Republican Mike Naig was reelected Iowa Secretary of Agriculture with 53% of the vote to 47% for Democrat Chris Jones, who conceded defeat and called for grassroots demand for water quality.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, a Republican, was reelected to the office by defeating Democrat Chris Jones with 53% of the vote to 47%, with an estimated 96% of precincts counted, according to the Associated Press.
Jones, who campaigned on a platform centered on improving water quality and on deep changes to the agricultural economy, conceded the race that same night and argued that change in Iowa's water quality will not happen if people simply "nudge it." Speaking at a watch party in Des Moines' East Village, Jones said a "big complex" system like Iowa's agriculture changes with a flip.
"So we really need to have grassroots demands here: that this is going to change, that we're going to ask for change, that we're going to demand change," Jones said. "Change can happen. We should not be disbanded or despair... I did my best to make it happen. I tried to make words matter."
Naig has headed the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship since 2018, and he has launched programs such as Choose Iowa, a state brand for local products, and championed the Farm-to-Faucet legislation in 2026, which provided greater state support for the adoption of conservation practices and for water treatment infrastructure.
In a victory statement issued early Wednesday, Naig expressed gratitude for the trust of Iowa voters who chose him to serve in the role again. "Tonight, Iowans rejected divisive rhetoric and attacks on our farming community, choosing instead a positive vision for the future of Iowa agriculture," Naig said.
The secretary said he was proud of the work done so far and said he looks forward to "continuing to build" on that progress. "We'll continue to strengthen Iowa agriculture by building markets internationally, domestically and locally, working together to improve water quality, protecting our food supply and ensuring our farms remain strong for the next generation," he said.
Jones is known for his Substack column and for his book "The Swine Republic," in which he has criticized Iowa's current agricultural system, which relies on large-scale farms devoted mainly to corn and soybeans and which, he argues, contributes to the state's poor water quality.
Throughout his campaign, Jones argued that his candidacy should be considered a "referendum" on water quality in Iowa. Before retiring, he was a research engineer at the University of Iowa.
The Democratic candidate proposed deep changes in Iowa agriculture, including taxpayer-supported exit pathways for producers who want to transition their operations to grow oats, for example, instead of corn and soybeans. He also called for the state to require a certain share of locally produced food in school lunches and to support new crop markets to move away from ethanol.
Iowa has had a Republican secretary of agriculture since 2007, when Patty Judge left the office.
Jones said that when he launched his campaign in January, he was one of the few candidates talking about water quality, but by the end of the campaign "every candidate in the state was running on this issue."
"We can only hope that maybe some of these people we see on the screen tonight are the next ones, who can take it up and carry the ball over the goal line," Jones said.
