Iowa is holding key primaries for the gubernatorial and U. Senate races as economic woes continue to plague farmers and others in the state. CBS News' Lana Zak reports.
CBS News National Correspondent Lana Zak joins us now from Iowa City, Iowa, with more on today's primaries out in the Midwest. Lana, good morning. Great to see you.
Walk us through some of the key races happening where you are today. Always great to be with you, Errol. As you know, Iowa is a red state.
President Trump carried it by 13 points. But Democrats are very interested in what they see as a governor's race that has a lot of possibility for them. So Democrats have Rob Sand basically already locked in as their candidate.
But on the Republican side, they are trying to choose between Feenstra, who has received the endorsement of President Trump recently, and Zach "LAN". Now, "Lane, "rather, has recently been campaigning both on President Trump's MAGA agenda but has also received the endorsement of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk's organization, and has some broad support. So in that race, Republicans are trying to decide here in the Hawkeye State, who are they putting forward as the voice of conservatives?
Is it merely President Trump's endorsement equals their stamp of approval, or are they going for something different? So that's going to be a big race. The other one to really watch is that control of the Senate, and I know you know how important this is.
Iowa might actually flip one of those seats red to blue. We're going to be watching to see who Democrats put up. And on that, the question is, what is the Democratic Party's future?
We're looking at Zach Wahls, who is more of a traditional progressive. But he's come out very hard against Chuck Schumer, so he's campaigning against the establishment. Then you also have, on the other hand, Josh Turek.
He is somebody who has received a lot of money from a veterans organization, though he's not a vet himself. He is disabled. He has been campaigning on those economy issues that we've been talking so much about.
His interest is really in the working class, and he says he comes from that. He knows what it's like to have the wrong-color lunch ticket, and he's leaning in on that as Iowa and voters across the country are really feeling those economic pains. And what about the voters you've been speaking with across the state, Lana?
What are the top issues on their minds? Well, it is about gas. It's about the economy.
It's about that affordability question. And so I want to play for our viewers a little bit of sound from Helen Hill and Katharine Cummings. They're a granddaughter and a voting age– a voting-age granddaughter and a grandmother who were dining at the Hamburg Inn recently.
Take a listen. HELEN HILL: I'm a little nervous. Now, things are expensive.
You have to think twice about what you're doing. I'm concerned about gas prices, for sure. Being in Iowa, we don't have a lot of transportation options, and so gas is something that I know a lot of people rely on to get around and go places.
And seeing that be amplified for so many people in my life has been [INAUDIBLE]. Those are the issues. It is a question about economy, and both Republicans and Democrats are going to try and win over those voters, Errol.
ERROL BARNETT: Yeah, such important points there to consider. Lana Zak, thank you so much.