Iowa Senate leader will seek another term in new district

Jack Whitver, the Republican Senate majority leader, announced he is running for re-election, but he will do so in a new legislative district.

Whitver announced he will run for re-election in the new Senate District 23, which includes much of northern Polk County. Whitver currently lives in Ankeny, in the new Senate District 21. Ankeny’s voter registration and patterns have been trending more Democratic in recent election cycles.

“We kept our promises on funding education with stable, reliable increases, supported law enforcement with bold reforms, and rewarded work and investment. As majority leader in the Iowa Senate, I am proud of the work we have done, but we still have much left to do,” Whitver said in a news release. “With a record budget surplus, it’s time to continue providing more tax relief for Iowans and their families, and give that money back to them with real, permanent tax cuts.”

Iowa Democrats seized on the news with a statement critical of Whitver’s move to a new district.

“This is a clear indication that Republicans are extremely nervous about the 2022 elections,” Andy Suchorski, executive director of Iowa Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, said in a news release. “Jack Whitver, who has publicly declared many times that Republicans are not losing suburban voters, is now moving out of his suburb because he knows he can’t win. Democrats want to put more money in the pockets of hardworking Iowans and lower costs for Iowa families, and Republicans like Jack Whitver and Jake Chapman only want to pursue an extreme, far-right agenda.”

Other Iowa politics news

Branstad endorses Miller-Meeks: Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ congressional campaign was endorsed by former Iowa governor and U.S. ambassador to China Terry Branstad.

Miller-Meeks, a Republican from Ottumwa, is completing her first two-year term in the U.S. House representing Eastern Iowa’s 2nd District. She plans in 2022 to run in Eastern Iowa’s new 1st District, which does not include her current home. Miller-Meeks has not yet said whether she will move into the new 1st District or remain in Ottumwa and run to represent the 1st.

“Throughout the years I’ve witnessed (Miller-Meeks’) never-quit attitude,” Branstad said in a news release from the Miller-Meeks campaign. “She served as my director for the Iowa Department of Public Health for three years and she’s taken that public health knowledge to Congress to help end this pandemic and get our lives back to normal.”

After the redistricting process, there is no incumbent in the new 1st Congressional District. Kyle Kuehl, a Republican and business owner from Bettendorf, also has declared his candidacy in the new 1st.