Iowa
Iowa Democrats and Republicans gain voters, independent voters decrease
DES MOINES, Iowa (Iowa Capital Dispatch) – The Iowa Democratic and Republican parties both gained voters over the past month, while the number of voters with no party affiliation dropped significantly.
According to data from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office, the Democratic Party gained more than 27,000 registered voters from June to July, bringing the total number of active Democratic voters in Iowa to 527,675. Despite Democratic gains, Republicans still hold a strong statewide advantage in voter registration with 711,587 active voters, gaining more than 17,000 registered voters over the past month.
The largest change in voter registration occurred among voters affiliated with no party, as the number of registered independent voters decreased by more than 32,000. As of July 1, there are 555,309 active independent voters in Iowa.
“I think part of what’s going on is that people changed their registration to reflect a party preference so they could vote in the party primary,” Karen Kedrowski, an Iowa State University political science professor and Carrie Chapman Catt Center director, said. “These are not really new voters. They’re probably independents who lean Democratic or Republican and changed their party registration to be able to vote in the primary.”
Kedrowski said that in recent years, the number of registered Republican voters have remained constant, the number of independent voters has gone up and the number of registered Democrats has gone down.
Kedrowski said the increase in Democratic registrations appears consistent with national trends, which she said reflect heightened motivation among Democratic and left-leaning voters opposed to President Donald Trump’s policies.
“There’s just a lot more excitement about participating in the election on the part of Democratic voters,” Kedrowski said. “They’re highly mobilized because they’re largely unhappy with what’s happening with the administration.”
Kedrowski said that it is extremely difficult to predict election results based on monthly data trends, but the excitement among Democrats could lead to the party making gains in Iowa, with the state returning to its “purple” roots, meaning a state that votes for both Republicans and Democrats closely.
“It’s definitely worrisome for Republicans because it shows there’s going to be momentum for the Democrats,” Kedrowski said. “Instead of seeing this as the Democrats becoming ascendant in Iowa, it might be more Iowa returning to being a swing state.”
Kedrowski cautioned that monthly voter registration alone does not predict election outcomes.
The voter registration figures reflect only “active” voters. According to Iowa Code 48a, voters who do not participate in one or two consecutive general elections will be labeled as “inactive,” but can still participate. If a voter misses three general elections, their voting status will be “canceled,” and the person would have to reregister.
Copyright 2026 Iowa Capital Dispatch. All rights reserved.
See the unique cotton candy art at the Iowa State Fair
Cotton candy has been a popular treat at the State Fair for decades, but one family is pushing the fluffy limit on the sweet classic.
It’s all about the food at the Iowa State Fair, and a panel of judges has named their top new foods coming to the fair in 2026.
From an initial list of 84 entries, the field was narrowed to 11 contenders. Judges tasted each of the 11 new foods and voted for three finalists during a Facebook livestream event from the fairgrounds on Tuesday, July 14.
Those three will compete for fairgoers’ votes for the 2026 Best New Food at the Iowa State Fair.
Last year, Winn & Sara’s Kitchen’s bacon chicken ranch eggroll took home the top honor.
These three finalists will face off in public voting Aug. 13-19 at the Iowa State Fair. The winner will be announced Aug. 21.
What are the top three new foods at the 2026 Iowa State Fair?
All-American Scrambled Egg Roll
Winn & Sara’s Kitchen will try for its third-straight win with a breakfast offering. The All-American Scrambled Egg Roll is stuffed with bacon, sausage, hash browns, eggs and cheddar, finished with cheesy ranch.
- Cost: $15
- Vendor: Winn & Sara’s Kitchen
- Where: Next to the craft beer tent, west of the Jacobson Building
Porky Parm Gnocchi
The Pork Parm Gnocchi features gluten-free potato gnocchi with sausage, parmesan cream and pesto. It’s topped with an America 250 flag and a suvenir piggy pal.
- Cost: $14
- Vendor: Destination Grille
- Where: Between the Jacobson Building and the Craft Beer Tent
Ultimate Minneapple Pie
An offering from a Minnesota State Fair vendor making its first Iowa State Fair appearance, the Ultimate Minneapple Pie includes fried apple pie with ice cream and apple syrup.
