Articles Tagged: Republican Party of Iowa

Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann has been chosen by President Trump and RNC Chair Joe Gruters to lead the committee that will decide whether the state party keeps its first-in-the-nation caucus status in 2028. Meanwhile, Gov. Kim Reynolds unveiled $5 million in new state grants to expand collaborations between child care providers and preschool programs, part of an effort to help working families access full-day of care that meets their need.

Iowa’s leaders are clashing over who’s to blame for the partial federal government shutdown. Iowa’s Republican U.S. House members say Democrats forced it; Democrats argue Republicans walked away from compromise, risking higher health costs for thousands of Iowans.

Education, celebrity, rural identity influenced which candidates Iowa voters supported in presidential elections since 2012.

Over the last 12 years, Chickasaw County has seen the second-largest shift toward Republicans in presidential elections out of Iowa’s 99 counties. Between 2012 and 2024, the county has taken a 47.9-point swing toward Republicans.

Jackson County, bordered by bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River to the east and cave networks, soaring rocks and hiking trails to the west, is among the Iowa counties that have shifted significantly to the right in the past decade. Here’s what residents there had to say about what’s behind the change.

Howard County in northeast Iowa had the largest move to the right in the last 12 years. It’s a county that former President Barack Obama won twice and that went to President Donald Trump by more than 20 points in the last three elections.

Since 2016, thousands of Iowans have shifted away from the Democratic Party as the state morphed from purple -- a mix of support for Democrats and Republicans -- to a ruby red Republican stronghold. This story, the first in a series, shares some of the stories of that shift.

Iowa Republicans and Democrats offered prayers and condemned political violence after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot Wednesday.

The campaign for Iowa Senate District 1 lasted two months and cost more than $100,000 in total campaign spending and involved tens of thousands of volunteers. And as of last Tuesday, the Democrat stands as the winner, breaking the GOP supermajority in the Iowa Senate and flipping the seat from R to D.

Iowa Democrats’ campaign speeches sound different this year as the party attempts to win back voters they have lost in the state over the past decade.

Republican state Rep. Bobby Kaufmann will help lead his party’s supermajority after Iowa House Republicans elected him as majority leader Monday morning. He replaces former House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl, of Missouri Valley, who stepped down from his leadership role to focus on his campaign for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District.

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann kicked off a party fundraiser Friday by stressing to the crowd that Rob Sand, the Iowa State Auditor and only statewide elected Democrat, is “running away from his left-wing views” as he runs for governor in the 2026 election, which is more than 15 months away.

As the headlining speaker of the Republican Party of Iowa’s Lincoln Dinner, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin told a crowd of more than 200 people how he became Virginia’s first statewide-elected Republican in 12 years and how Republicans can gain more ground in traditionally blue states.

Also in the Campaign Almanac, Rob Sand announces 100-stop town hall tour

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, in Cedar Rapids for a Republican Party of Iowa fundraiser Thursday, questioned President Donald Trump’s authority to unilaterally impose tariffs on other countries by edict, and applauded a federal court ruling blocking Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law.