Divisions among Iowans in Congress, legislative campaign news

Dec. 15 edition of "KHOI's Capitol Week"

Official photos of U.S. Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, Zach Nunn, and Randy Feenstra

December 16 is a special day for me. On this day in 2021, the ACLU of Iowa filed suit in state court representing me, Clark Kauffman of Iowa Capital Dispatch, and Randy Evans of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. We sued Governor Kim Reynolds and her office for violating Iowa’s open records law since the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of my outstanding records requests were more than a year old; the oldest dated to April 2020.

The case resulted in an important (and unanimous) 2023 Iowa Supreme Court ruling known as Belin v. Reynolds. I’m so grateful to the ACLU of Iowa for taking on our case, and to Thomas Story for handling the Iowa Supreme Court oral arguments. We could never have done it alone.

Heads up: this Friday, December 19, I will speaking about Iowa politics at the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Crossroads lunch at Plymouth Congregational Church in Des Moines, starting at 11:45 am. RSVPs are required for those attending in person, or you can register to watch remotely via YouTube.

The audio file from the December 15 edition of “KHOI’s Capitol Week” is at the top of this post. If your email provider truncates this written recap, you can read it without interruption here.

Our live broadcast has a hard stop at 7:30, and I ran out of time to fully explain why a stretch of Highway 9 in northern Iowa was just named after Terry Branstad. I told more of the story in writing near the end of this post.

Here’s what Spencer Dirks and I covered this week:

Tragedy in Syria

We had to start with the attack in Palmyra, Syria that claimed the lives of two Iowa National Guard soldiers: Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar. A civilian translator working with the unit on a counter-terrorism mission was also killed by the lone gunman.

Sgt. Nate Howard (left) and Sgt. Edgar Torres-Tovar (photos provided by the Iowa National Guard) May their memories be a blessing.

Three other Iowa National Guard soldiers were wounded in the attack and are recovering now in Jordan. Military officials have said the attacker was from the terrorist group ISIS, but no group has claimed responsibility.

According to Iowa Capital Dispatch, the last death of an Iowa National Guard member in service occurred in 2011 in Afghanistan.

I didn’t know there were Iowa National Guard members in Syria right now. There are currently 1,800 Iowa soldiers in the Middle East, who deployed in May 2025. Of that group, between 200 and 250 are National Guard members deployed in Syria.

Sgt. Torres-Tovar’s sister posted on Facebook that her brother was due to come home in a couple of months.

Sgt. Howard’s father is Meskwaki Nation Police Chief Jeffrey Bunn. He posted on social media Saturday, “My wife Misty and I had that visit from Army Commanders you never want to have. Our son Nate was one of the Soldiers that paid the ultimate sacrifice for all of us, to keep us all safer. He loved what he was doing and would be the first in and last out, no one left behind. Please pray for our Soldiers all around this cruel world.”

It certainly did seem like a cruel world these past few days, with mass shootings claiming too many lives on the Brown University campus and at a Chanukah celebration near Sydney, Australia. That hits close to home for many and our condolences go out to all.

Governor Kim Reynolds has ordered all flags lowered to half-staff in honor and remembrance of Sgts. Howard and Torres-Tovar. Many political figures from both parties have shared their own sadness and thoughts for the loved ones. And President Donald Trump said in a social media post that he plans “very serious retaliation” against what he called an ISIS attack against the U.S. and the government of Syria.

Thousands facing health insurance premium hikes

The window closed at 11:59 pm on Monday to buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act for coverage beginning January 1. And there’s no plan to address the insurance premiums that are skyrocketing for millions of Americans, including more than 130,000 Iowans.

I was on a press call the Iowa Farmers Union organized Monday morning, featuring four farmers who have been buying policies through the ACA. They are facing unbelievable increasing costs. I only had time for a few anecdotes during the show. You can watch the conversation on YouTube:

Fellow Iowa Writers Collaborative columnist Beth Hoffman and her husband raise grass-finished beef and goats in Monroe County. Without enhanced subsidies for health insurance, they could have paid huge penalties if their income exceeded $85,000. So they went back to what she called “pretty crappy” insurance. Their policy used to have a $7,000 deductible–now it’s an $8,300 deductible for each of them. They are choosing to go to the doctor less often to avoid the deductible.

Southwest Iowa farmer Seth Watkins said that as a family, their premiums are going from around $600 a month to around $2,300 a month for a bronze plan, and out of pocket expenses are going from $7,500 per person to $9,200 ($18,400 max for deductibles). So his family could be spending more than $40,000 a year just on health care. Years ago, his wife was working as a teacher, which helped when they had a child with a lot of special medical needs (including multiple surgeries) due to a birth defect. A catastrophic health issue now could put him out of business.

Matt Russell and Aaron Lehman were the other farmers on the press call.

Failed Senate votes on health care fix

Last Thursday the U.S. Senate failed to advance competing bills on health care. Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst voted for a proposal to expand health savings accounts, instead of the enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans. It fell far short of the 60 votes needed for passage.

And four Republican senators (not from Iowa) voted for a Democratic plan to extend the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for three years.

It’s looking like the end of the road for a fix. Politico reported, “Rank-and-file senators are leaving the door open to trying to strike a last-minute bipartisan deal, but they are effectively out of time. The Senate is expected to adjourn next week until January, and, while bipartisan talks are ongoing, they’ve failed to gain momentum.”

House leaders to bring Miller-Meeks bill to floor vote

This week, House leaders are expected to bring a health care proposal to the floor, which is sponsored by Iowa’s Representative Mariannette Miller Meeks. (Often leaders will try to help a vulnerable member of the caucus by giving them a prominent role on a high-profile bill.)

The Miller-Meeks bill wouldn’t extend the Affordable Care Act credits. Among other things, it includes a provision to help self-employed people and small businesses form larger groups to buy health insurance. I asked the farmers on the Iowa Farmers Union call about this on Monday. They agreed that it’s not a bad idea, but it’s way too late for something like that to help them avoid massive extra costs in 2026.

Some of the Miller-Meeks bill’s provisions wouldn’t take effect until 2027. There’s also transparency language for Pharmacy Benefit Managers, but that wouldn’t immediately lower prescription drug prices either.

Representative Kevin Kiley, a California Republican who supports extending the subsidies, told NPR that Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan (the Miller-Meeks bill) was “hastily thrown together” and does not address “the crisis in front of us.”

I’m skeptical this has the votes to pass. It’s not even clear House leaders have the votes to approve the “rule” (a procedural step that happens before a vote on final passage).

I didn’t realize until after we recorded the show that Miller-Meeks held a conference call with some Iowa reporters on Monday to talk up her plan. (Not surprisingly, I wasn’t invited to participate.) You can read some of what she said in the Des Moines Register and Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Nunn still the only Iowan in Congress for extending ACA subsidies

As we’ve mentioned before, Zach Nunn is the only member of Congress from Iowa who’s on record for extending those Affordable Care Act subsidies for two years. It looks like the bipartisan bill he co-sponsored will not get a vote on the House floor. Most Democrats are not signing the discharge petition on that, since they are pushing for a “clean” bill that extends the credits for three years.

Some other Republicans aligned with Nunn are trying to get an amendment vote on a short-term ACA tax credit extension, but they haven’t succeeded yet.

I could argue this either way, but I think politically, Nunn may be in a better position on this than Miller-Meeks. He can at least tell constituents he tried to extend the tax credits. Miller-Meeks can talk about the supposed failures of the ACA, but that doesn’t help someone paying thousands more for health insurance, or dropping coverage entirely.

Iowans split on pro-labor bill

Here’s something you don’t see often: the House approved a bill on Thursday to restore collective bargaining rights to federal workers. Backed by labor unions, the bill would roll back parts of executive orders President Trump signed in March and August. Iowa’s delegation usually votes the same way on just about every bill. But this time, Nunn and Miller-Meeks crossed party lines to support the measure.

