DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – Iowa gas prices have topped $4 per gallon for the first time since 2022, averaging $4.11 a gallon.

According to GasBuddy, prices jumped 15 cents from Sunday night to Monday, up from $3.84 on Wednesday. Prices have risen 61 cents in the past month.

Iowa gas prices are $1.18 higher than a year ago. The highest recorded average in Iowa was $4.77 per gallon in June 2022.

Nationally, Georgia has the lowest average gas price at $3.85 per gallon, while California has the highest at $6.08.

Lost in the shuffle of the 2026 midterms — the unprecedented mid-decade redistricting, President Trump’s sagging favorability numbers and Democrats’ hopes of retaking the House and potentially the Senate — is an election story that could have implications for 2028 and beyond.

In 23 states, including five presidential swing states, candidates who have denied election results are running for offices that will have a direct role in certifying future elections.

That is according to a new analysis, shared exclusively with NPR ahead of its release, by States United Action, a nonprofit that seeks to protect elections and has been tracking candidate positions on the validity of election results since 2022.

“The goal is to be able to provide voters with the most accurate information possible,” said Joanna Lydgate, States United’s CEO, “and understand exactly what these candidates stand for and whether they fundamentally believe in free and fair elections in this country.”

In total, 39 states are holding elections this year for statewide positions that interact with elections, either for secretary of state or governor, which depending on the state has a role in administering or certifying elections, or for attorney general, which interprets and enforces election laws.

States United found at least 53 election-denying candidates are vying for those jobs at this point in the midterm cycle.

To define which candidates qualify for the title, States United tracks whether candidates meet at least one of five criteria, including whether they’ve falsely claimed Trump was the rightful winner in 2020 or if they’ve supported efforts to undermine results after audits and legal challenges were completed.

In most states, the elected position with the most direct responsibility over how elections run is secretary of state. These typically bureaucratic jobs took on new meaning in 2020, when officials from both parties faced unprecedented pressure from Trump and his allies to influence the results.

In Georgia, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger declined Trump’s request to “find” 11,780 votes. In Michigan, Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson had armed protesters descend on her home in the weeks after voting ended.

Both swing states will elect new secretaries of state and governors this year, and both states currently have people in the running who have denied election results.

In Arizona, another presidential battleground, people who deny election results are running for all three critical statewide positions, according to States United’s analysis.

In 2020, Arizona’s Republican governor at the time, Doug Ducey, faced pressure from Trump to interfere in the certification process but declined to do so.

This year, however, the front-runner for the GOP nomination for governor in Arizona, Andy Biggs, voted not to certify those election results while he was serving in the U.S. House, and even made a call to a key state lawmaker at the time to investigate other ways to interfere with the process.

“We’ve watched these state officials on both sides of the aisle stand up and push back when Trump has tried to interfere with elections and election results in the past,” Lydgate said. “We know that they will do that again. But it’s incredibly important that we elect people who believe in our system and who believe in free and fair elections.”

Compared with recent cycles, the number of election deniers running this year in statewide races is actually down. Lydgate attributes that to state-level candidates realizing it’s a “bad campaign strategy” in places that will have competitive races come November.

“Election denial is not something that American voters like, and candidates who’ve run on that platform have paid a real price in the past,” Lydgate said.

After the 2022 midterms, an NPR analysis found that Republican secretary of state candidates who denied the results of the 2020 election generally underperformed other GOP candidates in competitive states. A separate analysis of the same election by States United estimated the penalty for election denial to be roughly 3 percentage points.

Candidates running in states Trump won by double digits, or in crowded primaries where they are seeking Trump’s endorsement, clearly aren’t being dissuaded by that data however.

Brendan Fischer, who leads research into efforts to undermine elections at the Campaign Legal Center, says a powerful “election denial infrastructure” has cropped up since 2020, which has proven effective at moving candidates and lawmakers toward false theories about voting and policy responses to that misinformation.

