Iowa’s quiet conservative: Senate Leader Jack Whitver

In 2024, Governing magazine honored Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds as “Public Official of the Year” for her numerous policy achievements — including historic tax reform, parental choice in education, state government reform, and defending traditional values. For two years, the CATO Institute honored Gov. Reynolds as the most fiscally conservative governor in the nation. Perhaps her most-significant award has come from voters, who expanded Republican majorities in state government.

In a supporting role — deserving recognition of his own — is a “quiet conservative” who does not seek the limelight. In that sense, Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver is not just politically conservative, but temperamentally conservative. Unafraid to boldly defend his principles, Whitver is a gifted communicator who clearly articulates the importance of conservative ideas with consistency and resolve. For this reason, he invites comparisons to President Calvin Coolidge in both demeanor and commitment to fiscal policy.

Whitver credits Reynolds for being unafraid “to stick her neck out and go big and bold and put her reputation or her favorability on the line.” In return, Reynolds calls Whitver “the most transformative Senate Majority Leader Iowa has seen in the modern era — perhaps ever.”

Having entered their current roles together in 2018, Reynolds and Whitver will commence their final legislative session as Iowa’s Republican dynamo when the legislature reconvenes this January. Reynolds announced she will not seek another term, and Whitver is relinquishing his seat to concentrate his fighting spirit against a brain tumor.

As a fiscal conservative, Whitver shares Reynolds’ policy objective to make Iowa’s tax code more competitive and provide much needed tax relief. For decades, Iowa’s income tax rates were high, and the tax code was clogged with the numerous credits and exemptions by which past legislatures have attempted to solve policy problems.

After seven years of reform, Iowa has reduced its income tax rate by almost 60%. The progressive income tax, with a top rate of 8.98%, transformed into a 3.8% flat tax. Likewise, Iowa’s 12% corporate tax rate was the highest in the nation and now is scheduled to be reduced to a flat 5.5%. The taxes on inheritance and retirement income have been eliminated.

Whitver also understands government spending drives taxation, so discipline is of utmost importance. His leadership has strengthened Iowa’s fiscal foundation, with the budget running annual surpluses, the reserve accounts filled to their statutory maximums, and the Taxpayer Relief Fund having over a $3 billion balance.

With Whitver at their head, the goal of Senate Republicans has been to “maintain the principle of putting the taxpayer first, not the government.” Together, they enacted historic reorganization measures, the first major effort to reform state government in nearly 40 years. In this way, Iowa led the nation long before Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was on the federal radar.

Describing his policy objectives, Whitver has said, “In one sentence, here’s the plan: cut taxes, control spending, reform government, and let Iowans be great.” Ensuring this legacy, he currently champions two proposed taxpayer protection amendments. The first would require a two-thirds majority vote of both chambers of the legislature to increase income taxes. The second would constitutionally protect the flat income tax.

Whitver’s comprehensive fiscal vision extends beyond the budgetary ledger, as well. He is a full-spectrum conservative, protecting life and traditional values, defending the Second Amendment, and working for parental school choice. Whether one agrees or disagrees with these polices, it was certainly not hyperbole when Reynolds stated that “together our administration and the legislature embarked on one of the most consequential periods in Iowa history.”

His diagnosis led Jack Whitver to give up his status as the front-runner to succeed Kim Reynolds in the governor’s seat. Signs of his recovery, however, give reason to hope that when he wins his health battle, Iowans will once again see him reemerge to champion the conservative cause.

In the meantime, as Gov. Reynolds proclaims: “His influence has reshaped our state and given families more breathing room through tax relief, more confidence through responsible budgeting, and more certainty that their government is working for them — not the other way around.”

John Hendrickson is Policy Director for Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation.