WATCH: Michael Bridgford, independent candidate for District 1, explains how not having a handler like GOP or Democrat candidates would work to his advantage in Congress. “If you step out of line with what the party boss wants, then they’re going to come after you in the primary, spend tens of millions of dollars against you, and you’re not going to stand a chance.” SOURCE: The Iowa Podcast with Justin Brady

DES MOINES, Iowa – Bernie Sanders, unexpectedly, decided to throw his name behind Democrat Chris Jones for Iowa secretary of agriculture, and it is hard to invent a worse pairing for a state that lives on long, laborious days in the field. Sanders, the Vermont socialist who has spent years lecturing the working class from his multiple million-dollar mansions, lined up with Jones through the same progressive network that wants constitutional water rights, new mandates on farmers, and a “strategic retreat” from ethanol. Jones is the Iowa City scientist and author running against incumbent Republican Mike Naig. A recent Cygnal poll of likely voters put Naig ahead 43–36%, with a chunk still undecided. Jones has spent his campaign calling Naig a “secretary of agribusiness,” and promising to regulate the corn-soy-CAFO system. What he cannot talk his way out of is the 2021 clip in which he said grain farming “isn’t that hard,” farmers are “only working a few weeks out of the year,” and that a lot of them are “wealthy, older white guys” making 3 times what the average Iowan makes. Iowa GOP chair Jeff Kaufmann, whose family has farmed here since 1836, called it insulting the people whose votes Jones now wants.⁠ Many are saying the endorsement does Naig more good than Jones. Sanders remains one of the most polarizing figures in national politics. Naig grew up on a northwest Iowa farm, has held the office since 2018, pushed the bipartisan Iowa Farm Act, expanded Choose Iowa local-food markets, and talks about trade, profitability, and a farm-to-faucet approach, instead of blaming every farmer in the state. Jones wants fewer acres in ethanol, more regulation, and a wholesale redesign of how Iowa farms. The Farm Bureau already endorsed Naig. Farmers who actually put in the hours know the difference between a research scientist who thinks the work is easy, and a secretary who has spent 8 years trying to keep the industry standing. Sanders attaching his name to Jones only makes that contrast sharper. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at newsroom@iowafirstmedia.com. Photo: Shelly Prevost from San Francisco, CA

WATCH: Rob Sand states that he will be vetoing bills that ban books containing homosexuality and transgenderism targeting children. “If they try to do any more book bans, I’m going to veto them. My pledge is that I’m going to veto culture war bills.” SOURCE: Kailee Coleman Books via TikTok

WATCH: Rob Sand struggles to answer why the DNC removed Iowa from the early caucus calendar after continuous election struggles. “You know, we, uh, go before, uh, I don’t know what it says. It says we go before anybody else does their, whatever else.” SOURCE: POLITICO via YouTube

DES MOINES, Iowa – An Iowa judge just tossed President Trump’s lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and pollster J. Ann Selzer, giving the company and its parent company another free pass after they dumped a last-minute, wildly incorrect 2024 Iowa Poll that had Kamala Harris up 3 points in a state Trump actually carried by 13. The poll, released November 2 and 3, showed Harris at 47% and Trump at 44%. 3 days later, Iowans delivered 56-43% in favor of Trump. Trump, joined by Rep. Miller-Meeks and State Senator Brad Zaun, sued in December 2024 under Iowa’s Consumer Fraud Act, calling the numbers “election-interfering fiction” designed to suppress turnout and juice Democratic morale. Polk County District Judge Scott Beattie dismissed the case with prejudice on September 23, 2026, writing that the plaintiffs were trying to stretch Iowa law into a weapon against “speech that enjoys the highest category of First Amendment protection.” He even assumed, for argument’s sake, that the poll was intentionally skewed, and still said the fraud claims failed. Trump’s team immediately announced it will take the ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court. Selzer, who had built a reputation on Iowa polls that sometimes hit and sometimes missed by double digits, produced a result that defied every other public survey. The paper ran it anyway. Trump’s lawyers pointed out that Selzer’s same cycle of polls also badly missed the congressional races for Miller-Meeks and others, yet the Register never issued a correction that matched the scale of the error. A Trump spokesperson called the whole thing a “phony poll from the now-disgraced Democrat pollster” meant to damage the campaign in its closing days. The judge’s ruling treats that charge as legally irrelevant. Whether the Iowa Supreme Court sees it the same way remains to be decided, but the Register and Selzer have already shown they will hide behind the First Amendment rather than explain how a 3-point Harris lead became a 13-point Trump win in 72 hours. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at newsroom@iowafirstmedia.com. Photo: Farragutful from Wikimedia Commons

