Dave Bushaw, musician and farmland owner from Fayette County running as an Independent for Congress in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, today released the first comprehensive set of policies and priorities outlining his 2026 vision for Iowa and the country.
Bushaw’s platform is organized into four core policy areas: American Guarantees, Government Reform & Accountability, Fighting Corporate Greed, and Fighting the Wars at Home.
“They say the only things guaranteed are death and taxes,“ says Bushaw. “I think that in the richest country on earth, we can guarantee a little bit more than that for our hardworking people. Let’s start by abolishing private taxes and guaranteeing single-payer healthcare for every American.”
Bushaw says his campaign is focused on delivering material solutions to long-standing problems he believes Washington has ignored for decades.
“Who still thinks deregulating Wall Street and the big banks was a great idea?” Bushaw asked. “We need to re-seperate commercial and investment banking again with 21st century Glass-Steegal regulations and reverse the biggest betrayals of working people in modern American history.”
Bushaw is also highlighting the growing housing crisis, noting that Americans are buying their first homes later than ever—now averaging around age 40.
“Private equity firms are buying up all of our housing, nursing homes, and trailer parks,” Bushaw said. “Blackstone, the Carlyle Group and others, are projected to control 40% of single-family housing units in the US by 2030. That is a terrifying consolidation of essential housing. We need to equip the Federal Trade Commission to investigate these monopolies and shut them down.”
Under his Government Reform & Accountability agenda, Bushaw is calling for a federal audit of the American Rescue Plan Act, specifically the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, to investigate waste, misspending, and misappropriation of taxpayer dollars.
“I worked directly on this funding,” Bushaw said. “I helped lead community efforts across Iowa to stop bad spending decisions, including a case that went all the way to the U.S. Treasury. We won a final ruling that saved taxpayers half a billion dollars by blocking COVID funds from being used to build new prisons and jails.”
Bushaw added, “Too many elected officials in Iowa and across the country
took taxpayer money meant for frontline workers and emergency response systems and redirected it toward pet projects that had nothing to do with pandemic recovery.”
Bushaw announced his campaign in November and brings more than a decade of experience in community and political organizing. He says his platform is shaped by work alongside communities across Iowa and across the country.
Additional policies Bushaw supports include:
- Universal firearm and hunter safety education in all publicly funded schools and colleges
- A ban on stock trading by members of Congress
- Guaranteed all-day childcare and pre-K for working families
- Federal regulation of blocked railroad crossings and excessive train lengths
More information about these and other policies is available at DaveBushaw.com/platform
