Iowa Republican Lt. Gov. Chris Cournoyer launches bid for state auditor

Iowa Republican Lt. Gov. Chris Cournoyer is taking a pass on running to succeed Kim Reynolds as governor, opting instead to run for state auditor in 2026.

Cournoyer, of Le Claire, who has been lieutenant governor since December, announced her candidacy Tuesday to seek the Republican nomination for state auditor.

Reynolds, in a statement, said she is “proud to endorse” Cournoyer’s campaign, calling her “a true fiscal conservative with a strong record of improving government efficiencies and accountability.”

Cournoyer was sworn in as Iowa’s 48th lieutenant governor in December, succeeding former Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg, who abruptly resigned in early September to become the incoming president and chief executive officer of the Iowa Bankers Association. The association advocates for, provides resources to and lobbies on behalf of Iowa banks.

“For the same reasons I selected Chris Cournoyer to serve alongside me as lieutenant governor, I’m proud to endorse her to be Iowa’s next state auditor,” Reynolds said in a statement released by Cournoyer’s campaign. “ … Her background in technology and her unwavering commitment to taxpayers makes her an ideal watchdog every Iowan can trust.”

Cournoyer was among a group of Iowa Republicans expected to be considering whether to run to replace Reynolds, who earlier this month announced she will not seek another term.

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Reynolds’ surprise announcement creates an open race that resets the field in Iowa ahead of the 2026 midterm elections and presents opportunities for both Republicans and Democrats. It’s the first time an incumbent will not appear on the ballot in the race for Iowa governor since 2006 — and only the third time since 1982.

A handful of Republicans have publicly expressed interest in running. They include Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley, state Rep. Bobby Kaufmann and state Sen. Mike Bousselot. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig have said they are thinking about the decision.

As of now, former one-term Republican state lawmaker Brad Sherman, a pastor from Williamsburg, is the only declared Republican candidate for governor.

State Auditor Rob Sand, a potential Democratic candidate for governor, has not yet announced his intentions for 2026.

Sand for Iowa campaign spokesperson Sam Roecker, in response to Cournoyer’s announcement, criticized the former state senator and Statehouse Republicans for passing legislation in 2023 creating new restrictions on state auditor office’s ability to access certain records when conducting investigations into the use of taxpayer money.

Republicans have said the bill protects Iowans’ personal information and puts into state law general accounting standards.

“Auditor Sand is proud of creating a tri-partisan leadership team that has always included people who contributed to his 2018 opponent, the government efficiency program they created, and the fact that they uncovered a record amount of misspent money in his first term before Senator Cournoyer and others created a new law that gutted their ability to find misspent money,” Roecker said in a statement.

Cournoyer resigned in the middle of serving her second term in the Iowa Legislature to serve alongside Reynolds. Before entering politics, Cournoyer worked as a senior consultant in the technology division at Andersen Consulting, the Fortune 500 firm that later became Accenture. She also ran a web development business, taught robotics and coding, and is a former substitute teacher and former reserve deputy for the Scott County Sheriff’s Office.

Cournoyer first won election to the Iowa Senate in 2018, flipping the seat to Republican control, and was reelected in 2022.

In the Senate, she served as chair of the Senate Technology Committee — where she worked on legislation dealing with consumer data privacy, digital stalking and cybersecurity — and held leadership roles on key budget and policy committees.

A longtime advocate for education and STEM, she also served on the Pleasant Valley School Board.

Both in the Iowa Senate and serving on the local school board, Cournoyer said she has supported cutting taxes and streamlining government. That includes voting to lower the state’s individual income tax to a 3.8 percent flat rate for all taxpayers, eliminating taxes on retirement income and supporting Reynolds’ realignment of state government, slashing the number of cabinet-level agencies from 37 to 16 and centralizing IT systems across departments. Reynolds’ office claims the realignment has saved Iowans more than $200 million.

Cournoyer, in a statement, said “It’s time for an Auditor who prioritizes transparency, efficiency and results over headlines and partisanship.”

If elected, Cournoyer said she plans to improve the auditor’s role in helping local governments identify efficiencies, integrating artificial intelligence into the auditing process and make the auditor’s office a home for recommendations emerging from the governor’s DOGE Task Force on modernizing government operations.

“The people of Iowa deserve an auditor who will protect their dollars, keep politics out of the office, and bring a business-minded, results-oriented approach to every audit,” Cournoyer said. “That’s exactly what I intend to deliver.”

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