The one statewide contest that was unresolved by the June 6th Primary ended Saturday. Delegates at the Iowa Republican Party’s state convention nominated Mike Naig as their candidate for Iowa secretary of agriculture.
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Naig was the top deputy in the agency until March. Ag Secretary Bill Northey left for a job in Washington and the governor appointed Naig to take Northey’s place. Naig fell just short of the 35 percent support he needed to win the G-O-P’s nomination from the primary results.

Three of Naig’s competitors called on the G-O-P to nominate an active farmer rather than an administrator like Naig. After three rounds of voting, the contest was down to Naig and Ray Gaesser of Corning.
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On the final ballot, Gaesser got nearly 46 percent of the delegates’ votes compared to Naig, who got a total of 54 percent — the only round Naig crossed the required 50 percent threshold to secure the nomination from G-O-P delegates.
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Naig will face Democrat Tim Gannon, a former aide to Tom Vilsack in the Iowa governor’s office and in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.