Campaign Almanac: GOP state Sen. Mike Bousselot exploring run for Iowa governor

Republican Sen. Mike Bousselot, of Ankeny, announced Monday he is launching an exploratory campaign to run for Iowa governor in 2026.

The 42-year-old lawyer was elected to the Iowa Senate in 2022 after serving one term in the Iowa House. Before being elected to the Iowa Legislature, Bousselot worked as a policy adviser and chief of staff to former Gov. Terry Branstad.

Branstad, in a statement released by Bousselot, expressed his support of the Davenport native exploring a run for governor.

“Mike worked hand-in-hand with President Trump’s team during the President’s first term, and he will be a fighter for President Trump again,” Branstad said in the statement. “Mike has the work ethic, vision and character necessary to lead Iowa to an even brighter future.”

The announcement comes after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds announced earlier this month she will not seek another term.

Reynolds’ surprise announcement creates an open race that resets the field in Iowa ahead of the 2026 midterm elections and presents opportunities for both Republicans and Democrats. It’s the first time an incumbent will not appear on the ballot in the race for Iowa governor since 2006 — and only the third time since 1982.

Bousselot, speaking to reporters Monday, said he was caught off guard by Reynolds’ announcement and praised her leadership.

“I'm proud of the work she's done, and I was proud to be on her team and proud to support it in the Iowa Legislature. Throughout responding to COVID, natural disasters, keeping our community safe, lowering taxes and bringing jobs to Iowa, she's done a great job.”

In the wake of Reynolds’ announcement, he said Branstad and others reached out to encourage him to consider running for the office.

“So I'm going to do that. I want to listen to Iowans. I want to see if that the support is there, and understand what issues are important, and then make a decision,” he said.

At the moment, he said he’s focused on wrapping up the 2025 Iowa legislative session, after which he said he expects spend the summer “to take a look and kick the tires and see, you know, what support looks like, and see what the path could be, and really take a hard look at the race.”

Bousselot said Iowa Republicans need a nominee who will stand with President Donald Trump and fight to keep taxes low, support agriculture, strengthen public safety and attract business investment to the state.

“Iowa is growing, but we also have seen that manufacturing jobs have faced some headwinds lately,” he said. “We need to do more to bring jobs to Iowa to make sure that we have manufacturing jobs … Nvidia, a major tech manufacturer, just recently announced millions and millions of dollars of investment into Texas for manufacturing their processors. That could be Iowa. We can bring manufacturing jobs back to Iowa.”

Bousselot said he believes Trump’s tariffs and trade policies will lead supply chains back to the United States and result in a rebound of U.S. manufacturing.

Major U.S. companies and economists, however, say a major U.S. manufacturing boom is unlikely, with costs too high to relocate supply chains to the United States and concerns over finding skilled labor. Instead, companies intend to commence a global hunt for low-tariff regimes, according to companies that responded to a CNBC survey.

In addition to Bousselot, Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley, Rep. Bobby Kaufmann and Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig have said they are considering — or at least not ruled out — seeking the governor’s office in 2026. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird hinted in a statement she also would be considering running for governor. All are Republicans.

As of now, former one-term Republican state lawmaker Brad Sherman, a pastor from Williamsburg, is the only declared Republican candidate for governor. Sherman announced plans in February to run for governor, before to Reynolds’ announcement.

On the Democratic side, Paul Dahl, of Webster City, who previously ran unsuccessfully for governor and Congress, announced his candidacy for governor in November.

State Auditor Rob Sand, a potential Democratic candidate for governor, has not yet announced his intentions for 2026.

“You know, the primary field is going to be what it is,” Bousselot said. “Republicans have never been afraid of a primary and have never been afraid of competition,” he said. “I believe that competition gives us our best candidates. It allows us to organize, to listen to voters, to understand what issues are important to Iowans and respond to those. That competition makes us better as a party and makes candidates better.”

Libertarian lawyer exploring run for U.S. Senate seat

Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn, the first Libertarian to serve in partisan elected office in Iowa, is considering a bid for U.S. Senate in 2026.

The Thomas Laehn Exploratory Committee filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission in December 2023 and has launched a campaign website.

Laehn’s exploratory committee had raised nearly $25,000 as of the end of March and spent roughly $8,000, leaving it with nearly $17,000 cash on hand, according to its latest campaign finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Others exploring or having announced their candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican incumbent Joni Ernst include Democrat Nathan Sage, executive director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, an Iowa Army and Marine Corps veteran; Republican former state Sen. Jim Carlin of Sioux City; and Cedar Rapids Republican John Berman.

Carlin, a staunch pro-Trump conservative who campaigned on his belief that the 2020 election was stolen, unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley for the Iowa GOP nomination in 2022. Grassley won with 73.3 percent of the primary vote and went on to win re-election to an eighth term, defeating Democratic challenger Mike Franken.

Laehn earned his law degree at the University of Iowa and moved to Jefferson, where he was elected Greene County Attorney in 2018 and was reelected in 2022.

He said the exploratory committee is sponsoring events, raising funds and testing the waters on his behalf. Laehn said he does not anticipate making a decision about whether to enter the race until sometime this fall.

“I am exploring a possible run for the United States Senate because I believe the people of Iowa are tired of voting for the lesser of two evils and are ready to vote for someone rather than against someone,” he told The Gazette. “I believe the people of Iowa are ready for a credible third-party candidate. … If I run, I won't be running against the Republican incumbent, Joni Ernst, or her Democratic challenger, whoever that may be. I'll be running against the two-party system itself.”

Ernst told reporters in 2024 that she intends to seek a third term, but she has not formally launched a re-election campaign.

Nonpartisan elections analysts at the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball both rate Iowa's U.S. Senate race as a safe Republican seat.

Ernst, whose term ends in 2026, raised just more than $1 million in the first months of 2025. She finished the period with just more than $3 million in her account.

The Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau