News about the 2026 governor's race, Iowa legislative happenings, and Steve King

Jan. 27 edition of "KHOI's Capitol Week"

From left: State Representatives Lindsay James, Skyler Wheeler, and subcommittee chair Steven Holt listen to testimony during a January 22 meeting on a bill that would make “smuggling” migrants a state crime (photo by Laura Belin)

We haven’t seen any floor debate yet this year in the Iowa House or Senate, but dozens of bills are advancing through subcommittee or committee meetings. My legislative coverage happens on two tracks: in-depth reporting and commentary on some topics at Bleeding Heartland, and a more comprehensive review of news from the week every Monday evening on “KHOI’s Capitol Week.”

The audio file for the January 27 edition is embedded above, or you can find “KHOI’s Capitol Week” on any podcast platform or smart speaker. The full archive (going back to February 2021) is available on KHOI’s website.

Spencer Dirks

and I had a packed format for this week’s show, and we didn’t even get to another dozen or so bills I’m tracking (we’ll cover those later after they get through committee).

Appeals court leaves Iowa immigration law blocked

On Friday, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a preliminary injunction that blocks the state from enforcing Senate File 2340, the immigration law Republicans passed last year. Click here to read the ruling from the three-judge panel (all Republican appointees). They found the U.S. Department of Justice was likely to succeed in showing that the law making “illegal reentry” a state crime violated the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, because the federal government has jurisdiction over immigration and foreign policy.

Attorneys for the state argued in court that the Iowa statute doesn’t conflict with federal law, but the Eighth Circuit judges noted in their opinion, “Iowa asks this court to ignore the plain text of the statute.”

Oddly, the Eighth Circuit dismissed as moot a second lawsuit that made similar arguments against the law. The plaintiffs in that case (represented by the ACLU of Iowa and the American Immigration Council) include some immigrants who could be subject to prosecution or removal under Senate File 2340, even though they are legally living in Iowa now.

Meanwhile, a few days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, Governor Kim Reynolds sent a memo to the leaders of the Iowa Department of Corrections and Iowa Department of Public Safety, instructing them to “fully cooperate and assist” with the federal government “in upholding federal immigration laws.”

I tried last week to get a comment from the governor’s office on Trump’s executive order that (unconstitutionally) purports to end birthright citizenship. Reynolds’ spokesperson sent me a non-responsive statement expressing support for Trump’s immigration policies more broadly.

News from the U.S. Senate

We decided to cover all the Trump administration news in the first half of the show. As of Monday evening, the U.S. Senate had confirmed four cabinet nominees. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had little trouble, but Pete Hegseth’s confirmation was a nail-biter. Vice President JD Vance had to break the tie on Friday night to get Hegseth over the line.

Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley voted for Hegseth, of course; I expect them to fall in line behind all of Trump’s nominees. In case you missed it, I wrote a deep dive comparing how Ernst approached Hegseth with how she handled a different Trump nominee for a senior military role, in the absence of a pressure campaign to influence her vote.

Another test for Iowa’s senators is coming, since Trump fired at least fifteen inspectors general across the federal government, without giving Congress the 30-day notice and explanation required by law. Just last week, Ernst formed and Grassley joined a new bipartisan Inspector General caucus, which supposedly “will work to ensure the executive branch watchdogs are empowered to properly identify and mitigate waste, fraud, and abuse.” I haven’t seen any press releases from their offices, but a Congressional reporter was able to get a wishy-washy comment from Grassley.

Iowans affected by Trump’s January 6 pardons

On his first day back in the Oval Office, Trump pardoned around 1,500 people for offenses connected to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. You can read about the ten Iowans affected in the Des Moines Register; I also wrote this up at Bleeding Heartland. Spencer and I mentioned four of them during the show. Two had been serving years-long prison terms, one was awaiting trial, and Doug Jensen (the most famous Iowa face from the riot) had already been released from federal custody in 2024.

Iowa’s Congressional delegation had little to say about the pardons. The Des Moines Register compiled the comments they were able to get, which mostly didn’t address the central issue: Trump pardoned 1,500 people who helped him try to subvert the peaceful transfer of power after he lost the 2020 election. Hundreds of them had assaulted law enforcement officers.

News related to the 2026 governor’s race

We spent several minutes talking about three likely candidates for governor.

Although State Auditor Rob Sand hasn’t officially declared his intentions, I doubt anyone would raise $8.6 million for a third campaign for state auditor. Similarly, Governor Kim Reynolds hasn’t confirmed that she’s running again, but almost everyone I know in both parties expects her to run.

I have a Bleeding Heartland post in progress about the fundraising and spending by the Sand and Reynolds campaigns. Sand’s filing (more than 1,400 pages long) set several records. While some have dismissed the haul, because Sand raised $7 million from his spouse and his in-laws, he also raised more than a million dollars from non-relatives two years before the election. That’s a lot for a non-incumbent. And the vast majority of people who gave $5, $10, or $20 last year could give again and again.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see another Democrat file for the primary, but I would bet the farm on Sand winning the nomination if he runs. Last summer, I wrote about a remarks by the auditor at a Democratic event, which previewed some themes we’ll likely hear in his future stump speeches.

