Republicans prepare for work setting Iowa’s agenda

DES MOINES - Democrats could fend off Republicans in the Iowa Senate no longer.

Republicans in Tuesday's election flipped six seats in the Iowa Senate, giving the GOP control of the chamber for the first time since 2004 and full control of state government - the House, Senate and governor's office - for the first time since 1998,

Democrats had held their slim Senate majority through the 2012 and 2014 elections, but on Tuesday lost that tenuous grip in a big way.

'We thought maybe we could win five seats - we won six, so it was a great night and I'm really looking forward to working with both the House and the Senate,” said Gov. Terry Branstad, who had enjoyed all-Republican control in 1997 and 1998 also.

Republicans parlayed two years of hefty fundraising into heavy spending in a half-dozen Senate districts, all with Democratic incumbents. Needing to win just two of those targeted races to change control of the Senate, Republicans won five. They added a sixth in a race not targeted with high spending.

In the aftermath, Republicans went from a 23-seat minority to a 29-seat Senate majority.

'I can promise Iowans that this Republican Senate majority will implement policies to help create new career opportunities, reduce the size of state government and improve the quality of life for all Iowans,” said Iowa Sen. Bill Dix, the former Senate minority leader now in line to become the new Senate majority leader.

Democrats were left with just 19 senators. They are favored to increase that to 20 when a Dec. 27 special election is held to fill a vacancy created by the recent death of Sen. Joe Seng, a Democrat from Davenport.

'I'm not sure what happened (Tuesday) night, but it's pretty clear that the citizens of Iowa have spoken,” said Sen. Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo. 'But the problems facing the state of Iowa haven't changed at all. ... So I'm committed to work with the new majority party and try to resolve these issues.”

There will be one independent: Sen. David Johnson, of Ocheyedan, who earlier this year rescinded his Republican affiliation in protest of GOP presidential candidate and now President-elect Donald Trump.

Republicans also expanded their advantage in the House, adding two seats. They now hold a 59-41 advantage in the chamber after defeating one Democratic incumbent and winning an open seat previously held by a Democrat.

Branstad said he expects education, jobs, water quality, health and public safety to be among legislative priorities, but said 'it's too soon” to talk specifics.

On water quality, Branstad said a 'good starting point” would be a plan that won bipartisan support in the House last session. It proposed shifting $478 million over 13 years to water quality projects from a water-metering tax and the gambling-funded state infrastructure account.

Johnson said he would not support that, favoring instead a three-eighths cent increase in the state sales tax that Iowa voters approved in 2010 for natural resources and environmental improvements.

House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, said she hoped the Legislature could find ways to give schools more flexibility in using state resources, but they've been blocked by the teachers' union. She said she didn't know if that would get into collective bargaining areas, but Branstad said Wednesday that eventually could be a topic of conversation.

'We're going to review that and determine what makes sense,” he said when asked if he had any plans to revisit Iowa's collective bargaining law now that Republicans are in control.

Danny Homan, president of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 61, told reporters that the 'outlier” from Tuesday's election is what the governor and majority GOP legislators might do regarding Iowa's collective bargaining law.

'I hope we don't go and do what was done in Wisconsin,” Homan said, noting that's where Republicans 'gutted” the bargaining law.

In another work-related issue, Upmeyer said she expects the Legislature to revisit the minimum wage issue with an eye on pre-empting local standards - like those passed in Linn and Johnson counties - different from the statewide wage that some say is creating problems for employers. She didn't know if changing Iowa's current $7.25 hourly minimum would be part of the discussion.

Dotzler, soon to be part of the Senate minority, said there are a number of concerns that go with setting a minimum wage pre-emption.

'If you want to lose votes, that's a way to do it,” he said, 'when somebody has something in their paycheck and you vote to take that away.”