The Protect America’s Workforce Act wasn’t on my radar, so I was really surprised. Nunn and Miller-Meeks were not among the nine Republicans who co-sponsored this bill (mostly from industrial states with stronger labor unions). But they were among the 20 Republicans who voted for the bill once it was on the floor. Representatives Ashley Hinson and Randy Feenstra voted no, as expected.

I don’t think of Nunn or Miller-Meeks as allies of organized labor or collective bargaining. And to my knowledge, they’ve never voted to roll back a Trump policy before. I’m not sure whether the White House will be upset, since this bill probably isn’t going anywhere in the Senate.

This could become an issue in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race. State Representative Josh Turek called a press conference on Monday to blast Hinson’s vote against the bill. In a statement, he pointed out that the bill would protect the collective bargaining rights of more than 1 million federal employees, “many of them Veterans, including over 18,000 federal employees in Iowa that are employed through the VA, HHS, TSA, and Department of Energy.”

On Tuesday, Stephen Gruber-Miller published a Des Moines Register story with comments from Miller-Meeks, Nunn, Hinson, and Feenstra explaining their positions on this bill. This kind of reporting is helpful, since I almost never get an answer when I email staff for the Iowans in Congress.

Miller-Meeks reignites controversy over her residence

We spent a couple of minutes on the news Sarah Watson of the Quad-City Times broke on Friday: in July, Mariannette Miller-Meeks changed her voter registration from a Davenport address (where she was renting an apartment) to her longtime home in Ottumwa. That’s outside the first Congressional district.

I found this story unreal and covered it here over the weekend.

We’ve had a lot of examples of Iowa members of Congress moving after redistricting. But there was never any mystery about where they were living.

To be clear: Federal law does not require Miller-Meeks to live in the district she represents. However, Iowa law requires her to live in the district where she votes. If she plans to vote for herself next year, she will need to rent or buy someplace in one of the 20 counties that are part of IA-01.

This episode will inspire another round of “Where does Miller-Meeks live” stories, which she doesn’t need.

On Monday, David Pautsch, who is challenging Miller-Meeks in the Republican primary, said in a statement, “There’s an old saying: He who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If a leader cannot be truthful about something as basic as where they live, how can we trust them on the bigger issues that affect our families and our nation?”

He went on: “If any ordinary Iowan lied about their address on a voter registration form, they could face perjury charges. Why should politicians play by different rules? This is about trust. I live here, I serve here, and I’ll fight for the people who share my community.” Pautsch received about 44 percent of the vote in the 2024 primary, despite spending little money. While Miller-Meeks is heavily favored in next year’s primary, I feel this story could come back to haunt her.

Wendy Larson wins House district 7 special election

The Iowa House will be back to a 67-33 Republican majority when it convenes next month, after Wendy Larson won last Tuesday’s special election in House district 7 (Pocahontas, Sac, and Calhoun counties, and part of Webster County).

Larson won by a 40-point margin, 70 percent to 30 percent. That was actually a roughly 11-point overperformance by the Democrat, Rachel Burns, because Trump carried this district last November by 75 percent to 24 percent.

Turnout was fairly low, less than a third of what I would expect for a midterm. But Republicans did not take this race for granted. They spent around $35,000 on a mix of radio, mail, digital ads, and text messages. Wendy Larson told me last week that she personally knocked on about 1,000 doors between the nominating convention in October and election day. The main GOP message was that we need to keep our conservative representation.

Former U.S. Representative Steve King lives in this district and had endorsed Larson before the nominating convention. He issued an open letter vouching for her conservative values.

Burns was campaigning on different priorities, policies on education, health care, and other issues that would help ordinary people.

A 10-point swing wouldn’t matter in a district this red. If replicated in marginal districts next year, that could be more meaningful. But given the turnout last week, I wouldn’t draw any big conclusions.

At Bleeding Heartland, I covered the House district 7 campaign in more detail and posted my takeaways.