FAIRFIELD, Iowa – Iowa State Representative Jeff Shipley just picked up 2 major endorsements that match the fight he’s been fighting in the Iowa House for years. The MAHA Institute put its name on Shipley in the race for District 87, releasing a statement noting how he treats childhood over-medicalization as a real danger, pushes safe medication tapering, and opposes turning schools into clinics. The same statement credits him for fighting corporate liability shields for pesticide makers, calling out PFAS and sewage-sludge fertilizer, and for trying to keep fluoride out of municipal water. The next major endorsement was from Stand for Health Freedom, which is the national group that organizes around informed consent, parental rights, and medical choice, with Informed Choice Iowa as the local partner. Shipley is the Republican incumbent from Fairfield, first elected in 2018, and now representing Henry, Jefferson, and Van Buren counties. He currently serves as the vice chair of Government Oversight and Higher Education. He signed the pledge to pull modified mRNA COVID shots off the market, and he helped drive parental consent for HPV and hepatitis B vaccines for minors. He also backed making ivermectin available over the counter, and put his own money into a pesticide-exposure study with Fairfield’s Health Research Institute. Big Pharma and the chemical companies despite him as a legislator because he has the guts to actually question their products. MAHA Institute says that chronic illness, kids on too many drugs, and a captured regulator are a major problem, not a conspiracy theory. Shipley has been saying the quiet parts out loud in Des Moines since before the movement even begun. Together, these endorsements are telling southeast Iowa that the incumbent actually does real work for the people. Thomas O’Donnell is the Democrat on the November 3 ballot. The endorsements are the proof that Shipley believes in medical freedom, not the corrupt industry. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at newsroom@iowafirstmedia.com. Photo: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ

WATCH: Dillon Fillion, Candidate for District 81, discusses his death threats as a 22-year-old, and his troubles with getting it addressed by the local police. “Where are the people we need? Where are our people in the back room helping our people out?” SOURCE: The Hope Podcast with Leo Kelly

BELLE PLAINE, Iowa – Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America just threw its name into the Iowa governor race. The Candidate Fund announced their endorsement of Zach Lahn this week, and president Marjorie Dannenfelser stated how Lahn “understands that life is the foundation of all human rights.” Zach said he will make a commitment to protect the born and the unborn, and he is the clear pro-life choice to pick up the work Kim Reynolds started. The group is already knocking on Iowa doors. Its field team passed 100,000 home visits in the Des Moines, Davenport, and Cedar Rapids areas last month, and is aiming at half a million before Election Day. Nationally, SBA and its affiliates plan to spend $80 million this midterm cycle. Lahn said that he backs Iowa’s heartbeat law, thinks protection should run to conception, and wants abortion pills kept out of the mail. His opponent, Rob Sand, has repeatedly said that life begins at breath, and not conception, leading to much controversy. Dannenfelser said Sand spreads lies about the state’s existing laws to cover a position with no limits up to birth. Reynolds essentially built the legal floor, and now Lahn is asking to keep it and then some. The endorsement is public, and the field program is already walking door-to-door. The rest depends on whether Iowa wants a governor who treats that fight as finished or as the job. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at newsroom@iowafirstmedia.com. Photo: Zach Lahn For Governor Website - Events

