Iowa Politics with Jeff Stein -- Fri. Sep. 18, 2026

No time for incumbents.

I'm Jeff Stein with today's Iowa Politics Report.

I often get asked what I think about this year's general election.

What I really think is that it's a complete mess with empty candidate promises and reasonable discussion about issues taking a backseat to snappy one-liners and character assassination.

And that's just from the campaigns.

The interest groups supporting one candidate or another are far worse.

That being said, I think it will be a bad year to be an incumbent, whether Republican or Democrat.

Polling data is suspect, but one consistent theme is first, that races are closer than usual.

For state or federal offices, in large states and smaller states, where voters have traditionally cast blue or traditionally cast red ballots, it doesn't matter what it is, it's close.

Beyond that, if you have held public office, chances are voters are looking skeptically at you.

Whether you are running for reelection or election to another office, the power of incumbency is not what it used to be.

And again, despite partisan analysts doing their best to say this favors their side or hurts the other side, the reality is that whether that incumbent is male or female Democrat or Republican, the incumbent is in trouble.

Now keep in mind we are more than six weeks away from Election Day with plenty of time for whatever concerns we have about voting again for a certain incumbent to subside.

But early voting begins in four states this very day and an unsettled electorate that votes early may find things to be very different now as opposed to what those of us who show up in person on Election Day will find.

Buckle up.

This carnival ride is just getting started.

And that's the Iowa Politics Report for Friday, September 18 on Twitter, Instagram, Gitter, Threads and Truth Social at Iowa Politics.

I'm Jeff Stein on News Talk 1540 KXEL.