- Cost: $14
- Vendor: Minneapple Pie
- Where: Near the Anne and Bill Riley Stage
More standout new foods at the 2026 fair
Here are the eight other items that rounded out the top 11:
- 1776 Dubai Strawberries from The Strawberry Station, $19. Fresh strawberries topped with milk chocolate, pistachio crème and crunchy kataifi. Find it at West Marketplace.
- Cajun Cluck ’N’ Chaos from Cluckin’ Coop, $14. Cajun chicken sloppy joe with slaw, spicy pickles, pickled egg and pickle cotton candy. This lunch-cafeteria special is served right across the street from the Animal Learning Center at Little Hands on the Farm.
- Crunchy Lamb Wrap from HoQ, $19. Deep‑fried naan stuffed with risotto, lamb and cheese. Located east of the Administration Building.
- Garlic Dill Pickle Cheese Curds from Brad and Harry’s Cheese Curds, $9. Garlic‑dill mashup curds. You can find Brad and Harry’s Cheese Curds west of the Jacobson Building.
- Star Spangled Swine from Whatcha Smokin’ BBQ, $15. Pork belly with apple‑chipotle rub and honey crystals. Located next to the Iowa craft beer tent, west of the Jacobson Building.
- Strawberry Bliss from Iowa Specialty Crop Growers Association, $8. Shortbread, strawberry, meringue and milk chocolate. Located in the Agriculture Building, under the southwest stairs.
- Stuffed Tater Kegs from Tater Todd and Hot Doug’s, $10. Loaded potato bites with breakfast or cheese options. Located in front of the Agriculture Building.
- Sweet Americana from Over the Top, $13. Strawberry shortcake, lemon bar and blueberry crisp ice creams. Over the Top’s stand is on Grand Avenue, just outside the Varied Industries Building.
Previous winners of Best New Foods at the Iowa State Fair
- 2013: Zag’s Po Boys — Shrimp Corn Dog
- 2014: Multiple vendors — Funnel Cake on a Stick
- 2015: The Rib Shack — Ultimate Bacon Brisket Bomb
- 2016: Iowa Turkey Federation — Not Your Mamma’s Taco
- 2017: Steer ‘N’ Stein — Pork Almighty
- 2018: Applishus — Apple Eggroll
- 2019: G Mig’s Wrap Stand — Georgie’s Roast with the Most Wrap
- 2020: No fair due to COVID-19
- 2021: Cluckin’ Coop by the Iowa Egg Council/Iowa Poultry Association — Chicken Egg Salad with Fry Bread
- 2022: The Rib Shack — The Finisher
- 2023: What’s Your Cheez — Deep-Fried Bacon Brisket Mac-n-Cheese Grilled Cheese
- 2024: Winn & Sara’s Kitchen — Bacon Cheeseburger Eggroll
- 2025: Winn & Sara’s Kitchen — Bacon chicken ranch Eggroll
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
Hear from Iowa folk duo Weary Ramblers on their song Pretty Lights of Denver
Hear from Kathryn Severing Fox and Chad Elliott of Weary Ramblers as they discuss their musical chemistry and creative process.
What would RAGBRAI be without Hairball and the Pork Tornadoes?
Cyclists on the July 19-25 ride will have the chance to rock with both of the venerable Iowa party bands as they perform on back-to-back nights.
They’re perennials on the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, as traditional as the Mississippi River tire dip. Hairball will bring its signature pyrotechnic, costumed arena rock tribute to the main stage in the overnight town of Boone on Tuesday, July 21, and the Pork Tornadoes will be in Marshalltown on July 22 to perform selections from their seemingly endless, genre-spanning repertoire.
Other headlining party-cover faves booked in RAGBRAI overnight towns will include the Spazmatics in Dyersville, Not Quite Brothers in Independence and Gut Feeling in Onawa.
But if you’re a fan of original music, make plans to spend a little extra time at the stage in Guthrie Center, the Monday, Day 2, overnight town.
While Gimikk, a RAGBRAI classic cover band that also proudly performs some originals, will be the headliner, don’t miss the other Iowa originals on the bill.
Most prominent are the Nadas, a fixture on the state’s music scene for nearly 35 years. Co-founders Jason Walsmith and Mike Butterworth got their start in Ames in the early 1990s while students at Iowa State University. Expanding into a five-member ensemble, they worked to build a following across the country and have sold thousands of records on their independent Authentic label featuring their original, alt-rock-leaning folk-Americana tunes.
