Whitver steps aside, 2026 campaign polls, lawsuit over Charlie Kirk fallout

Sept. 22 edition of "KHOI's Capitol Week"

Iowa Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver speaks to reporters on March 14, 2024 (photo by Laura Belin)

Welcome to new subscribers! On Tuesdays, I share my weekly radio show and podcast in this space. Normally, I send this email earlier, but I took most of Tuesday off to observe the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. I’m grateful to co-host Spencer Dirks and our producer Mike Murphy for agreeing to record this show an hour early, so I could be at services at 7 PM on Monday instead of live on the air.

At one point during the Rosh Hashanah service, our prayer book referenced a teaching of Rabbi Tarfon (a major Jewish figure from nearly 2,000 years ago): “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” That’s a good reminder for me; even when I feel frustrated about unfinished projects, I am committed to continue this work.

In that spirit, the audio file from the September 22 edition of “KHOI’s Capitol Week” is at the top of this post. You can also listen to the show through any podcast platform or smart speaker, and find all of our shows from the past three years here (KHOI Community Radio’s website is currently under construction).

Here’s the written recap, for those who would rather read than listen. If your email provider truncates this post, you can read it without interruption at this link.

Senator Claire Celsi enters hospice care

We had to start with very sad news: the family of State Senator Claire Celsi announced last Thursday that she has entered hospice care. (The family did not release details about the health issue, but the senator missed about two months of this year’s legislative session due to illness.)

I’ve known Claire since before she ran for the legislature and consider her a friend. She has been my own state senator for the past several years as well.

Claire has long been active in Democratic politics and was a co-founder of West Des Moines Democrats about 35 years ago, along with John Hoffman, the Minnesota state senator who was shot in June. Like many Iowa lawmakers, she didn’t win her first campaign (for an Iowa House seat in 2016), but she won a hard-fought primary for an open Senate seat in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022 and 2024.

She has been a passionate advocate for public education; in fact, she was among several Democrats motivated to run for the legislature after Governor Terry Branstad line-item vetoed about $56 million in funding for K-12 schools in 2015. Claire was outspoken in support of other progressive causes, including reproductive rights and LGBTQ equality.

In the legislature, she introduced many bills or amendments that would improve state oversight of nursing homes and other aspects of senior care (for instance, increasing the personal needs allowance for people in assisted living or residential care due to mental health or developmental disabilities).

Iowa Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver stepping down

Last Tuesday, Iowa Senate Republicans announced that Jack Whitver will soon step down as majority leader and will not seek re-election next year. Whitver has served in the chamber since 2011 and has led Republicans in the Senate since March 2018, when his predecessor Bill Dix abruptly resigned after Iowa Starting Line reported on his apparent romantic relationship with a lobbyist.

A point of clarification: in the Iowa Senate, the majority leader is the top dog, and the Senate president is the second-ranking position. That can be confusing, because in the Iowa House, the majority leader is the second-ranking position, after the speaker.

Cyclone fans may remember Whitver from his time playing college football 25 years ago; he was a walk-on who became a two-time Academic All-American.

Whitver ran for the Iowa House in 2006 and lost in a heavily Democratic district covering part of Des Moines. He moved to Ankeny before his first successful bid for the Senate, and moved again to safer Republican territory before the 2022 election. (There was some controversy over whether he actually lived in his new district.)

In a statement, Whitver said he was proud of what Senate Republicans “have accomplished in limiting government, controlling spending, reducing taxes and expanding the rights and freedoms of the people of this great state.” He said he continues to battle the brain tumor that was diagnosed last year, “and while progress remains positive, I still have a long way to go.”

I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say we wish him continued recovery from glioblastoma, a monstrous disease. The Senate leader was diagnosed soon after the legislature adjourned in 2024; he was present for most of this year’s session, but other Senate Republicans sometimes handled the work the majority leader usually does during floor debate.

I recently obtained Whitver’s voter registration records and learned he did not vote in the 2024 general election, and he changed his address from Grimes back to his family’s Ankeny residence in March of this year. So it appears he decided not to seek re-election some time ago.

Whitver’s legacy in the Iowa Senate

The statement from Iowa Senate Republicans listed some of Whitver’s legislative accomplishments, including reducing government regulations and taxes, restricting abortion, and protecting the Second Amendment. It also noted that during his time as majority leader, “the Senate Republican Caucus expanded from 29 seats to a high of 35 seats after the 2024 elections. It was the first time either party had been in the supermajority in half a century.”

