Franklin County Republicans Gather for 2026 Caucus 

Members of the Republican Party of Franklin County held their caucus at Hampton-Dumont High School on Monday evening, Feb. 2. 

The caucus started off with open registration and a chance for constituents to review and sign petitions from local, state and federal Republican candidates for the 2026 midterm elections, before listening to a number of speeches from these candidates. 

Franklin County Republican Party Chair Larry Sailer read a letter from Brad Sherman, who's running for Governor. John Latham shared a letter from Randy Feenstra, who's now running for Governor. County Supervisor Gary McVicker read a letter from Chris McGowan, who’s running for Iowa’s fourth district. John Latham read a letter from Chris Cournoyer, who’s running for state auditor. Betty Poley read a letter from Abby Moss, who’s running for state auditor. Joe DeVries read a letter from Mike Naig, who’s rerunning for secretary of agriculture. Lastly, John Latham read a letter for his wife, Shannon Latham, who’s running for another term as state representative for district 55. 

Franklin County Republican Chair Larry Sailer then spoke about his recent decision to run for County Supervisor District 1, which will soon open up, as Gary McVicker (who currently holds the role) does not plan on rerunning. 

Sailer also shared that Richard Lukensmeyer would like to announce that he is rerunning for his seat as County Supervisor for District 2. 

Heather Bushbaum gave a brief speech about why she was running for county recorder. 

Petitions for other candidates at the caucus included Christian Schlafer for Iowa’s fourth district, Ryan Rhodes for Iowa’s fourth district, Ashley Hinson for U.S. Senate, Adam Steen for governor, Eddie Andrews for governor, Roby Smith for state treasurer, Chris McGowan for U.S. Congress Iowa’s fourth district, Zach Lahn for governor, Abigail Maas for state auditor and Brenna Bird for attorney general. 

After speeches wrapped up, the group divided up for precicnt meetings, where constituents discussed selecting delegates for the county convention on March 7, new appointees for the central committee, and platforms they would like to see the Republican party work on. 

Marion Township Republican Chair Val Plagge said that these caucuses serve as a way for the local party to come together to learn about candidates, share ideas, vote on delegates and gather signatures for petitions. 

"If you're going to run for political office, you have to receive so many signatures on these petitions to get your name on the ballot, and the number of signatures depends on the office, so smaller, local offices need fewer than the national candidates. So they have these petitions at every single one of these caucuses," she said. "For the platforms, the ones that are passed at the county level, will move onto the district level, which could then possibly move onto the state and then federal level, if approved that far. It's good to have a political process and it's nice that you as a Franklin County resident can have your voice heard, especially by sharing ideas for platforms during these precinct meetings." 

Throughout the caucus, money was also collected to support future events and projects for the local party. 

Party Chair Larry Sailer told the Chronicle that they had a small crowd but good discussions and that a lot of great information was shared about different candidates.

The local Republican Party is led by their central committee's executive board — made up of Chair Larry Sailer, Co-Chair Kent Craighton, Secretary Lori Tarr and Treasurer Brian Borcherding.