Meet the prosecutor and former lawmaker running in Iowa's 4th Congressional District

The midterm elections are ramping up. We launch our candidate series with Dave Dawson, the Democrat running in Iowa’s 4th District. Dawson is running against Siouxland Chamber of Commerce president Chris McGowan, a seat currently held by Rep. Randy Feenstra. We talk with him about running as a Democrat in a red district. But first, we revisit a conversation with an astrophysicist who discusses new research on white dwarf stars 200 light-years away and learn about scientists at the University of Iowa working on a virtual lunar landscape complete with low gravity and lunar dirt. (Portions of the episode were originally produced Feb. 3, 2026.)