Reynolds raised about $1.8 million in 2024 and went into the off-year with more than $3 million cash on hand. That would be a nice cushion against a typical challenger. But assuming she wins the GOP nomination, she won’t be able to outspend Sand by much, if at all.

Spencer and I didn’t have much time to talk about Brad Sherman during the show, but I wanted to flag for listeners that he is gearing up to seek the GOP nomination for governor. Over the weekend I wrote more about his background and the segments of the Republican base that might prefer him to Reynolds. I don’t see Sherman winning the primary election, but he could do real damage to the incumbent.

Lots of legislative news

We’re going to try to cover as many bills as we can, but some things on my list for Monday night will have to wait until next week. The first immigration bill to get through subcommittee was House Study Bill 15, establishing a new criminal offense of “smuggling.”

We discussed the following education bills:

• The governor announced that she introduced her proposed to require that school districts ban cell phone use during instructional time.

• A subcommittee advanced House File 88, which would remove or relax several important regulations related to homeschoolers.

• House Study Bill 30 incorporates the governor’s proposal to require that all high school students pass the citizenship exam.

• A subcommittee advanced Senate Study Bill 1028, which would mandate that schools show students videos about fetal development, which are designed to promote anti-abortion views and are not medically accurate.

• House Study Bill 31 would change Iowa Code on school start dates. Since 2015, August 23 has been the earliest possible start date for most K-12 schools. (That was a priority bill for Governor Terry Branstad.) The new bill would change that to either August 23 or the Wednesday after the Iowa State Fair, whichever is earlier.

• More than one bill would require public schools to allow private school students to participate in extracurricular activities that aren’t offered at their private school.

• State Representative Jeff Shipley is pushing for House Study Bill 85, a ban on certain food dyes and margarine in foods served at school.

• The Iowa National Guard’s proposals for school scholarships are moving forward.

Many bills related to higher education are scheduled for subcommittee hearings this week, so stay tuned.

We had time to talk about a couple of state government bills. State Representative Bobby Kaufmann’s five-year moratorium on new casinos is on a fast track. House Study Bill 80 got through subcommittee and the full Ways and Means Committee on Monday. The bill is aimed at a Linn County casino project but would greatly restrict the state Racing and Gaming Commission’s ability to approve any new casino license.

A proposal to change county supervisor elections in a few counties is back. Senate File 75 would require counties with a population greater than 125,000 (Scott), or containing a Regents university (Story, Johnson, Black Hawk), to elect county supervisors by district.

Lots of bills related to crime or courts are moving. We hit on a few of them:

• Senate File 22, a version of a hands-free driving bill, is through subcommittee. A House subcommittee will advance a similar bill this week. Key lawmakers are optimistic the long-running proposal will finally get to the governor’s desk this year.

• A proposal to ban doxxing got through a Senate subcommittee Monday. But Democratic State Senator Tony Bisignano didn’t sign off on the bill, due to First Amendment concerns. Senate File 35 would make it an aggravated misdemeanor to commit harassment by “purposefully and without legitimate purpose disseminate, publish, distribute, or post” personal info without consent of the other person, “with the intent to threaten, intimidate, annoy, or alarm the other person, or with the intent to encourage or entice third parties to threaten, intimidate, annoy, or alarm the other person.” I’ve had my share of online trolls, but “annoying” someone should not be a crime.

• A House subcommittee advanced House File 25, which would enhance penalties if someone committed a crime while wearing a mask or other device designed to conceal their identity. If this bill moves forward, it will be amended to remove exceptions in the initial draft.

• Several proposals would make it a crime to use AI to create child pornography.

• Attorney General Brenna Bird’s proposed constitutional amendment to allow children and some adults to testify by video in certain criminal proceedings (House Study Bill 35) is through a subcommittee.

• I think I was the only reporter to attend a subcommittee on another legislative priority for Bird: new restrictions on defense subpoenas (House Study Bill 20). Those must be court-approved and are supposed to allow defendants to obtain potentially exculpatory information. Bird and some county attorneys asserted at the subcommittee that some people use them in an abusive or harassing way. Last year the Senate passed the attorney general’s proposal, but House leaders didn’t bring it to the floor. The two House Republicans who voted to advance this year’s version indicated they have some concerns with the wording.

Finally, the LGBTQ advocacy group One Iowa warned in a Friday news release, “Multiple independent sources have confirmed that Governor Kim Reynolds will introduce legislation to remove basic human rights protections from transgender Iowans. This bill would remove gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, stripping transgender Iowans of critical anti-discrimination protections in the areas of housing, credit practices, education, employment, and public accommodations.”

I wasn’t able to get any comment on this from the governor’s office or from State Representative Steven Holt. He chairs the House Judiciary Committee and has chosen not to advance similar bills in the past.

The end of a long-running lawsuit involving Steve King

I wanted to make time for this story, because it got some national news coverage last week, but I didn’t see any Iowa media report on it. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear former U.S. Representative Steve King’s appeal in a case stemming from his Congressional campaign’s unauthorized use of the popular “Success Kid” meme. I explained the background and the legal arguments at Bleeding Heartland. I also have comments from King and from the attorney who represented the copyright holder of the Success Kid photo.

Thanks for reading or listening! I’ve been to five more subcommittee meetings today and have another five or six to attend this afternoon.