SOLON, Iowa – What was supposed to be a fun 5th grade field trip to Lake Macbride quickly took a terrifying turn, as it turned into a nightmare nobody ever expected to happen. On Tuesday, September 22, Borlaug Elementary 5th graders from the Iowa City district were at Macbride Nature Recreation Area near Solon for the University of Iowa’s School of the Wild when Johnson County deputies and University of Iowa police got a 12:10 PM call about people in the water near the Coralville Reservoir spillway. About half an hour later, crews pulled 24-year-old Hannah Jorgensen of Tiffin from the reservoir. She was a 5th grade teacher at Borlaug. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Searchers kept looking through the afternoon, stopped overnight, and came back Wednesday. At 1:24 PM, they recovered 10-year-old Ahmed Osman of Iowa City, also a Borlaug 5th grader, from the same water. The sheriff’s office is still investigating. Officials have not said how either of them went in. The university immediately suspended School of the Wild field trips until further notice. Roads around the dam stayed closed. Interim Superintendent Amy Kortemeyer called them deeply valued members of the district, and said the loss goes far past one school. Many people are saying that Jorgensen went in after she saw Ahmed drowning. What we know confirmed is that Borlaug is trying to hold kids and staff together through counselors and many other resources. Both of their lives were cut far too short, and there are countless people carrying the weight of this unimaginable loss. The story does not end here, as it continues in the memories they left behind. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at newsroom@iowafirstmedia.com. Photo: Gina via TripAdvisor (Twitter)

WATCH: Zach Lahn’s newest advertisement follows the lives of 6 Iowa Sheriff’s from 6 different counties, as they emphasize why it’s so important for law enforcement to back the Lahn campaign. “Zach Lahn stands with us, and Rob Sand stands with defund the police and liberals. Zach Lahn understands this responsibility, and I trust him to stand with the men and women who protect our communities every day.” SOURCE: Zach Lahn via X (Twitter)

WATCH: Dillon Fillion, the 22-year-old District 81 Candidate, calls out the anti-Trump Republicans in the GOP and compares them to Leftists on The Hope Podcast hosted by Leo Kelly. “It’s sad how we’ve gotten to this point where because we don’t like a man in our party, we won’t do the honorable thing, and vote for the thing that will benefit all Americans.” SOURCE: piped.video/I4khYUPtAWA?is=lnpP…

We’ve seen the claims. Here are the facts. ⬇️

WATCH: GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann draws the contrast between a voter having independent beliefs, and Rob Sand outright lying to deceive Iowa voters. “We got to take this very seriously, because he has unlimited funds. Mommy and Daddy in-law, who want anyone but him in the family business, will stop at nothing to get this guy elected.” SOURCE: ffcoalition.com/livestream-i…

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The annual America First Foundation scorecard for our Senators and Representatives is out, and nearly every one of Iowa’s members flunked it. Rep. Zach Nunn scored an overall grade of F, as he was only aligned with 120 out of 194 America First positions. He scored a D+ on immigration, F on foreign policy, and a C on trade. Ashley Hinson also scored an overall grade of F, as she only aligned with 148 out of 223 America First positions. She scored a C on immigration, an F on foreign policy, and a C on trade. Mariannette Miller-Meeks also had a grade of F, as she went 149 of 254. She scored a D+ on immigration, an F on foreign policy, and a C- on trade. Joni Ernst scored an F with only 91 out of 149 positions aligned. She scored a C- on immigration, an F on foreign policy, and a C on trade. Randy Feenstra scored an F and went 130 for 209. He scored a C on immigration, an F on foreign policy, and a D+ on trade. Chuck Grassley scored the best out of all the Iowans but still only got an overall grade of D-, with 99 out of 132 positions aligned with the America First agenda. He scored a C+ on immigration, an F on foreign policy, and a C- on trade. The card scores how the congressmen voted on bills between the 117th and 119th Congresses through June 30, 2026. They pay attention to sponsorships and final votes, but not speeches. The best grade in all of Congress is a C+ for Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, and Brandon Gill also scored a C. Most members of Congress scored an overall of F, especially if they were a Democrat. Nunn’s name on a bill about Iranian drones was marked as not aligned. Miller-Meeks and Feenstra signed onto a farm-workforce bill the foundation opposed. Hinson and Miller-Meeks took hits on the farmer input-cost bill. If America First means immigration, trade, and staying out of Israel’s wars, this delegation did not clear the bar. The scorecard just puts the numbers on the page, and Iowa’s Republicans are in the F column. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at newsroom@iowafirstmedia.com. Photo: @AmericaFirstFdn via X (Twitter)