Whitver is certainly among the most consequential Iowa legislative leaders of my lifetime. The Senate has passed so many important bills in recent years, from various discriminatory measures against transgender people to school vouchers, school book bans, voting restrictions, cutting unemployment benefits, and more barriers for public assistance programs.

I see the GOP supermajority as an artifact of the Trump-era realignment, rather than Whitver’s accomplishment. (Republicans have made similar gains in every part of the country that looks like Iowa.) It’s also worth noting that Republicans lost both of the special elections for Iowa Senate seats held this year, so their current majority is 33-17. That’s still very large compared to the balance of power in the chamber in recent decades.

I’m working on a piece that will examine how Whitver radically transformed the Iowa Senate as an institution. A few of the points I’ll touch on:

• Under his leadership, Senate Republicans blew up the appropriations process that the Iowa legislature had used since the 1970s.

• Senate Republicans kicked the media off the press bench that had been used for that purpose since at least the 1890s.

• The Senate Government Oversight Committee hasn’t had a substantive meeting for years.

• Republicans have limited Senate debate in several ways: never accepting Democratic amendments, limiting the length of debate for some important bills (notably the near-total abortion ban in 2023 and this year’s transgender discrimination bill).

• One positive change: during the pandemic, the Senate started allowing members of the public to speak at subcommittees via Zoom. (Iowa House rules don’t allow remote testimony.)

I expect these institutional changes will last under new Senate Republican leadership, because only fifteen of the 33 current GOP senators (counting Whitver) were first elected to the chamber before 2020. The others have no experience with what constituted “normal” Senate operations for decades. That includes the contenders for leadership.

Who will be the next Senate majority leader?

The short answer: I don’t know. My impression is that State Senators Mike Klimesh and Mike Bousselot are competing for the job. Six months ago I would have said Klimesh was on track to succeed Whitver. But he burned some bridges by harshly criticizing fellow Republicans during that intense Senate debate over eminent domain in May.

As we’ve discussed over the summer, Bousselot has been exploring a gubernatorial campaign. It would be hard to do that while serving as majority leader, so I wonder if he is looking for an exit ramp from running for governor.

Who will run for Whitver’s seat in 2026?

Since Whitver’s not seeking re-election in Senate district 23, that open seat might appeal to Bousselot. He currently represents the Ankeny-based swing district from which Whitver fled; it will be a top target for Democrats in 2026. In contrast, Senate district 23 covers a bunch of smaller towns and some rural areas in Polk and Dallas counties, and is relatively safe for Republicans.

Two Republicans represent Whitver’s turf in the Iowa House: Dan Gehlbach and Brian Lohse. I would guess Lohse would rather stay in the lower chamber, where he chairs an appropriations subcommittee.

Tony Thompson, a fourth generation farmer and small business owner in rural Polk County, is the likely Democratic nominee in Senate district 23. He ran for a House seat covering half of this area in 2024.

Mike Sexton resigns from Iowa House

On Friday, State Representative Mike Sexton stepped down from the legislature in order to head Iowa’s Rural Development office under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (This is the same position that Theresa Greenfield held during the Biden administration.)

Sexton served a term in the Iowa Senate in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and has served in the House since 2015. Most recently he has chaired the House Agriculture Committee. He was a Donald Trump endorser and attended several of Trump’s Iowa rallies before the 2024 caucuses.

Governor Kim Reynolds hasn’t yet set a special election in Iowa House district 7. (It’s likely coming in November.) This is a solidly Republican district, covering Sac, Calhoun, and Pocahontas counties, plus some of Webster County outside the city of Fort Dodge. Democrats didn’t field a candidate here in 2024, and Trump got around 75 percent of the vote in last year’s presidential election.

Sexton almost lost his primary last year, fending off challenger Wendy Larson by a roughly 51-49 margin. I have reached out to Larson to see if she’s planning to run again, but haven’t heard back.

Poll tests messages about Rob Sand and Randy Feenstra

We spent a couple of minutes on my exclusive reporting about a poll that previews attack lines Republicans may use next year against State Auditor Rob Sand, the likely Democratic nominee for governor. I summarized a few of the messages during the show. You can read more here:

This poll was probably commissioned either by Feenstra’s campaign or by some group that would spend money on his behalf.

