Happy Halloween from Iowa Capital Dispatch! 🎃
President Donald Trump waved to supporters gathered at the Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City Oct. 22, 2026, for a rally supporting Iowa Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
President Donald Trump is rounding out his midterm travel blitz in the final sprint leading up to Election Day on Nov. 3 – including a rescheduled stop in Dubuque, Iowa.
With just four days to go, the Republican Party is aiming to keep its narrow majority in the U.S. House and control of the Senate.
Voters line up to vote early Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the MAC Center in Edmond, Oklahoma. (Photo by Barbara Hoberock/Oklahoma Voice)
As of early Friday, more than 46 million Americans had cast ballots ahead of Election Day, eclipsing the early voting turnout of the 2022 midterms. In Iowa, more than 407,500 had voted as of Friday, according to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office.
In the 2022 midterm elections, 45.9 million Americans voted early, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab.
THIS WEEK'S TOP STORIES
State lawmakers are once again calling upon the Iowa Board of Regents to tighten its restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion content in required courses after a University of Iowa official was secretly recorded discussing the topic.
President Donald Trump’s appearance scheduled for Sunday in Dubuque, Iowa, was canceled, the Republican National Committee said in a late Thursday press release. A rally scheduled for Saturday in Kansas was also canceled.
Iowa Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn emphasized his opposition to the COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday at his “Make America Healthy Again” rally with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Alliant Energy Corporation has closed a $5.1 billion loan package with the U.S. Department of Energy to fund power generation and energy storage projects in Wisconsin and Iowa.
Both Democrat Rob Sand and Republican Zach Lahn said Tuesday in their final gubernatorial candidate debate that more work was needed to address mental healthcare and the impact of Medicaid privatization on healthcare providers, but the candidates offered different solutions to improving Iowa’s health system.
Meeting for the sole debate in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn and state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott responded Tuesday to attacks from their opponent on issues like the Epstein files and transgender athletes and students.
Seventy-five of Iowa’s 393 nursing facilities are now subject to a reduced form of government inspection, a new analysis of federal data shows.
Josh Turek, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, is facing criticism from both LGBTQ+ advocates and Republicans for a recent ad in which he said he opposed allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports, and supported blocking Medicaid funding going to gender-affirming care for transgender Iowans.
In the race for Iowa governor, Democrat Rob Sand and Republican Zach Lahn agree addressing high cancer rates and making life more affordable for Iowans are their top priorities if elected Nov. 3, 2026 — but the candidates shared different opinions on how to tackle these problems.
Both Democratic and Republican candidates during the heated midterm election cycle have had to navigate deep voter resentment of the massive advanced computer server farm developments that will power artificial intelligence.
College Republican and Democratic party leaders at Drake University said Friday they want to see people bring an open mind and an interest in learning to the political conversations they participate in, both before and after ballots are cast in the upcoming elections.
University of Northern Iowa President Mark Nook has announced his upcoming retirement as the institution celebrates record-breaking fundraising and 150 years in existence.
NEWS FROM THE MIDWEST AND IOWA'S NEIGHBORS
It’s projected to cost ComEd $3.1B to connect data centers to the grid | Capitol News Illinois
As feds cut key fee, Indiana Medicaid chief warns changes needed to avoid ‘catastrophic situation’ | Indiana Capital Chronicle
Population decline erodes quality of life in rural Kansas counties as property tax base shrinks | Kansas Reflector
Michigan Supreme Court declines to hear GOP appeal in case challenging mail-in voting guidance | Michigan Advance
Immigration restrictions are hurting already struggling Minnesota colleges, universities | Minnesota Reformer
Missouri marijuana businesses await IRS rules on promised federal tax relief | Missouri Independent
Pillen requests federal aid for severe flooding in southeast Nebraska after early October storms | Nebraska Examiner
North Dakota families can face debt collections if they can’t afford school lunch | North Dakota Monitor
Ohio economists split on gas tax replacement | Ohio Capital Journal
Discussion of economic ‘headwinds’ in South Dakota includes falling labor force participation | South Dakota Searchlight
Oshkosh middle school teacher detained by ICE | Wisconsin Examiner
FEDERAL FALLOUT
States Newsroom relentlessly reports on how changes at the federal level are affecting people at the state level — and how state governments are responding in this volatile political climate. We post new stories each day; here are just a few:
WA advocates renew calls for state to limit feds’ access to license data | Washington State Standard
Looming Medicaid cuts will increase burden for Colorado patients, advocates say | Colorado Newsline
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