Maya Marchel Hoff, Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau

Education, celebrity, rural identity influenced which candidates Iowa voters supported in presidential elections since 2012.

Roughly 30 people marched otuside the Iowa Department for the Blind building in Des Moines Tuesday to protest the changes made under new department leadership, which protesters said has silenced concerns from department employees regarding the changes.

Catelin Drey, a northwestern Iowa Democrat who won an August special election and broke the Republican supermajority in the Iowa Senate, was sworn in at the Iowa Capitol Monday morning.

Iowa will now have open-seat elections for governor and the U.S. Senate for the first time in nearly six decades, and half of the state’s federal delegation likely will feature new representation after the 2026 elections.

Republican legislative leaders said they will use money from the state’s $2 billion general fund surplus and $4 billion in the Taxpayer Relief Fund to cover the difference between how much revenue the state takes in and how much it’s budgeted to spend.

Former Iowa Department of Administrative Services director and Republican Adam Steen said his goal to live in preparation of higher levels of leadership so that the “lord would be exalted” is what drove him to announce a run for governor.

Iowa’s crowded field of Democrats running for U.S. Senate in 2026 pitched themselves and their campaigns to an audience of party members as they gear up for next year’s primary.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Tuesday that 20 members of the Iowa National Guard will provide U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in the state with administrative and logistical support after receiving a request from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

State Rep. Josh Turek, who announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, said the best thing for Iowans is for lawmakers to “move away from this party over country mentality.”

Candidates for governor, U.S. Senate and more are participating in the state’s time-honored tradition of greeting Iowans at the State Fair.

Allowing some cities to become independent of counties, aligning public sector employee compensation and benefits with the private sector, and basing teacher compensation on student outcomes were some of the emerging recommendations discussed by the Iowa DOGE Task Force on Wednesday.

Republican state Rep. Bobby Kaufmann will help lead his party’s supermajority after Iowa House Republicans elected him as majority leader Monday morning. He replaces former House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl, of Missouri Valley, who stepped down from his leadership role to focus on his campaign for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District.

A state law that bans most abortions after roughly 6 weeks of pregnancy appears to be driving down the number of abortions in Iowa but also driving up the number of Iowans having abortions in neighboring states with less restrictive policies

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann kicked off a party fundraiser Friday by stressing to the crowd that Rob Sand, the Iowa State Auditor and only statewide elected Democrat, is “running away from his left-wing views” as he runs for governor in the 2026 election, which is more than 15 months away.

Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley on Wednesday dismissed concerns that he cut off debate before a vote to nominate an attorney who previously represented President Donald Trump to federal district court last week. The action caused Senate Democrats to walk out of a committee meeting earlier this month.