Photo: photo by Bill Koplitz / Moment / Getty Images
(Windsor Heights, IA) -- Another Democrat is throwing her hat in the ring for the party's nomination in the 2026 3rd district congressional race. Jennifer Konfrst is announcing her candidacy, the second Democrat to do so this week. It's a decision she told WHO Radio News she made a while back.
"This decision, I actually first made it on Inauguration Day," Konfrst said. "I sort of was trying to decide 'how can I be of most service? How can I help the most?' That day, it just sort of hit me that I think I need to try to help more people in a broader space."
Konfrst has served in the Iowa House of Representatives since 2019. She's currently serving as the chamber's minority leader, a position she's held since 2021. She said she can carry what she's learned at the Iowa State Capitol into Washington.
"I think what it's done is it's taught me about the importance of relationships, working across the aisle, listening to each other and finding common ground," Konfrst said. "Not a lot that happens at the capitol is all or nothing. So much of what happens ends up being bipartisan or ends up being something that we can come to a deal with."
State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott (D-Waukee) is the only other Democrat who has officially entered the race so far. Konfrst said the challenge is not personal, and that the end goal is flipping the seat. Republican Congressman Zach Nunn has said he will run for re-election in 2026, and no other Republican has filed in the race to this point.