I spent a minute explaining the difference between a message testing poll and a push poll. Not all surveys with unflattering questions about a candidate are “push polls.” I will die on this hill!

This survey was clearly collecting data for use in next year’s campaign. It also included one pair of statements that was negative about Feenstra and positive about Sand. You wouldn’t see that in a push poll.

It’s unlikely anyone will release the findings from this poll (though I would happily publish them in someone is willing to share). We should be able to guess which messages were most effective, based on what kind of advertising Republican groups run next year.

More GOP insiders endorse Ashley Hinson

The Republican establishment continues to get behind Ashley Hinson in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race. She’s supported by many state lawmakers, Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and former Governor Terry Branstad. Last Thursday, she rolled out an endorsement from U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson.

I find it odd she keeps emphasizing support from insiders in Washington, D.C. She did that right out of the gate.

Ashley Hinson's Senate rollout: Short-term success, long-term risks

Clearly Hinson’s focus now is discouraging other Republicans from getting into the Senate race, rather than appealing to voters.

I had to laugh when I listened to the interview Senator Chuck Grassley’s office released last week. Asked whether he was endorsing Hinson, Grassley said he didn’t think he should endorse until “I find out who’s all in the running. It wouldn’t make me disappointed if she’s the only Republican running for that seat, and I think she might be the only Republican.”

That’s a strange thing to say when former State Senator Jim Carlin (who challenged Grassley in the 2022 primary) has been running for Senate since June. Just in the past week he’s been at events in Butler County, Clay County, and Jefferson County. This week he will campaign in Clinton County and the Quad Cities.

Konfrst poll shows her tied with Nunn in IA-03

In Iowa’s third Congressional district, Democrat Jennifer Konfrst’s campaign shared findings that show her in a dead heat against Zach Nunn, the Republican incumbent. The survey by Public Policy Polling showed Nunn and Konfrst each with 44 percent.

I don’t love internal polls, because you only see what campaigns want you to see. The campaign released some results; for instance, “Nunn is underwater with a -10 favorable while Konfrst’s favorables are +7.”

However, the public memo does not reflect the whole questionnaire. I know because I was a respondent by phone and recorded the survey. Notably, they asked respondents whether they would vote for Konfrst or Sarah Trone Garriott in the Democratic primary, and whether they would vote for Trone Garriott or Nunn in the general election.

Both President Trump and Governor Reynolds were underwater: 44 percent favorable/50 unfavorable for the president, 37 favorable/54 unfavorable for the governor. Remember, this wasn’t a statewide poll; it only sampled residents of the third Congressional district.

Konfrst’s campaign tested a bunch of negative statements about Nunn but didn’t redo the ballot test after those statements. They also didn’t release findings on which of these messages were most concerning (“Voted to slash Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires,” “claims to be a moderate but votes nearly 100 percent of the time with Donald Trump,” “supports a national abortion ban with no exceptions,” supports the tariffs that are raising prices).

Early look at the Iowa legislative landscape

Last Tuesday, I went to the kickoff event for Heather Sievers, a Democrat who’s running again in Iowa House district 40 (Altoona/parts of eastern Polk County). You can watch her remarks here:

Sievers’ race against Republican State Representative Bill Gustoff will be one of several rematches in the Iowa House.

Another rematch is shaping up in Ankeny’s House district 41: Democrat Molly Buck against Ryan Weldon, the Republican who narrowly defeated her last year.

I ticked off a few more top targets for Democrats:

• House district 43 (Johnston), open if Eddie Andrews pursues his campaign for governor

• House district 99 (Burlington), where Democrat Jennifer Kirkman is running against GOP incumbent Matt Rinker

• House district 52 (Marshalltown), where the GOP incumbent is David Blom

• House district 72 (part of Dubuque), where Democrat Matt Robinson is running against GOP incumbent Jennifer Smith

Top targets for Republicans will include:

• House district 20 in Council Bluffs and Carter Lake (open because Josh Turek is running for Senate)

• House district 98 covering part of Davenport (Democrat Monica Kurth is retiring and barely held onto this seat last year)

• House district 42 in Ankeny (Democrat Heather Matson won narrowly last year)

• maybe House district 1 in Sioux City, depending on whether Democrat J.D. Scholten seeks a third term

Fewer battleground races are shaping up in the Iowa Senate. The top target for Democrats will be Senate district 21, covering most of Ankeny (probably open, depending on Bousselot’s next move).