Early voting underway in Senate district 16

House district 7 was the fifth special Iowa legislative election this year. And early voting started last Wednesday in Senate district 16, covering part of the western suburbs of Des Moines (Windsor Heights, the Clive precincts in Polk County, much of West Des Moines in Polk County, and one precinct in Dallas County).

I was there to watch Renee Hardman vote early on the first day. She’s really pushing Democrats to cast early ballots, because we could have a blizzard on December 30, when the election is happening.

Hardman has served as a West Des Moines city council member for eight years, so in her door knocking and direct voter contacts she has concentrated on Clive and Windsor Heights. Area Democrats have made a big volunteer push across all the precincts.

The GOP candidate is Lucas Loftin. I know he’s also knocking on doors and I have seen a few signs for him around the district. On next week’s show, I’ll report on the early vote numbers so far.

National Democrats targeting Iowa Senate

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which tries to elect Democrats to state legislatures around the country, announced last week that it sees a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to shift the balance of power in 2026. It’s adding the Iowa Senate to its target map.

The GOP supermajority is more important in the Senate than the House, because it takes 34 votes in the 50-member chamber to confirm the governor’s appointees.

However, I believe it’s also important for Democrats to try to whittle down the 67-33 Iowa House GOP majority next year. If Iowa has a Democratic governor beginning in 2027, Democrats won’t want Republicans to have the votes to override any vetoes.

Anyway, DLCC president Heather Williams said in a statement that “making inroads in Iowa” is part of a broader strategy “to chip away at Republican power and create lasting power in statehouses all across the country.”

Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner said in a statement: “We are thrilled the DLCC recognizes the opportunity to elect more Democrats to the Iowa Senate as we hold Republicans accountable for failing voters and raising costs.” She mentioned the two Senate seats Democrats flipped in special elections this year. “Now, with the DLCC as a key partner, we’re ready to recruit strong candidates, contest every seat possible, and reach every voter to turn the tide and make lasting inroads. 2026 could be a turning point for Iowa Senate Democrats who enter the year with momentum at our backs, and we’re ready to capitalize on this historic opportunity.”

A quick look at the battleground Iowa Senate races

The Iowa Senate has 50 seats, but only the 25 odd-numbered ones will be on the midterm election ballot. (In contrast, all 100 Iowa House seats are on the ballot every two years.)

We’ll be talking about the key races in more depth as the fields are finalized. But here are the top seats Iowa Democrats will be defending:

• Mike Zimmer won that big upset in Senate district 35 (Clinton County, parts of Scott and Jackson counties) in January. It’s not yet clear who will be the Republican nominee. State Representative Tom Determann of Clinton told me last week he will seek a third term in the Iowa House.

• Catelin Drey broke the GOP supermajority when she flipped Senate district 1 in August. I don’t know who will run here for Republicans.

The top pickup opportunity for Democrats will be Senate district 21, covering most of Ankeny. It’s an open seat because State Senator Mike Bousselot is fleeing to safer Republican territory. This could be the most expensive Iowa legislative race of the 2026 cycle.

Last Tuesday, I attended a kickoff event for Democratic State Representative Heather Matson, who represents half of this area in the Iowa House. Her likely GOP opponent next November will be John Hollinrake, who is Senator Joni Ernst’s deputy state director. He has a bunch of powerhouse endorsers.

I will be closely watching several other Iowa Senate campaigns: Senate district 23 is an open seat, because former Majority Leader Jack Whitver isn’t seeking re-election. The Democratic candidate here is Tony Thompson. Bousselot is seeking the GOP nomination for this seat, covering outlying areas of Polk County. But as we’ve previously reported, he’ll to have a tough primary against Wes Enos.

I’ve already seen some Facebook ads for Enos saying “I’m a lifelong resident of eastern Polk County,” and “I’m not running as a stepping stone to higher office” (alluding to Bousselot’s ambitions to run for governor).

There is also an interesting Republican primary race shaping up in Senate district 11, which includes much of Warren and Madison counties. Depending on whether long-serving incumbent Senator Julian Garrett seeks another term, there could be a two-way or three-way GOP primary here. We’ll talk about this race more another week.