“The election denier movement still represents a tiny, tiny minority of the country,” Fischer said. “But it is an energized and active force within Republican politics. It’s an organized interest group that [Republican candidates and lawmakers] need to be at least somewhat responsive to.”

Copyright 2026 NPR

AMES — In a must-win scenario, Iowa State prevailed, battling back and forth with the No. 22 UCF Knights. The Cyclones are sitting in ninth place in the Big 12 standings, right behind Utah. 

Iowa State fell behind 4-0 but scored four in the bottom of the fourth, then took the lead in the fifth, scoring four more. A blown seventh-inning lead led to another chaotic fight to the finish, with the Cyclones coming out on top 13-9. 

“Really proud of the grit, really proud of the way they came back,” head coach Jamie Pinkerton said. 

In the fourth inning, as the Cyclones were getting no-hits up to that point, sophomore catcher Karlee Ford had a change of plans. On a 1-0 count, she roped a solo homer over the left-field wall to start a rally. 

“I always have the same mentality of just putting the ball in play,” Ford said.

Iowa State then scratched across three straight base hits, scoring one in the process, before senior center fielder Tatum Johnson came to the plate. She wouldn’t disappoint, connecting with the first pitch and tripling to left field, tying the game at four.

The fifth inning was more of the same for the Cyclones. Ford came up to the plate with one out and drew her second walk of the game, bringing up senior leader Sydney Malott. Malott had seven hits in 19 at-bats over her last six games, after a 3-for-29 stretch dating back to April 5. 

“I automatically knew Syd [Malott] was going to hit me around,” Ford said.

Malott came through, crushing a two-run home run off the top of the scoreboard in left field, her third homer in her recent stretch. 

“It’s definitely ups and downs, and you have to keep a steady mind,” Malott said. “Just trying to do whatever I can for my team.”

Two more runners would score after sophomore left fielder Jessie Clemons drove them in with a single down the left-field line. 

When it looked like the game would be over in the seventh inning, with the Cyclones up 8-4, the Knights had other plans. 

Junior right-handed pitcher Lauren Schurman came out to the circle to start the seventh, having not allowed a run since the fourth inning after relieving freshman right-handed pitcher Liv Palumbo. 

Pinkerton made a defensive change, moving senior Tiana Poole to right field to replace sophomore Hayleigh Oliver. 

This decision proved costly as, on the first batted ball of the inning, a deep fly ball to right field was misjudged, resulting in a triple.

This started a rally for UCF, as it reached base in six consecutive at-bats on four singles, one walk and one hit batter, scoring four runs to tie the game at 8-8. 

Senior right-handed pitcher Jaiden Ralston came in to relieve Schurman and faced three batters but allowed the go-ahead run to score on a sacrifice fly, giving the Knights a 9-8 lead heading into the bottom half of the inning. 

UCF brought in redshirt sophomore ace right-handed pitcher Isabella Vega, who previously threw a complete game and struck out eight Cyclones in game one. 

After junior pinch hitter Isabelle Nosan recorded the first out of the inning, senior third baseman McKenna Andrews drew a nine-pitch walk. She was out at second on a Clemons fielder’s choice for the second out.

Johnson and senior shortstop Reagan Bartholomew then drew full-count walks, bringing up sophomore second baseman Kadence Shepherd.

Shepherd roped the third pitch of her at-bat through the left side, tying the game at 9-9. 

That brought up Ford, who was 1-for-2 with two walks, including her solo homer that broke up the no-hitter in the fourth inning. 

On a 2-2 count, Ford didn’t miss, crushing a grand slam over the right-center wall.

“Karlee Ford’s been clutch all year,” Pinkerton said. “Huge hit.”

For Malott, the moment reflected the team’s mindset throughout the game.

“We just kept fighting the whole game,” Malott said. “No one ever thought we were out of it.”

The win pushed Iowa State’s conference record to 9-14. Utah sits at 9-13-1 after its win against Arizona.

For the Cyclones to make the tournament, they need to win the season finale against UCF and have Utah lose its finale against Arizona.