Bruce Rastetter has spent years fighting to build a carbon capture pipeline across Iowa farmland, using the government’s power of eminent domain if landowners won’t sell. Documents obtained by Iowa Starting Line show he’s also throwing his weight behind US Rep. Ashley Hinson in her bid for Iowa’s competitive US Senate seat.
Rastetter is the founder of Summit Agricultural Group and is a longtime GOP megadonor known in Iowa political circles as the “kingmaker.” He and Summit CEO Justin Kirchhoff are also listed as hosts of an Aug. 5 fundraiser for Hinson’s campaign. The invitation offers “sponsor opportunities” ranging from a $500 “believer” tier to $2,000 to join the host committee.
Rastetter and Kirchhoff have long been supporters of Hinson. Together, the pair has contributed nearly $60,000 to Hinson’s campaign committees since 2019.
While Rastetter’s carbon capture pipeline project has been stymied by grassroots opposition, the project could still find purchase under a regulatory process that keeps bending in Summit’s favor.
Summit Carbon Solutions’ project has changed shape since 2024 when it first received a pipeline permit from the Iowa Utilities Commission. South Dakota lawmakers banned eminent domain for carbon pipelines outright in 2025, leading Summit to abandon the state entirely. In May 2026, Summit unveiled a new plan removing eight Iowa counties from its route, cutting more than 200 miles and removing roughly 400 landowners from the project’s path, rerouting west through Nebraska toward a new sequestration site in Wyoming. And in July, the Iowa Utilities Commission loosened a procedural condition for breaking ground in Iowa. Summit’s original 2024 permit and its ability to use eminent domain against landowners who won’t sign easements remains in effect, though it is being reviewed in Polk County District Court.
A March 2023 Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll found 78% of Iowans — including 72% of Republicans — opposed letting companies use eminent domain for pipelines. It’s one of the few issues in Iowa politics that cuts across party lines.
Jessica Wiskus, who lives in Hinson’s House district and ran as a Democrat in 2022, has been advocating against projects like Summit’s. She said Hinson getting Rastetter’s backing was concerning.
“What we need in Washington DC is someone able to listen to our communities, our neighbors, our land, and our rights. It’s very troublesome that Ashley Hinson is accepting money from someone turning the gears to condemn the land with eminent domain,” Wiskus said. “Bruce Rastetter is the number-one force condemning private land for his own profit. “
Rastetter’s money and influence have already drawn accusations of buying access. In 2023, Iowa Capital Dispatch reported a Cherokee County landowner fighting Summit’s pipeline testified that state legislators told him Rastetter’s donations to Gov. Kim Reynolds meant “she will not act on this until the pipeline is through.”
Hinson faced criticism over her Rastetter ties during her own primary this year, when opponent Jim Carlin argued one of her biggest donors was “the man who leads that charge to take away private property rights of Iowa’s farmers.”
Hinson will face Democrat Josh Turek in Iowa’s race for US Senate this November.
