Iowa Sen. Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, mingled with attendees at an Iowa Farmers Union potluck in Elkhart July 26, 2025 as he spoke about his campaign for U.S. Senate. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Iowa Democrats looking to learn more about the candidates aiming to become the party’s U.S. Senate candidate gathered for an Iowa Farmers Union event Saturday, where Iowa Sen. Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, and Democrat Nathan Sage gave their pitches for why they could be the best choice to unite voters in the upcoming election.
Both Democrats are running as contenders to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2026 who will compete against the Republican candidate in the upcoming midterms. Speaking before at the potluck hosted by Iowa Farmers Union, a progressive organization focused on Iowa agriculture, the two candidates spoke about issues from air and water quality, food security and Medicaid cuts.
The U.S. Senate race in Iowa has been in the spotlight, in part, because of criticisms of incumbent U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst. The Iowa Republican’s response “well, we all are going to die,” at a May town hall to a person saying Medicaid cuts will cause people to die gained national attention. She has also received some flak from the right over her criticisms of U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth during the nomination process despite her ultimately voting to confirm him.
Ernst has not officially announced whether she plans to run for another term, and Politico reported Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said he is working to encourage her to run. She has hired a campaign manager and plans to hold her annual fundraiser, “Roast and Ride,” in October.
Both candidates made references to Ernst’s comments, with Sage, executive director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, saying he starts every speech with “just saying I want everybody to here to live a long and prosperous life.”
Attendees at the gathering were largely Democrats, and people already looking for their choice to defeat the Republican nominee in 2026. Ardyth Gillespie, who has a farm near Atlantic, said while she believes all three of the Democrats running for the U.S. Senate seat would be better to have in the Senate than Ernst, she was most interested in seeing which candidate could build a coalition to win in the state where Republicans have seen overwhelming victories for many years. Iowa’s federal delegation is currently all Republican, and there is a GOP trifecta at the Statehouse.
Breaking that hold, and winning against Ernst, will require a candidate who can find ways to build “community,” including with people who may have previously supported Republicans or who are not involved in politics, Gillespie said.
“I think somebody that can bring people together — we really need that, really badly,” Gillespie said. “I haven’t figured out who’s going to do that, but that’s why we’re here.”
Wahls said in the time since launching his campaign, he has heard from Republicans and independents who have expressed frustrations with Ernst and Republicans in power in Congress. Democrats have to be willing to “extend an open hand” to these voters and ensure these voters will be able to support Democratic candidates, he said.
“Because I will tell you, the agenda that this administration is putting forward, and that Senator Ernst has been a complete rubber stamp for, it is uniquely bad for a state like Iowa, right?” Wahls said. “… But when you talk about things like the Medicaid cuts, the tariffs, the fact that you are now talking about this mass deportation scheme, you almost could not design a worse agenda for our state. And fundamentally, the job of being a U.S. senator is to say, you’re going to have your party politics — they always have to come second serving your constituents.”
Democrat Nathan Sage, who is running for U.S. Senate, gave his campaign pitch at an Iowa Farmers’ Union potluck in Elkhart July 26, 2025. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Sage said he is coming into the race as someone who is not a seasoned politician, and can offer a perspective — and a disruption to politics as usual — that people of different political backgrounds can appreciate, as a veteran and business leader who grew up in poverty.
“I’m not your run-of-the-mill politician,” Sage said. “I don’t have one-liners. I’m not going to say things just to say them, I’m not going to talk about political rhetoric, I’m not going to joke around about things that are not funny to a lot of people. I’m here to fight. I fought in Iraq three fun-filled times. I stood up and did that. And right now, what I feel like, we have a lot of people in this world that need somebody to fight for them. They need somebody to look up and go, ‘This guy’s willing to do it.’ That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Cole Lindaman, who runs an urban agriculture business in Ames and works with the Story County Democrats, said he believes the budget reconciliation bill will also have a negative impact on farms because of the cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). He said earlier federal cuts to local foods programs for schools also negatively impact small agriculture producers in the state, in addition to harm to people receiving food benefits.
He said Ernst has been “selling out the state” and said he is looking for a candidate who can represent Iowans’ best interests in Congress — something he did not believe Ernst was doing.
Wahls said he disagreed with U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minnesota, who is the House Agriculture Committee ranking member, for comments on shutting down negotiations on the farm bill because of disagreements about SNAP and food assistance cuts.
“I understand that there’s frustration about how they decoupled SNAP, and those changes that were in the bill that they passed,” Wahls said. “However, I just — anytime you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. And so I’m just, I’m really concerned about the fact that Democrats have walked away from negotiations, but I think it’s clear that if we had a Democratic senator from Iowa who was serving on the Agriculture Committee, we’d get a real voice in that conversation. Because right now, really, we’re not getting it from Joni Ernst or Chuck Grassley.”
Bonnie Winslow-Garvin, a 69-year-old farmer from Belle Plaine, said she liked hearing from both Sage and Wahls — but that she wanted to hear more specific policy ideas, especially on how to improve Iowa’s air and water quality.
“I think there’s a lot of people coming out to run, and that’s fantastic, and I’m excited,” Winslow-Garvin said. “And it may be hard to pick the right candidate, the best candidate. So … I think as time goes on and they say more specific things, that I’ll be watching.”
Sage said he had a personal connection to the need to improve Iowa’s air and water quality, particularly as it potentially relates to rising cancer rates in the state, as both his parents died from cancer.
“I have a personal stake in this game,” Sage said. “I’m here to fight for Iowans. I’m here to fight for workers, here to fight for farmers.”
In the most recent Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports, Sage had raised the most in the Democratic field at $709,000 from April 1 through June 30. His haul was followed by Wahls with $656,000 and Iowa Rep. J.D. Scholten, R-Sioux City, with $175,000 in the same time period. Both Wahls and Scholten entered the race in June.
All three Democrats raised less than Ernst at almost $723,000 in the reporting period — though her fundraising fell behind her fundraising total from the same time period during the 2020 election season, leading to further speculation that she may not run for reelection.
Wahls noted there is “speculation” that Ernst may not run, but pointed out that if she does run again, she is breaking the commitment she made in 2014, while running for her first term in office, to only serve two terms. In the two terms since Ernst took office, Wahls said Iowa’s public schools have fallen behind, the state’s economy has suffered and air and water quality problems have gotten worse.
“Assuming that she does, in fact, move forward with a third term, what does she have to show for her 12 years in Washington, D.C., except from all the things that I just mentioned?” Wahls said. “It’s clear to me that Joni Ernst did not change Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C. changed Joni Ernst.”