Iowa Politics with Jeff Stein -- Wed. Oct. 28, 2026

Wishing for a loss.

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

Usually as an election draws near, partisans on both sides are rooting for candidates of their respective party to win the election.

Now that's probably still the case this year, but I get a sense that there are many on the Republican side in Iowa who would not mind losing one race.

While Zach Lane may very well defeat Rob Sand to become Iowa's next governor and Republicans who strongly dislike Sand would be happy about it, there's not a lot of enthusiasm for Lane as a candidate and that translates to concern about how he would govern.

Now keep in mind, many of the folks whispering about all this have spent years in the trenches for the state GOP.

So to see someone move back from another state disrupts their comfort zone.

It's no different than when Fred Grandy moved to his boyhood home of Sioux City to run for Congress and later governor.

The party regulars don't know Lane, so there's natural concern.

That frankly has not been alleviated since Lane won the primary in June.

The sideshow about residents and running mate have gotten in the way of discussing issues.

Those were things the campaign should have put to the side quickly, yet they linger less than a week before the election.

For the party, the bright side is that many folks, including independents, don't pay attention until the last few weeks, and both Sand and Lane have been on a par when it comes to raising new money and performance in debates.

In fact, Lane has outperformed expectations in a number of ways.

But for those waiting in line for their chance to run, having a shot against an incumbent from the other party in four years wouldn't be the worst outcome Tuesday.

Of course, those folks have to win their races first.

In the meantime, forget all the elbowing and jockeying.

Which candidate has the better chance of doing what you want or not doing what you don't want?

For most of us as voters, it's as simple as that.

And that's the Iowa Politics Report for Wednesday, October 28 on Twitter, Instagram, Gitter, Threads and Truth Social at Iowa Politics.

I'm Jeff Stein on News Talk 1540, KXEL.