Lindsay James has raised the most in this race — $3,917,994, ahead of Joe Mitchell at $2,916,069. Joe Mitchell has taken the most PAC and party-committee money: $579,500. On AIPAC: no candidate in this race has an AIPAC-linked record in FEC filings.
No current officeholder is running — the seat will have a new winner. This district usually votes Republican. Joe Mitchell, a Republican, reports $2,250 from other pro-Israel groups. The November ballot lists 4 candidates: one Democrat, one Republican, one independent and one Libertarian.
Major issues facing Iowa, based on 2025–2026 reporting. Compare them with what each candidate says they focus on below.
FEC campaign finance data through Oct 14, 2026. Campaign dollars, by source.
| Joe Mitchell R | Lindsay James D | Rick Stewart L | Dave Bushaw I | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raised | $2.9M | $3.9M | — | $38K |
| Individuals | $2.1M74% | $3.4M87% | — | $30K78% |
| PACs & parties | $580K20% | $495K13% | — | $5K13% |
| Self-funded | $100K3% | $1200% | — | $2K6% |
| Other | $89K3% | $23K1% | — | $1K3% |
| AIPAC-linked* | — | — | — | — |
| Outside spending† | — | — | — | — |
* AIPAC-linked money is already counted in the rows above — it flags the pro-Israel share, not extra money.
† Independent spending on ads for or against a candidate. It never goes to their campaign.
“Individuals” covers both small-dollar (under $200) and large donors.
Every donor ranked by how much they gave, from the candidate’s own FEC filings — individuals, PACs, and party committees all in one list. Expand a candidate to see theirs, then tap any name to learn more about the donor.
Why are so many gifts exactly $10,000? That’s the legal maximum a PAC can give one candidate for the whole cycle — $5,000 for the primary plus $5,000 for the general — so many PACs give the max. Individuals can give up to $3,500 per election.
Showing the 50 biggest of 703 donors. The other 653 gave $1.1M combined.
Plus $263K from small donors giving under $200 each — those aren’t itemized by name.
Showing the 50 biggest of 1057 donors. The other 1007 gave $1.1M combined.
Plus $179K from small donors giving under $200 each — those aren’t itemized by name.
These figures come from the candidate’s own itemized FEC reports (2026 cycle, through the coverage date above), with amendments applied and refunds netted. Joint fundraising transfers are left out of the ranking: they’re pass-throughs, and the individual donations behind them are listed above. Bank interest, vendor refunds, and other non-donation receipts are excluded. Donor names are as reported — the same person can appear twice if their name was recorded differently. Independent spending on ads is never included here — see the Outside spending column.
Lindsay James has raised more: $3,917,994, ahead of Joe Mitchell at $2,916,069.
Joe Mitchell has taken the most money from PACs and party committees: $579,500. Lindsay James has taken $494,963.
No candidate in this race has an AIPAC-linked record in FEC filings.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026.
October 24, 2026
'Our Heritage Matters' spends $404,000 boosting Libertarian and independent candidates against Republican incumbents
Our Heritage Matters (C00963736), a super PAC registered October 15, 2026 in Salt Lake City, has spent $404,084 on PoliVion-tracked races — and every candidate it supports is a Libertarian or independent running against a Republican: Thomas Laehn in IA-Sen ($214,257), David Graham in KS-Sen, Chris Royal in TX-34 and others, while it opposes Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Aaron Flint (MT-1), Joe Mitchell (IA-2) and Rep. Gabe Evans (CO-8). The pattern benefits Democrats only by splitting the right-side vote. The PAC has filed no donor report of any kind, its sole vendor (Chase Grove LLC) has no public footprint, and its treasurer is a Salt Lake City compliance CPA — who is actually behind it is unknown, and its funders stay hidden until December 3.
Source: FEC committee filings (C00963736) →October 14, 2026
New pop-up super PAC drops $348K backing Ager in NC-11 and James in IA-2; donors now disclosed
Fight for Working People (FEC #C00960245), registered as a super PAC on August 28, 2026, reported $348,238 in independent expenditures: $280,000 supporting Democrat Jamie Ager in NC-11 and $68,238 supporting Democrat Lindsay James in IA-2, all disclosed via 48-hour FEC reports from Sept 18 to Oct 13. Treasurer is Oregon Democratic compliance professional Jef Green (C&E Systems); the media vendors are Progressive Lens Media and The New Media Firm. No donor report has been filed yet — as a quarterly filer, its first donor list is due October 15. UPDATE Oct 15: its October Quarterly filing (received Oct 14) discloses $350,000 in itemized donations: Bigger Tent Initiative $100,000; BDA PAC $100,000; WelcomePAC $25,000; Kevin Litwack (Seattle) $50,000; Tom Miller (Seattle) $40,000; Grace Nordhoff (Seattle, retired) $25,000; Brian Jacobson (Seattle, Valve Corporation programmer) $10,000. The filing also shows a $50,000 contribution routed to Millions of Michiganians (Lansing, MI). Three of the seven donors are organizations, seeding most of the money.
Source: FEC filings →October 09, 2026
Cook Political Report moves 18 House races toward Democrats; sees most likely outcome as a 9-to-19-seat Democratic gain
Cook's House editor moved 18 race ratings toward Democrats on Oct. 9: nine Republican incumbents (Miller-Meeks and Nunn in Iowa; Mackenzie, Perry, and Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania; Huizenga in Michigan; Wittman in Virginia; Hill in Arkansas; Spartz in Indiana), five Democratic incumbents (Lee in Nevada; Suozzi and Gillen in New York; Gluesenkamp Perez in Washington; Davis in North Carolina), and four open seats (NE-02, IA-02, KY-06, ME-02). Cook now says Democrats need only 20 percent of the Toss Ups to reach a House majority.
Source: Newsmax (Cook Political Report ratings) →