No contested county races on 2026 primary ballot

Jones County voters will see no contested races at the local level during the upcoming June primary. 

Voters will go to the polls on June 2 to narrow down the candidates for both Republican and Democrat parties ahead of this year’s general election. 

The Iowa Secretary of State office released the candidate lists Thursday afternoon.

At the local level, only incumbents are running for the seats up for reelection: Sheri Jones seeks reelection as Jones County Recorder, Amy Picray seeks another term as Jones County Treasurer, and both Jon Zirkelbach and Darrick Hall seek a new term on the Jones County Board of Supervisors. 

Jones County Attorney Kristofer Lyons also seeks reelection this November, but as he is an independent, he will not appear on primary ballots. 

At the state level, Iowa Sen. Carrie Koelker is unopposed in the primary for Iowa Senate, and no Democrat has registered as a candidate for that seat in the general election. 

Iowa Rep. Steve Bradley, R-Cascade, is unopposed in the primary but will face a competitor for the House in Democrat Matt English, a schoolteacher from Anamosa, who is unopposed in the primary. 

In other statewide races that will show up on Jones County primary ballots, two Republicans face off for the right to battle Democrat Taylor Wettach for state auditor. Current Iowa lieutenant governor, Chris Cournoyer, and Iowa County Supervisor Abigail Mass will be on this year’s primary ballot as Republicans. 

Other statewide seats that will have no primary race but will appear on the general election ballot in November are: 

• State treasurer: Roby Smith (incumbent), Republican; John Norwood, Democrat.

• State secretary of agriculture: Mike Naig (I), Republican; Chris Jones, Democrat.

• State attorney general: Brenna Bird (I), Republican; Nate Willems, Democrat.

• Secretary of state: Paul Pate (I), Republican; Ryan Peterman Democrat. 

In another statewide race, five Republicans will appear on the primary ballot battling for the chance to face Democrat Rob Sand to be Iowa’s next governor. Those republicans are former Iowa Rep. Brad Sherman, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, former Iowa Director of Administrative Services Adam Steen, businessman Zach Lahn and Iowa Rep. Eddie Andrews. Democrat candidate Julie Stauch submitted paperwork to oppose Sand in the primary, but Pate said her paperwork did not meet the requirement of having at least 100 signatures from 19 different counties, according to a post on Stauch’s social media pages. 

“Two counties had several problems which led to numbers below the 100-threshold required. Therefore, my name will not be on the June primary ballot,” Stauch wrote in a press release. 

At the national level, Two Democrats and two Republicans will challenge each other in the primary for one of Iowa’s Senate seats. Incumbent Joni Ernst, R-Red Oak, is not seeking reelection. In those primary races, former Iowa Sen. Jim Carlin and current U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson seek to be the Republican nominee, while Iowa Sen. Zach Wahls and Iowa Rep. John Turek vie for the Democrat nomination. 

Iowa’s U.S. House Rep. District 1 will also see two contested primary races. Christina Bohannan -- who is running for the seat for the third consecutive election cycle -- and health care worker Travis Terrell face off for the Democrat nomination, and David Pautsch and incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks seek the Republican nomination.