At least one competitive Democratic primary is shaping up in Senate district 17, one of the safest blue seats covering central neighborhoods in Des Moines. The incumbent, Izaah Knox is running for Polk County supervisor instead of seeking re-election. So far two Democrats have declared: Samy El-Baroudi and Grace Van Cleave, who lost to Knox in the 2022 primary.

A few notes on battleground Iowa House races

In early 2026 I will write an overview of competitive Iowa House races. Many of them are in Polk County: both seats in Ankeny (House districts 41 and 42), the Johnston-based House district 43 (open because Eddie Andrews is running for governor), and a rematch in Altoona, where Democrat Heather Sievers is challenging Bill Gustoff.

The Council Bluffs seat currently held by Josh Turek (House district 20) could be a tough hold for Democrats.

Democrats will have to defend an open seat in Davenport (House district 98) where Monica Kurth is retiring.

To break that supermajority, Democrats need to win back a few House seats in mid-sized cities. I’ll be watching several of those races in towns like Burlington, Newton, and Clinton.

Feenstra skips candidate forum in his home county

Last Monday, there was another forum featuring four Republicans running for governor. You won’t be surprised to learn the front runner, Randy Feenstra, didn’t show up.

This one was wild because the event was in Sioux Center (his home county), and he was in Sioux Center on the same night. About an hour before the candidate forum was scheduled to start, Feenstra posted on social media, “We had a packed house at Late Harvest Brewing in Sioux Center tonight to talk about our campaign to take Iowa to new heights!”

For the record, I would not call the room “packed.” There were some empty seats and lots of space where no one was standing. (Look at the photos and judge for yourself.) I’ve been to lots of political events where people were shoulder to shoulder, possibly violating the fire code.

Jared McNett of the Sioux City Journal pointed out during the “On Iowa Politics” podcast that this brewery is closed on Mondays, so Feenstra was holding a private event.

Will Republicans care that Feenstra is avoiding candidate forums? Only a small percentage of primary voters might attend one of them. But I do feel that this “no-show” narrative is damaging for the front-runner. He can’t say he had a schedule conflict. He was right there in town! He could have driven to the forum after his private event.

The conservative website Iowa Standard was very critical of Feenstra. Althea Cole, a former GOP activist who is now a Cedar Rapids Gazette columnist, pointed out on the “On Iowa Politics” podcast that the Sioux County Republicans posted a graphic promoting the event, which listed Feenstra as “declined invitation.” It is rare for a county party organization to call out an elected official in that way.

Bob Vander Plaats, the leader of the social conservative group The FAMiLY Leader, wrote on X/Twitter that skipping multi-candidate events “is not a winning strategy.” Vander Plaats added, “This is ‘new height’ of arrogance”—a play on Feenstra’s favorite campaign tag line.

State’s largest labor union endorses Rob Sand

On Saturday, the AFSCME Council 61 (that’s the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees) endorsed Rob Sand, the front-runner in the Democratic primary.

Labor endorsements aren’t as important as they used to be in Democratic politics, but this is still a very large union and can help spread the word to their members. AFSCME Council 61 represents an estimated 40,000 public employees across the state.

It’s another hurdle for Julie Stauch, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination. She hasn’t been as active on social media this fall.

Turning Point Action backs Joe Mitchell in IA-02

Iowa’s second Congressional district is an open seat, because Hinson is running for the U.S. Senate. Last week Turning Point Action, affiliated with the group founded by the late Charlie Kirk, formally endorsed Joe Mitchell.

We’ve noted before that Mitchell is looking like the front-runner in the three-way GOP primary. He’s already the favorite candidate of major donors, and Turning Point could help him with small-dollar grassroots donors.

Mitchell previously founded Run GenZ, which promoted young Republican candidates from around the country. He met Charlie Kirk six years ago and recently attended the Turning Point Ball in Palm Beach.

