More than a year before Iowa’s 2026 primary election, Democrats already have one announced candidate for U.S. Senate (Nathan Sage) and two officially running for the U.S. House (Travis Terrell in the first district and Kevin Techau in the second). More Democrats will launch campaigns for Iowa’s statewide and federal offices in the coming months.

So it’s a good time to preview how this website will cover the next round of Iowa Democratic primaries.

GUIDELINES FOR MY OWN REPORTING

First, I don’t plan to endorse a contender in any competitive Democratic primary. My goal is to produce in-depth reporting on the major races, with details about the candidates and the political landscape that readers may not find in other media outlets.

Second, my coverage will focus on candidates with the capacity to run a credible statewide or district-wide campaign. I don’t mean just front-runners; plenty of little-known candidates have built a following and eventually won the nomination for a major office. I mean that when deciding where to spend my time and energy on individual candidate profiles or surveys of the primary field, I will be looking for signs that a candidate is doing the work this kind of campaign requires.

Organization

Has the candidate filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (for U.S. House or Senate races) or the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board (for state elections)?

That’s the bare minimum to show you are serious about running for office.

Real campaigns typically have websites and Facebook pages, and often accounts on other social media platforms, which they periodically update.

Regular activity

Is the candidate holding events around the state or Congressional district?

These don’t have to be large gatherings, especially early on. But I would expect to see meet and greets, listening posts, or something similar where the candidate can start building name ID and bringing their messages to primary voters. Anyone with a significant potential base of support should be able to find volunteers to help with event planning, even if they can’t afford to hire campaign staff right away.

Serious candidates show up for gatherings organized by other Democratic or progressive groups. These could be rallies or protests, county Democratic central committee meetings or fundraisers, or special events like a candidate forum, pancake breakfast, or soup supper. Summer parades and festivals are also opportunities to get the word out.

Fundraising

The winner of an Iowa primary election isn’t always the person who raises and spends the most. But no one can win a statewide or Congressional race on their own.

I will review the required filings on campaign fundraising and spending, which come out quarterly for U.S. House and Senate candidates and on a different schedule for those seeking state offices. If someone claims to be running for a high-level office but hasn’t raised enough money to file a campaign finance disclosure, that person will not have a realistic chance to win the primary against better-known contenders. Reaching thousands of voters across the state or a Congressional district will require a budget for staff or consultants and paid messaging, whether that be through digital or broadcast advertising, direct mail, or something less expensive like text messages.

A candidate who raises almost no money will likely struggle to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot (nominating papers are due March 13, 2026).

Why these criteria?

It’s a huge undertaking to run for governor or Congress. Some people who announce they are seeking high offices don’t even end up submitting paperwork to the Secretary of State’s office.

Even experienced or well-funded politicians can stumble in the early stages of a campaign. Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Corbett and Democratic Congressional candidate Theresa Greenfield failed to meet Iowa’s signature thresholds in 2018. Former U.S. Representative Abby Finkenauer barely made it onto the ballot as a Senate candidate in 2022. That same year, long-serving Attorney General Tom Miller nearly failed at the same hurdle.

To qualify for Iowa’s 2026 primary ballot, candidates for governor and U.S. Senate will need to submit at least 3,500 valid signatures on nominating petitions, including at least 100 signatures from eligible voters in at least 19 counties.

Candidates for U.S. House will need to submit at least 1,726 signatures, including at least 47 signatures from eligible voters in at least half of the district’s counties.

That is a high bar, in light of the many reasons nominating petition signatures—or whole pages of signatures—can be declared invalid.

To be clear: I don’t intend to exclude long-shot candidates. I just need to focus on those who are on track to make it to the June 2, 2026 ballot.

GUIDELINES FOR BLEEDING HEARTLAND GUEST AUTHORS

This website has always welcomed guest posts by Democratic candidates or their supporters, and that practice will continue in the 2026 election cycle. If you want to write and do not already have a Bleeding Heartland user account, get in touch with me, so I can help you set one up and explain the process.

My advice for anyone wanting to write about any 2026 Democratic primary:

DO:

• Explain why you are supporting your candidate in the style and manner of your choosing. Bleeding Heartland has no standard format or minimum or maximum word length for guest submissions. I copy-edit for clarity but don’t micromanage how writers express themselves. For inspiration, check out some of of the guest posts endorsing candidates for governor in 2018, candidates for president in 2020, or candidates for U.S. Senate in 2022.

• Feel free to criticize Democratic candidates. Although this website generally supports Democrats, I’ve published numerous posts calling out Democratic candidates or elected officials. Writers arguing against someone need to do their homework so they can back up any factual claims. Keep the focus on policy (red flags in the politician’s record, a stand the candidate took on an issue important to you) or politics (a flawed campaign strategy, reasons why this candidate would be weak in a general election).

• Write about candidate events, house parties, or forums. First-person accounts from the campaign trail are usually fun to read. You can focus on the candidate’s speech or add details about the atmosphere or audience reaction. If covering a multi-candidate forum, you can write about a few highlights or provide a play-by-play like Stephen Nein did in this account of a forum before the 2016 primary in the third Congressional district. Let me know if you need help uploading photos or audio clips, or embedding a video.

• Compare candidates on the issues. Many Bleeding Heartland readers are policy wonks and would enjoy reading analysis of several candidates’ stances on some topic that’s important to you.

• Describe advertising, direct mail, or robocalls you have seen or heard urging voters to support or oppose any candidate. How candidates are presenting themselves to voters can be good fodder for a story. I especially like to know about telephone polls testing messages about various candidates. So if you receive one of those, do not hang up. Record the call or take detailed notes if possible, and write up what you heard.

DON’T:

• Conceal conflicts of interest. Democratic candidates or their employees are welcome to post here. In order to avoid problems that have cropped up at other political blogs, I ask paid campaign staffers or consultants to disclose that fact if they write about the campaign they’re working on.

• Violate copyright laws. A news report or post at another blog can be the basis for a guest piece, but do not enclose lengthy excerpts or the entire text of copyrighted materials. Legal “fair use” involves posting a link to the original article and an excerpt of a few paragraphs. I will not publish material that crosses the line.

• Engage in personal attacks. I give guest authors some leeway for colorful language, but if your post is mostly name-calling or cheap shots, I won’t publish it.

• Abuse the ability to post anonymously. Bleeding Heartland commenters and guest authors may write under any screen name that is not already in use here. No one is required to reveal real names or any personal information. “Outing” users who choose to post anonymously will get you banned from this site. At the same time, I ask Bleeding Heartland users writing under a pseudonym not to make false statements about themselves.

• Use this website as a dumping ground for press releases. It’s fine to use all or part of a statement from a candidate as a way to show why you support that Democrat, but add value with some analysis or commentary. I won’t publish any piece consisting primarily of a campaign press release or email blast.

Thanks in advance for keeping these rules in mind, so Iowa Democrats can have a vigorous and clean debate between now and June 2026 over the candidates running for governor, U.S. Senate, or U.S. House.