On Iowa Politics Podcast: 2025 Election Review Edition

On Iowa Politics is a weekly news and analysis podcast that aims to recreate the kinds of conversations that happen when you get political reporters from across Iowa together after the day’s deadlines have been met. Tackling anything from local to state to national, On Iowa Politics is your weekly dose of analysis and insight into the issues affecting Iowa.

This week on the podcast, we’ll follow up on what happened in Iowa’s local elections, there’s a new Republican candidate for governor, and we’ll analyze this week’s national off-year election results and what they mean for 2026 in Iowa.

This episode was hosted by the Gazette Des Moines Bureau Chief Erin Murphy. It features Sarah Watson of the Quad City Times, Jared McNett of the Sioux City Journal and Gazette columnists Althea Cole and Todd Dorman.

Read stories featured in this episode:

Democrats dominate as economic woes take a toll on Trump’s GOP. Takeaways from Election Day 2025

Zach Lahn joins crowded Republican field for governor with ‘Iowa First’ message

Here's all of our Davenport, Bettendorf city election preview coverage

The Sioux City Journal’s Election Day 2025 Blog

This episode was produced by Gazette Social Video Producer Bailey Cichon.

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Comments: erin.murphy@thegazette.com, bailey.cichon@thegazette.com