Ryan Melton has suspended his 2026 bid for Congress in Iowa’s 4th District, leaving the field clear of Democratic candidates in the race for a potentially open seat in the Republican-leaning corner of the state.
The race could have been a rematch against incumbent GOP U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, who hasn’t officially announced he’s seeking reelection and has instead launched an exploratory committee and run campaign ads to run for governor in 2026.
In a social media post Tuesday, June 17, Melton said this was “one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make.”
“It’s been one of the tougher past few weeks of my life,” Melton wrote. “I was notified due to reorganization at the company I’ve long worked for that I’m losing my job, and as the sole breadwinner at home, I really need to find a new job to support my family. I am also now dealing with a health concern I need to prioritize. Additionally, through a month of campaigning, it is clear my 6-year-old son at home is finding it much harder to have me on the road, and that, of course, makes it harder on my wife as well, and both have already sacrificed so much during my first two runs.”
Melton had launched his second congressional campaign May 12. He was the Democratic Party’s 4th Congressional District nominee in both 2022 and 2024.
The 4th District includes cities in the northwestern quadrant of the state, including Council Bluffs, Sioux City, and Ames.
It is Iowa’s most conservative congressional district. Feenstra won by about 37 percentage points in 2022 and by about 34 percentage points in 2024.
Feenstra, a former state lawmaker, businessman and professor, won the seat in 2020 after ousting longtime U.S. Rep. Steve King in a Republican primary that year.
Melton’s platform was focused on public health, rural revitalization, property rights and transparent and responsive government.
“It was an honor to fight the good fight on your behalf, and I will continue to, just in different ways,” Melton said. “It’s the biggest sacrifice I’ve ever made for the greater good, but I don’t regret a single minute, and am proud of the fact that the party out here in the 4th is in a much better place now than it was when I first began running. It was an honor to help party build at the county level and to boost our candidate count last cycle.”
Melton touted his calls to fight against the use of eminent domain to seize private property, address the cancer crisis and take on corruption in politics, and said he was proud to receive an endorsement from Feenstra’s GOP primary challenger in 2024.
Republican Kevin Virgil, who unsuccessfully challenged Feenstra in the 2024 GOP primary for the 4th District seat, endorsed Melton over the two-term incumbent, saying Republicans had become complacent in the deeply conservative district.
Iowa 4th District GOP candidates Rep. Randy Feenstra, right, and challenger Kevin Virgil shake hands after a candidate forum at Western Iowa Tech Community College on Thursday, May 30, 2024, in Cherokee, Iowa.
Melton said he ran for federal office without taking corporate PAC money while receiving no support from the national party, and without being recruited by anyone or being wealthy. He offered to be a resource for anyone eyeing an opportunity to run for office.
“I showed you can cause a lot of good trouble through a grassroots campaign,” Melton said. “I started from literally nothing my first campaign. I wasn’t recruited by anyone, had no start up money, and had no name recognition. This was never something I thought I’d do with my life, but when it was clear our party wasn’t going to be able to find a candidate, I jumped in and learned on the fly, and so many awesome volunteers boosted us. We need more working people that struggle every day along with most Americans to run for every office.”
The only other candidate to consider running for the 4th District so far is Republican state Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia. He launched an exploratory committee May 17 to weigh a bid for the seat.
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @marissajpayne.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Ryan Melton suspends Iowa 4th Congressional District campaign