Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds makes it official: She’s running for re-election

DES MOINES — Kim Reynolds finally made it official Wednesday: She’s running in November’s election for another four-year term as Iowa’s governor.

The Republican governor made her re-election announcement at an event hosted by her campaign Wednesday night at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Her remarks were a mixture of her record in Iowa with criticisms of federal Democrats’ policies.

“As long as I am governor, Iowa will be a state where you can live your life freely, not have to wake up every morning worrying about the next thing the government will do to you, your business or your children,” Reynolds said during the rally. “That’s what this next election is about. … It’s about who’s going to fight to keep Iowa and America free.”

Reynolds added later, “I want to use the next four years to show how much further we can go when we trust Iowans.”

Iowa’s first female governor, Reynolds has served in the office since 2017, initially filling the unexpired term of then-Gov. Terry Branstad, who was named U.S. ambassador to China. Reynolds ran for election to a full term in 2018, winning against Democrat businessman Fred Hubbell.

Reynolds’ likely opponent this fall will be Deidre DeJear, the lone actively campaigning Democratic candidate for governor.

DeJear is a Des Moines businesswoman who ran unsuccessfully for Iowa Secretary of State in 2018. If elected this fall, she would become the state’s first Black governor. Rick Stewart is the Iowa Libertarian Party’s candidate for governor.

Republicans feel confident Iowa voters will choose Reynolds again in this fall’s midterm elections.

“I’ve been working in Iowa politics for 38 years, going back to Reagan’s 1984 campaign. In all that time, I’ve never seen anything like the energy and momentum for a Republican candidate announcing a re-election bid. It feels less like a campaign and more like a movement,” said David Kochel, a veteran of Iowa Republican campaigns. Kochel said he is an unpaid consultant to the Reynolds campaign, and will continue to work with the campaign this fall.

Three prominent national elections forecasters — Sabato’s Crystal Ball, The Cook Political Report and Inside Elections — all rate Iowa’s 2022 gubernatorial election in the strongest position for Republicans, either “safe” or “solid” Republican.

A recent Iowa Poll, conducted by Selzer & Co. for the Des Moines Register and Mediacom, showed Reynolds at 51 percent and DeJear at 43 percent.

“Iowa tends to like its incumbents, and in a year that should be good for Republicans, Reynolds should be well-positioned for re-election,” said Timothy Hagle, a political-science professor at the University of Iowa. “We know in politics that things can always change, but right now it seems that Reynolds’ re-election prospects are very good.”

Reynolds came into this year with a significant fundraising advantage in the campaign. Her campaign raised nearly $3.8 million in 2021, more than 13 times what DeJear raised, which was roughly $280,000. And Reynolds finished the year with nearly $4.8 million in her campaign account, while DeJear had a paltry $8,500, according to state campaign fundraising records.

DeJear said her campaign’s fundraising has been increasing exponentially in 2022. And Wednesday, she was endorsed by Hubbell. During the 2018 race for governor, Hubbell poured $7.2 million of his own money into his campaign.

“When she’s talking about trusting Iowans and believing in Iowans, unfortunately her administration is chipping away at the freedoms we prize in this state, and they’re pitting our neighbors against one another. And it’s time to interrupt that,” DeJear said earlier Wednesday during a virtual news conference. “I believe now more than ever that this is a moment that we can garner interest throughout this entire state to make change happen in a good way for all of this state.”

During her time as governor, Reynolds has signed into law a series of state tax reductions as well as bipartisan social justice legislation during the height of the nationwide social justice movement in 2020. A year later, she signed into law so-called “Back the Blue” legislation that added protections for law enforcement officers.

Reynolds also has signed into law highly polarizing bills, like a ban on transgender girls from competing in girls sports and incremental constraints on Iowa’s early voting laws.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, while Reynolds ordered the complete or partial shutdown of schools, businesses and churches just like other states, she over the course of the pandemic was quicker than most of her colleagues to reopen those entities. And she resisted the strongest mitigation measures, like a shelter at home order or a statewide face mask requirement; she never implemented the former, and did the latter only during the pandemic’s worst surge in winter 2020 and 2021, applying to indoor spaces open to the public.

Reynolds recently was chosen by the Republican Party to give its nationally televised response to Democratic President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

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