Supervisors endorse Hopkins’ second term at Republican caucus

Though much of the discussion was tailored around politicians who work in Des Moines or Washington D.C., a portion of Monday’s Republican caucus featured conversation on a county official.

“I believe that Union County is in tip top form with the right people in the right places and that includes Supervisor Hopkins,” Union County Supervisor Rick Friday said during the caucus. “I want to thank you for electing him three years ago.”

Hopkins was originally elected in November 2022 and is currently seeking a second term.

“He does his homework, he asks questions, he finds the answers, he challenges the norm,” Friday said. “His services are dedicated to the residents of Union County, I can guarantee you that. In that board room, there’s no drama; there’s just results.”

Friday mentioned the large amount of infrastructure improvement projects completed during Hopkins’ term.

“I agree with everything Rick said,” Supervisor Dennis Brown said. “Doc’s a really good supervisor. He understands it’s not his money he’s spending, and he always looks for what’s in Union County’s best interest. Do us a favor by reelecting him.”

County business

Before getting started, Union County Republican Central Committee Chairman Jerry Hartman opened with some thoughts.

“To see the correlation of what our founding fathers did and what we’re doing today and how much of it is exactly the same,” Hartman said. “We’re doing the same thing our founding fathers did 250 years ago.”

The Union County Republicans are always looking for people to join and help support Republican ideals. The group participate in local parades, and they raise money to provide local and state Republican candidates.

Hartman noted the power social media plays in elections. “That became huge,” he said. “Having a presence in social media is important. We need to be able to reach people we haven’t been able to in the past — especially young people."

The group also noted a need for junior delegates for the county, district and state convention in order to bring the younger generations along. Junior delegates must be at least in seventh grade and no older than 18 at the time of the convention.

“There’s a lot of crazy stuff going on right now,” Hartman said. “Promoting grounded Republican ideals is more critical than ever.”

The Union County Republican Convention will be held at 9 a.m. March 7 at Liberty Hall, 111 W. Montgomery St.

Contested races

Perhaps the two most highly sought after positions on the November ballot are governor and U.S. Senator. These roles fill vacancies to be left by Kim Reynolds and Joni Ernst, respectively.

Four Republican candidates were discussed for Ernst’s position.

U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson sent a letter to be read as she bids for a seat in the Senate.

“Over the past year, we’ve passed tax cuts for working families, protected our daughters from biological boys participating in girls sports, reversed Biden’s border crisis, rolled back burdensome Biden-era regulations that hurt farmers and our economy and fought for Iowa common sense,” Hinson wrote. “It has been the honor of my life to represent the people of Iowa’s second district. Now, I’m asking for you to sent me back to Washington to represent our great state as your next U.S. Senator so that we can make Washington run more like Iowa.

Jim Carlin, a former state senator, also submitted thoughts.

“My vision for the U.S. Senate is straightforward: restore economic freedom and sound money, defend the constitution, secure the border, ensure our food and vaccines are safe and put Americans and Iowans first,” Carlin wrote.

Other Republican contenders include John Berman and Joshua Smith.

Five are competing for the Republican bid of governor. Several submitted thoughts to be read.

Iowa State Representative Eddie Andrews said his campaign is about the people, honor, the future and electability.

“I have led the way on issues like property tax relief, opposing eminent domain abuse, parental rights, scool choice, voter integrity and returning Iowa’s education system to No. 1,” Andrews said.

Minister and former Iowa State Representative Brad Sherman cited professional background in heavy equipment operation and mechanics, commercial and residential construction, real estate development and non-profit leadership.

“Brad has been active in civic engagement for many years,” the letter states. “He has been involved in the Republican Party of Iowa serving as a county chair and as a delegate to various conventions.”

A political outsider, Zach Lahn said he is running to preserve and protect the culture of Iowa.

“Zach has spent his life in agriculture, several years helping build some of the most innovative schools in the country and more than a decade as an entrepreneur,” the letter stated. “He is the only candidate in this race — on either side of the aisle — with the depth of knowledge and understanding needed to attack these issues from day one."

A self-described “baseball player turned businessman who led Iowa’s operations under Gov. Reynolds,” Adam Steen is another candidate looking to take the helm.

“Adam believes that true help comes from the goodness of our neighbors and the strength of our pews, not from a government check,” the letter reads. “He is ready to work alongside the Trump administration to restore our manufacturing might, lower property taxes and fix the mental health crisis by rebuilding the family unit.”

Mike Moffitt of Creston added to Steen’s message.

“The guy you need to meet is Adam Steen; he’ll connect you to a lot of people in the Des Moines area,” Moffitt said. ”If you look at his Linkedin, he has over 1,000 connections and 800 are in the Des Moines area. I think that’s really important."

Widely considered the leading Republican candidate, Randy Feenstra is a U.S. Representative and a fourth-generation Iowan.

The final contested race is for state auditor as the current auditor, Rob Sand, is running as a Democratic candidate for governor.

The first candidate is Lieutenant Governor Chris Cournoyer. Before being appointed to that position in Dec. 2024, she served in the Iowa State Senate.

Also running is Abigail Maas. In her submitted letter, she shared three goals for the auditor’s office.

“One — audit every entity levying taxes, which is not being done, leaving $46 million per year unaccounted for. Two — require yearly audits for all entities. I am a firm believer all these recent cases of embezzlement at the city level is because they are only audited once out of every eight years. Three — implement a statewide software system to decrease variables, increase auditing efficiency and increase transparency," the letter reads.

Uncontested races

Several races are uncontested on the Republican front, all incumbents: U.S. Representative Zach Nunn, Attorney General Brenna Bird, Secretary of State Paul Pate, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, Treasurer Roby Smith, Iowa Representative Devon Wood and Iowa Representative Ray “Bubba” Sorenson.

Those in attendance at the caucus were able to sign petition paperwork to allow for candidates to have their names on the ballot.