.

Question 6.1: As governor, would you support legislation requiring state approved election equipment and software vendors to either disclose proprietary hardware and software for public review, or be excluded from use in Iowa elections? If no, why not?
Question 6.2. Do you support strengthening Home Rule legislation enabling county elections to include voter-verified paper ballots with hand-counted, human audits? If not, why not?

7. Restoring Iowa's World Class Education and Schooling
Prior to the 1990s, Iowa used to be the gold standard for public education due to strong local control, rigorous academic standards, excellent teachers and a culture of highly valuing education and civic engagement.

Question 7: Do you think Iowa should lead the nation in K-12 education and if so, how do you propose to restore Iowa's leadership in K-12 education?

8. The Governor's Role In Influencing Legislation

Should Iowa's Governor leverage the Executive Branch's bully pulpit and megaphone to influence and inform legislation aligned with your campaign promises, or should the Governor sign all bills passed by both houses because the legislators “represent” their constituents?

9. Iowa's Meteoric Rise In Cancer Cases

Both gubernatorial campaigns acknowledge Iowa's meteoric cancer cases and deaths per capita are unacceptable and must be immediately addressed and reversed. And we can all agree to disagree on which factors are most responsible.

Question 9: To this end, please rank in the order of importance which potential vectors for causing cancer the Iowa legislators should focus their efforts on to end the Iowa cancer crisis. These are listed in alphabetical order, please order them from most important factor to be studied, addressed and mitigated by our lawmakers.

• Geo-Engineering or intentional emission of air contaminants into the atmosphere

• Glyphosate in Pesticides

• Nitrates in Fertilizer Poisoning Water Supplies

• Pesticides, Herbicides, Fungicides

• Processed Food Diets

• Radon

• Other(s) Fill in the Blank(s)