15SEP

MAHA topples two Republican governor hopefuls

2 min read

14:21UTC

Make America Healthy Again challengers beat establishment Republicans in the Iowa and South Dakota governor primaries around Tuesday 2 June, downing three-term congressman Randy Feenstra and Dusty Johnson.

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Key takeaway

MAHA challengers beat two establishment Republicans in governor primaries, widening the party's factional split.

Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), the populist health-focused movement associated with Robert F. Kennedy Jr, defeated establishment Republicans in two gubernatorial primaries around Tuesday 2 June⁠¹. In Iowa, Zach Lahn beat Randy Feenstra, a three-term congressman connected to the NRCC, the House Republicans' campaign committee. In South Dakota, congressman Dusty Johnson lost his bid for governor.

Both losers were mainstream conservatives with congressional records and party infrastructure behind them, the profile that usually wins a primary on name recognition and money. Their defeat by insurgent challengers shows MAHA can turn out a primary electorate against the establishment in governor's races, extending its reach beyond the Senate contests where the faction first drew notice.

The pattern extends a factional fracture already visible in the Texas Senate runoff, where Ken Paxton ousted NRSC-preferred John Cornyn by 28 points despite a nine-to-one spending disadvantage. Texas was a Senate seat; Iowa and South Dakota are governorships, which broadens the fracture from one chamber to executive primaries. Establishment Republicans are now losing on multiple fronts to challengers their own committees cannot reliably stop.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) is a political movement associated with Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who served in Donald Trump's administration and focused on issues like food safety, pharmaceutical regulation, and opposition to what MAHA supporters call corporate influence over public health policy. In 2026, MAHA has been backing challengers in Republican primary elections against more traditional Republican candidates. On around 2 June 2026, two MAHA-aligned or movement-adjacent challengers won Republican governor primaries. In Iowa, Zach Lahn defeated Randy Feenstra, a congressman who had served three terms in Washington and was connected to the Republican Party's congressional committee. In South Dakota, Dusty Johnson, another congressman, lost his primary. Both Feenstra and Johnson lost partly because their Washington connections were used against them: MAHA voters in these states are suspicious of candidates associated with the traditional Republican Party establishment. The wins follow a similar pattern to Ken Paxton's defeat of John Cornyn in Texas, showing that this faction can win in multiple types of races.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

MAHA's primary success in Iowa and South Dakota reflects two structural conditions specific to Republican gubernatorial primaries in 2026. First, incumbent congressmen running for governor face a built-in credibility problem: they are running from a Washington context at a moment when Republican primary voters rate Congress's performance lower than at any point since 2011.

Feenstra's three-term record in Washington became a liability in a primary dominated by voters whose MAHA alignment is partly an anti-Washington cultural statement.

Second, Republican governor primaries in safe-Republican states draw a disproportionate share of the most ideologically activated primary electorate, which in 2026 includes a significant MAHA-aligned cohort energised by Robert F.

Kennedy Jr's Health and Human Services influence in the Trump administration. Where that cohort is large enough relative to total primary turnout, a well-resourced challenger running on food and pharmaceutical reform messaging can reach the winning threshold without converting persuadable centrists.

What could happen next?

Consequence
Two MAHA-aligned governors in Iowa and South Dakota give the movement executive branch platforms to test food-additive and pharmaceutical-regulation policies without federal legislative approval, creating state-level policy laboratories.
Risk
NRCC-connected incumbents in safe-Republican House districts now face a primary threat from MAHA challengers emboldened by the Iowa and South Dakota governor results, particularly those who publicly opposed Kennedy Jr's HHS agenda.

Source Landscape

This story draws on neutral-leaning sources

Consensus view: Niskanen Center analysts tracking intra-Republican factional conflict document that MAHA challengers share a three-part primary mobilisation toolkit: RFK Jr-era health-politics messaging on food additives and pharmaceutical regulation, anti-institutional framing that positions NRCC or NRSC backing as a disqualifier rather than an asset, and a small-dollar fundraising base that signals grassroots rather than donor-class support.

Feenstra's NRCC connection was weaponised by Lahn's campaign precisely because it identified Feenstra with the Washington institutional machinery MAHA voters distrust.

Counter-view: American Enterprise Institute's Daniel Lyons argues that reading Iowa and South Dakota as evidence of durable MAHA factional power overstates the signal. Both are historically low-turnout Republican primaries where name recognition and protest voting consistently inflate the apparent strength of challenger movements.

The 2010 Tea Party wave similarly produced Iowa and South Dakota upsets in low-salience primaries; most Tea Party-aligned governors served conventionally once in office, and many of those insurgent patterns proved non-reproducible in general elections.

Key tension: Whether MAHA-aligned gubernatorial nominees in safely Republican states change state policy in ways that affect 2028 Republican presidential primary dynamics, or whether governor-level MAHA is primarily a factional signalling mechanism with limited downstream policy consequence.

Sources:Roll Call

Mentions:Make America Healthy Again →Randy Feenstra →Iowa →South Dakota →NRCC →American Enterprise Institute →Ken Paxton →Texas Senate runoff →John Cornyn →Republican Party →Donald Trump →Washington →Texas →Trump administration →

First Reported In

Update #8 · Shadow docket shields maps

Roll Call· 6 Jun 2026

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Causes and effects

This Event

MAHA topples two Republican governor hopefuls

The MAHA faction can mobilise primary electorates against mainstream Republicans beyond Senate races.

Led to

An Iran War price shock hits Iowa

The MAHA primary victories over Feenstra and other NRSC-linked incumbents form the factional backdrop against which Cook moved Iowa Senate toward Democrats.

Occurred 3 Jun 2026

Read story →

Different Perspectives

Department of Justice (DOJ)

DOJ appealed to the 9th Circuit after Judge David O. Carter did not rule by a noon deadline on 22 October that DOJ itself had set, seeking to have California set aside mail ballots from more than 20,000 listed voters. Its case is that ineligible votes cancel lawful ones; the panel dismissed the appeal 2-1 on 26 October.

Lower Costs Now

Lower Costs Now reported $7.37m in Kansas on 24 and 25 October, part of $65.65m in Senate races since its first independent expenditure on 1 October, including $17.21m for Josh Turek in Iowa. Its FEC filings show $50.18m raised by 14 October.

MAGA Inc

MAGA Inc, the super PAC aligned with Donald Trump, filed $7.20m against James Talarico on 22 October, taking its Texas spending to $37.65m. Of that, $30.12m is against Talarico and $7.53m is for Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee.

Senate Majority PAC (SMP)

SMP's pre-general report shows it spent $108.70m from 1 to 14 October, including $65.0m to WinSenate and $10.0m to Texas Forever, and ended with $32.72m. Texas Forever has reported $19.40m against Ken Paxton since 1 October.

Senate Leadership Fund (SLF)

SLF's pre-general report shows $88.42m in cash on 14 October and $18.98m raised in the fortnight, none of it from Elon Musk. It has since reported $12.07m against Sherrod Brown in Ohio, and its $2.7m to Plains PAC preceded that committee's first Kansas buy on 25 October.

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC)

The NRSC's pre-general report shows nothing spent with Ashley Hinson in Iowa, or with its nominees in six other states, from 1 to 14 October, after $5.54m with Hinson in September. It took no new loan and ended the fortnight with $25.20m in cash and $20m of debt.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.