Marking 25 years of the Nadas in 2018, Walsmith told the Register, “As long as it’s fun, we’re always going to do it.” And they still are, performing regularly and adding another album, “Come Along for the Ride,” to their lengthy discography in 2023.
Also on the bill: a duo that has launched with a bang. The Weary Ramblers, Iowans Chad Elliott and Kathryn Severing Fox, are songwriting and performing partners who got their start in 2022. Elliott, a veteran guitarist and singer on the Iowa scene, and Severing Fox, a classically trained musician steeped in jazz violin, released a debut album in 2024 that hit the top 10 on the Americana charts and produced a hit single, “Pretty Lights of Denver.”
In December 2025, they collected a major award for independent songwriters presented at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. With a second album starting to chart, they were back in Tennessee again in January to compete in the International Blues Challenge, and came home the overall winners for solo or duo act.
In growing demand as touring performers, they opened for the Des Moines Symphony at the annual Yankee Doodle Pops show July 3 on the grounds of the Iowa Capitol, drawing an enthusiastic response from a crowd of nearly 100,000.
Superintendent summons former students to put on a show
Steve Smith, the Guthrie Center RAGBRAI entertainment chair who tapped the Nadas and Weary Ramblers, is high on a third act: Hillbilly Air Show, the afternoon’s opener. They’re a country duo that includes former Navy fighter pilot Brick Imerman and whose songbook is rich with the tunes of honky-tonk balladeers like George Strait and Alan Jackson.
One thing Imerman, of Panora, and Elliott, a Lamoni native who lives in Jefferson, have in common: They spent their school days in Guthrie Center, where Smith was a teacher and now is superintendent of the regional school district.
“There’s just a personal connection,” said Smith, who counts himself a big fan of the musical careers his former students have forged. And he said he’s been kicking himself for 25 years after failing to book the Nadas for a school reunion when he had the chance,. He said he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity a second time.
Smith said he got some pushback from other Guthrie Center RAGBRAI organizers for his unorthodox choices, but stuck by them.
He said he hopes the town’s show and an effort to keep food and beverage vendor prices reasonable will reward the riders for climbing some of the 2026 ride’s steepest hills coming into and leaving town.
So far, he said, he’s gotten a positive reception from veteran RAGBRAI riders who’ve heard about his eclectic music lineup.
“They said they don’t always go to the (overnight town) shows, but, ‘If you’re having them, we’re there,’” he said.
Hillbilly Air Show goes on at 2 p.m., followed by the Weary Ramblers at 4 p.m. and the Nadas at 6:30 p.m. Smith invites Des Moines metro residents who aren’t on the ride to join the party.
“We’re a town of 1,600 that’s going to be invaded by another 30,000 to 40,000, but we’re ready,” he said.
RAGBRAI 2026 music headliners
Onawa, Day 0, Saturday, July 18
8:30 p.m.: Gut Feeling
Harlan, Day 1, Sunday, July 19
8 p.m.: Decoy
Guthrie Center, Day 2, Monday, July 20
9 p.m.: Gimikk
Boone, Day 3, Tuesday, July 21
8:30 p.m.: Hairball
Marshalltown, Day 4, Wednesday, July 22
8:45 p.m.: Pork Tornadoes
Independence, Day 5, Thursday, July 23
8:45 p.m.: Not Quite Brothers
Dyersville, Day 6, Friday, July 24
9 p.m.: Spazmatics
SIOUX COUNTY, Iowa (KTIV) – A Woodbury County woman was taken by ambulance to the hospital after a rollover took place in Sioux County.
The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office says 45-year-old Jenni Madison of Sioux City was taken to the hospital Saturday, July 11.
Authorities say at about 12:01 p.m., deputies investigated a rollover that took place on Highway 60, one mile south of Alton. According to the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office, the car was traveling north on Highway 60 when the driver lost control, entered the median and rolled.
Deputies say Madison was taken by ambulance to the Orange City Area Health System to be treated for minor injuries. The vehicle sustained $12,500 in damage.
Orange City Fire Department, Alton Fire Department, Alton Ambulance, the Orange City Police Department, and the Iowa State Patrol helped the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office at the scene.
Want to get the latest news and weather from Siouxland’s News Source? Follow these links to download our KTIV News app and our First Alert Weather app.
Copyright 2026 KTIV. All rights reserved.
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