BLACK HAWK COUNTY, Iowa – Black Hawk County’s current sheriff, Nate Neff, told KCCI his office took a February 6 report from WCF Financial about possible fraud involving Derek Wulf and Shallow Creek Land and Livestock. They investigated it and sent the file to the county attorney. No charges. That is the entire case as of this week. The same office then announced the “open investigation” to local reporters in the middle of a governor’s race, which is a gift to Rob Sand’s ticket. Sand’s running mate, Dave Muhlbauer, called the probe “disqualifying.” Sand, meanwhile, rolled out a law-enforcement coalition that includes former Black Hawk Sheriff Tony Thompson, the man who ran that office for 16 years before retiring at the end of 2024. See Tony Thompson’s Rob Sand Endorsement Here: robsand.com/news/rob-sand-an… Thompson is not the investigator now. Neff is. However, the joke writes itself. The old sheriff backs Sand, while the office he built is trying to investigate, talk publicly about an uncharged file, and essentially damage Zach Lahn’s lieutenant governor pick. Wulf is a farmer who got buried in the same credit crunch a lot of Iowa livestock operators know. In the past few years, he has gone through civil suits, a bank fight, a receivership order, and a refinancing. Lahn said there is no fraud and no theft, and the campaign says debts have currently been paid down. Sand’s campaign and its new law-enforcement friends like to investigate and treat an open file like a verdict anyway. The sheriff’s office fed the race a headline Sand can use, while Thompson poses as a public safety influencer for the other ticket. Wulf has not been convicted of anything. Using an uncharged investigation as a campaign weapon, and opening the investigation using the same office a Left-Wing Democrat occupied for 16 years, is the kind of scenario the Democrats would scream “corruption” about if Republicans were to do it. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at newsroom@iowafirstmedia.com. Photo: Derek Wulf via Facebook

AMES, Iowa – The NCAA spent an entire year investigating a nothingburger involving Iowa State Wrestling. They are now dishing out the “appropriate” punishments. In Spring 2025, Cyclone Regional Training Center assistant Chris Perry called and texted 2 wrestlers who later transferred to Iowa State. One of them was not in the portal yet, as it was 3 days too early. Perry asked for transcripts, talked about revenue share and cost of attendance, and told the kid to slap a “do not contact” tag on his portal entry. Then, head coach Kevin Dresser, now the director of men’s and women’s wrestling, had texted a departing coach at the other school that he was interested, then talked to Perry. Perry was not on Iowa State’s payroll, so the NCAA labeled him a booster. Both athletes committed the day they entered the portal and said Perry was their first real contact. Iowa State cooperated, signed a Level II-mitigated deal, and then took 1 year of probation, a $25,000 fine plus 0.5% of the wrestling budget, 2 one-week blackouts at the start of the next 2 transfer windows, 2 years of disassociation from Perry, and 2 duals off Dresser’s sideline this season. The athletic department said it accepts responsibility. The entire crime scene for this massive response was just texts, a training center coach, and just 3 days. If this is what the NCAA still thinks “cheating” looks like, they have officially lost the plot. The same association that cannot keep a consistent rulebook on NIL just put a historic wrestling program on probation because an RTC assistant did what every staff in America is doing with a slightly different title on the business card. The NCAA could’ve put this energy into anything else, like athlete health, a better portal, or any of the actual messes it created. Instead, it counted Perry’s 14 texts and called a press conference because of it. Cyclone wrestling will be fine, but the people writing bylaws about who is allowed to say hello 3 days early should find a new job. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at newsroom@iowafirstmedia.com. Photo: Jeff Spaur - Iowa State Athletics