No final result yet for UnityPoint unionization drive

Last week voting ended in a closely watched unionization drive for nurses at the UnityPoint system in central Iowa. We don’t have final results from that election, because the National Labor Relations Board hasn’t ruled yet on challenged ballots.

It’s likely the pro-union side will win and about 2,000 UnityPoint nurses will be represented by the Teamsters. We’ll talk about this another week. Meanwhile, you can follow other Iowa Writers Collaborative coverage of this organizing effort:

• Organizer Alex Wilken appeared on Julie Gammack’s “Potluck” podcast

• Doug Burns has been all over the story at The Iowa Mercury

• Phoebe Wall Howard wrote about the unionization drive at Shifting Gears

New state revenue estimates

On Thursday morning I attended the latest meeting of the Revenue Estimating Conference, which approved new projections for the current budget year and next year. These are the numbers the governor’s staff will use when preparing Reynolds’ budget proposal.

Radio isn’t the best format for conveying this information, and I didn’t want to overwhelm listeners with a lot of numbers. The big picture is that the latest revenue estimates are slightly higher, but the state is still running a deficit budget (that is, spending way more than we are taking in). The books are technically balanced because the state is pulling more than a billion dollars from the accumulated surplus and the “Taxpayer Relief Fund” to cover the shortfall. You can read more details in Iowa Capital Dispatch and the Des Moines Register.

Kraig Paulsen, director of the Iowa Department of Management and chair of the Revenue Estimating Conference, told reporters the state is in “an incredibly strong position”—even though projected revenues are still going to be around $1 billion below what the state spends in the next fiscal year.

Republicans spun the latest revenue estimates as no big deal and part of their plan. Democratic lawmakers said the state is in a deficit because of misplaced priorities.

The Revenue Estimating Conference believes state revenues will start increasing in 2027, which seems quite optimistic to me. The country could be in a recession by then, and the Education Savings Accounts (also known as school vouchers) are guaranteed to get more expensive every year.

I went back and watched the House and Senate legislative debates from 2024, when Republicans accelerated the move to a flat personal income tax and lowered the rate. The floor managers did not say the state would soon be spending a billion dollars a year more than it takes in.

Terry Branstad receives Iowa Award

I stayed a little longer at the capitol last Thursday morning to watch Governor Reynolds give her mentor, former Governor Terry Branstad, the prestigious Iowa Award. Only 25 people have received this honor since it was created in the 1950s.

The rotunda was very crowded, filled with chairs and lots of people standing. I saw dozens of Republican legislators and many lobbyists and former staff in the governor’s office.

Past honorees include former President Herbert Hoover, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Ding Darling, former Vice President and Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace, crop geneticist Norman Borlaug, and cultural figures like opera singer Simon Estes and Meredith Willson, who wrote “The Music Man” among other shows.

Photo posted on Governor Kim Reynolds’ official Facebook page

I was a little disappointed not to hear more personal stories about Branstad. The recorded videos from members of Congress covered the same ground about how he’s the longest-serving governor in U.S. history, never lost an election, and served as U.S. ambassador to China.

However Reynolds ended with a surprise for Branstad and a fun story about his first campaign for the Iowa House back in the 1970s.

Branstad’s opponent made the unsafe condition of Highway 9 a top issue. I didn’t realize that Iowa used to have some rural highways with curbs. Cars would hit the curb at high speed and flip over.

The Democrat seemed to be getting traction with his promise to fix the road, so young candidate Branstad said he would “raise hell every chance I get to see what can be done about Highway 9.” During the 1980s, then Lieutenant Governor Branstad stood outside on a freezing cold day as the Highway 9 project was dedicated. He apparently remarked, “Well, they said it would be a cold day in hell” before this road would be fixed, and they were right.

Reynolds announced that a 36-mile stretch of Highway 9 through Winnebago County (where he grew up) and Worth County is now being named after Branstad. It’s 36 miles long because he was 36 years old when first elected governor.

That’s all for now—thank you for reading or listening! And thanks again to all who supported my year-end fundraiser. This community means a lot to me.