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Capitol Notebook: Iowa's Grassley again becomes 3rd in line to presidency
Also, State Auditor Rob Sand endorses Rita Hart’s re-election as Iowa Democratic Party chair
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley will resume his roles as president pro tempore and as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the new Congress.
The 91-year-old was sworn in Friday as president pro temp for the 119th Congress, making him third in the presidential line of succession (behind the vice president and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson) and the second-highest ranking official in the Senate.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who ascended to the leadership post in 2023 after the historic ouster of Kevin McCarthy, was re-elected speaker. Every member of Iowa’s all-Republican U.S. House delegation voted for Johnson.
“He is the right man at the right time to lead us as Speaker of the House & carry out President Trump’s America First agenda,” Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, of Marion, posted on X, formerly Twitter. “I look forward to working with him to advance Iowa’s priorities & to save our great nation.”
Republicans hold a razor-thin majority in the House and a slightly larger majority in the Senate.
Grassley previously served as president pro tempore from 2019 to 2021. The post — one of three legislative officers specifically named in the U.S. Constitution — customarily goes to the longest-serving senator from the majority party in the Senate.
Duties include:
- Convening the Senate.
- Recognizing senators desiring to speak on the Senate floor.
- Deciding points of order.
- Enforcing decorum.
- Administering oaths required by the Constitution.
- Signing legislation that has passed both chambers of Congress before it is delivered to the White House for the President’s signature.
- Recommending appointments of congressional officers, certain commissions, advisory boards and committees.
The only other Iowan to hold the leadership post was Sen. Albert Cummins from 1919 to 1925.
“I’ll bring the same Iowa values of hard work, decency and common sense to this role as I have throughout my time in public service,” Grassley said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to foster civic engagement and upholding the Senate’s reputation as the greatest deliberative body in the world.”
Grassley also will serve on the Senate Finance, Agriculture and Budget committees.
Sand: Iowa Democrats best served re-electing Rita Hart as chair
State Auditor Rob Sand, the lone Democrat to hold statewide office in Iowa, says Iowa Democrats are best served re-electing Rita Hart as chair of the party.
In an email obtained by The Gazette to the Iowa Democratic Party’s governing body earlier this week, Sand urged the party to unite behind Hart.
Hart is a former state lawmaker, one of the last Democrats to represent a rural district in the Iowa Legislature, a former congressional candidate, and she ran for lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She was elected to lead the party in January 2023 as it attempted to rebound from a string of poor election performances in the state.
Iowa Democrats suffered another bruising election this fall. Former President Donald Trump again carried Iowa in the Nov. 5 election by his largest margin yet. Republicans also extended their grip on the Iowa Legislature and retained control of the state’s federal delegation.
Iowa Democratic leaders elected Hart to a two-year term that ends this month. Members of the Iowa Democratic Party’s State Central Committee are scheduled to meet Saturday to elect officers, including chair of the party.
She faces challenges from Davenport community organizer, caregiver and former city council candidate Alexandra Dermody and Tim Winter, former chair of the Boone County Democrats.
Cedar Rapids mail carrier and former school board member Dexter Merschbrock has withdrawn his name from consideration and said he is supporting Dermody’s bid for party chair.
At least 29 of the more than 50 State Central Committee members have signed a letter expressing their support for Hart to continue as chair.
“When Chair Hart took office, the IDP had no full-time communications, finance or data staff and was in debt,” Sand wrote in his letter to State Central Committee members. “Under Chair Hart’s leadership, the IDP is fully staffed and debt-free today. She deserves credit for leading that effort, helped by many others.”
Sand continued: “I’ve seen complaints about the IDP needing a strategic plan and job descriptions. Those exist. Chair Hart outlined a multiyear plan when she was first elected and has made progress on it.”
Hart emailed an 18-page action plan to the State Central Committee members on Dec. 23 outlining the progress made in rebuilding the party, the challenges faced, and the goals for the upcoming 2026 election cycle.
Download: Foward_ Victory 2026 (1).pdf
“Changing Iowa politics isn’t a swim in a pool. It is in a river, with a powerful, changing current we do not control,” Sand wrote. “ … There’s no exact math, but the math there is shows the IDP did worse than the current in 2022 and better than the current in 2024. We all want to do better yet. But that’s positive change.”
Winter contends Hart's initial “Mandate for Change” had many plans that were not implemented or addressed, leading to dissatisfaction and a need for an updated strategy.
“If we continue to do what we are doing, we will not win,” Winter wrote to State Central Committee members.
Winter resigned from the party’s governing body early last year.
He said there is a significant disparity between urban and rural areas in terms of support and resources from the Iowa Democratic Party. Winter said the party has moved away from having a meaningful structural field organization, especially in rural areas. He proposes a strategic plan to focus on training, tools, tactics and messaging to build the party across all 99 counties.
Download: Tim Winter for IDP Chair.pdf
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