ANKENY, Iowa – They could’ve made the flyer at least a little more subtle if they’re going to be breaking the law. “GSAnkeny with Iowa QSA and Ankeny Pride. Free GSA retreat for Ankeny 6th through 12th graders. Pizza, crafts, swag, games. Saturday, Sept. 19, at Parkview Middle School’s performance center. Stay after for Pride in the Park at Wagner Park. Questions go to Jill.Bjorklund@ankenyschools.org.” See the Original Post Here: That is what is displayed on an Ankeny Schools mass-emailed flyer, a sexuality club retreat for 11 and 12 year olds, as Parkview Middle School serves children in grades 6-7. LibsOfTikTok posted it and went after Amy Tagliareni, the Democrat running for Iowa House District 42. She is a former Ankeny school board member and sits on the Ankeny Pride board. Bjorklund is a Pride co-founder and was one of the teachers disciplined after the 2022 GSA drag show at Ankeny High that pulled in Southview Middle School kids. The district later somehow lost the case and paid them all a settlement worth hundreds of thousands. Prairie Ridge, another Ankeny 6–7 building, has its own gay and transgender club fight in the same news cycle. Ankeny keeps putting legitimate homosexuality learning time on the calendar for children who still need a permission slip for the same field trip. Tagliareni wants a House seat so she can write law after years on a board that treated “equity” as more urgent than leaving 11-year-olds out of transsexual programming. If she will not draw a line at a free GSA retreat in a middle-school performance center, she will not draw one in Des Moines, and will likely be one of our most radical members. She will be running against Republican candidate Heather Stephenson. Parents who send their kids to school to learn math and reading are completely oblivious to the indoctrination their child may be experiencing. Ankeny can always stop the event used to pull children into a sexual identity club and a city Pride event. Tagliareni also has the opportunity to denounce it. Neither has, and neither will. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at newsroom@iowafirstmedia.com. Photo: @libsoftiktok via X (Twitter) nitter.net/libsoftiktok/status/21…

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Holmes Junior High School in Cedar Falls put it on the Friday board like it was just another club, with Music+, Fitness+, Girls Who Code, Free Draw Friday, and and then “GSA (Gender and Sexuality Awareness) Club, every other Friday (starting September 11).” Holmes Junior High serves children in grades 7-9, so this club is essentially targeting students age 12 to 15. The district did not invent this yesterday. Holmes already ran a Gender Sexuality Alliance years ago. The student paper covered its second year in 2022, and a bake sale in 2023. See the Original Post Here: Peet Junior High had a GSA during Tiger Time. The high school’s version has bounced between “Gay-Straight Alliance,” “Sexuality and Gender Acceptance,” and “Gender and Sexuality Alliance.” Adults in the building keep putting sexuality and gender identity on the calendar for kids who should still be arguing about Fortnite and who sits where at lunch. A public school does not have to run a sexuality club for junior high children, but Cedar Falls chose to. When a district lists “Gender and Sexuality Awareness” next to art sign-ups, it is telling every 12-year-old in the room that adult sexual categories belong in their school week, and that it is nothing out of the ordinary to participate in homosexuality or transsexualism. Cedar Falls has had years to decide that 12 is too young. The Friday slide says they decided the other way. The people running CF Schools will probably consider it “inclusion.” What it really is, is adults grooming children into a lifestyle and ideology they don’t even understand at their young age. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at newsroom@iowafirstmedia.com. Photo: @libsoftiktok via X (Twitter) nitter.net/libsoftiktok/status/21…

WATCH: Mariannette Miller-Meeks firmly explains why her opponent, Christina Bohannan, is no different than a Democratic Socialists for America (DSA) candidate, and how she even adopted the DSA platform before they became a faction of the Left. “My opponent would be perfectly at home in the Democratic Socialists for America, and followed their platform before it became hip and cool.” SOURCE: ffcoalition.com/livestream-i…

WATCH: Zach Lahn explains why the Church is more important than the State, and why it’s so crucial for religion to come back into every institution. “Government cannot tell a person why their life has meaning. Government cannot help people understand why they need to keep carrying on in the face of adversity.” SOURCE: ffcoalition.com/livestream-i…