The two Senate seats Democrats flipped in special elections will be the top targets for Republicans: Mike Zimmer in Senate district 35 (Clinton County, parts of Scott and Jackson counties) and Catelin Drey in Senate district 1 (Sioux City and nearby parts of Woodbury County).

The Democratic primary in Senate district 43 (Coralville area), which Zach Wahls is vacating to run for U.S. Senate, could be interesting.

Iowa HHS director resigning

Governor Kim Reynolds announced on Monday that Kelly Garcia has resigned as director of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, a position she has held since the fall of 2019. The governor picked Larry Johnson as the new director, starting next month.

I haven’t been able to find out whether Garcia is staying in Iowa. An HHS spokesperson told me her final day at the agency is October 10, and her “new employer will make an announcement soon.”

Larry Johnson has had a lot of jobs in state government, most recently Director of the Iowa Dept of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing. He was a legal counsel for Governors Branstad and Reynolds, was briefly the State Public defender.

You can read more about the change at the top of HHS in the Des Moines Register or Cedar Rapids Gazette.

More new voter registrations after change in Medicaid application

Speaking of the health and human services agency, State Representative Adam Zabner, a Democrat from Iowa City, announced last week that more Iowans have registered to vote since the agency started including a voter registration form in its Medicaid application. From his Bleeding Heartland guest post:

The fight centered around a federal law, the National Voter Registration Act, which requires states to offer voter registration to people registering for public assistance programs.

As I wrote, at the time, “Iowa’s Medicaid application form is 27 pages long. Many other states include a voter registration form in the packet. In Iowa, at the bottom of page 16, the packet contains one sentence and a link to the voter registration form. The link is printed out. An Iowan would have to type the 46-character link into their browser and access a printer to print it out. This is unlikely to register voters and states with similar policies have been found to be out of compliance with the NVRA.” The result was that far fewer people were registering to vote through Medicaid applications in Iowa, compared to almost any other state.

That op-ed was just the start. It took amendments, allies, speeches, and getting yelled at by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Director Kelly Garcia. After months of fighting with the Reynolds Administration, we won. In August 2024, the health and human services agency finally caved and began including a full voter registration form in the Medicaid application.

It has now been a year since Iowa began this improved practice. The results are stunning. Nearly ten times more Iowans on Medicaid are registering to vote through this program. Over 3,000 more people were registered through the program since the change was made, compared to the twelve months before.

Teacher sues after being fired over social media post

Following up on a story we covered last week, a former teacher in Oskaloosa filed the first lawsuit related to the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The Oskaloosa school board voted to terminate the contract of art teacher Matt Kargol, after he posted on Facebook, “1 Nazi down.”

You can read Kargol’s complaint filed in federal court here (it’s not long). He is suing the school district and superintendent Michael Fisher, who publicly recommended firing him. Kargol asserts that his Facebook post was “rhetorical hyperbole about a widely reported public event. It did not threaten any person, did not incite imminent unlawful action, and was not directed at any member of the school community.”

He also says the Facebook profile “did not identify him as an employee of the Oskaloosa Community School District. It contained no reference to the Oskaloosa Community School District, his position as a teacher, or his students. Nothing about the post connected his speech to his employment.”

I reached out to David Keating, president of the Institute for Free Speech. He didn’t want to comment on this particular case without knowing all of the facts. Speaking broadly, he said these cases tend to be complicated, and the outcome rests on facts surrounding the case. The judge will likely use what is called the “Pickering test” (named after a 1968 U.S. Supreme Court decision), weighing factors such as: did the speech happen in school? Was the remark about “a matter of public concern” rather than private grievance? The court will balance the employee’s right to free speech against the employer’s interest in avoiding disruption in the workplace.

It seems like Charlie Kirk’s assassination will continue to reverberate throughout the education system. Last week, Iowa Capital Dispatch reported that the Iowa Board of Regents directed state universities “to investigate social media posts allegedly made by university employees” about Kirk and his death.

We may see Iowa House Government Oversight Committee hearings and/or legislation related to this controversy next year. Last Monday, GOP Representative Taylor Collins, who chairs the Iowa House Higher Education Committee, announced on Simon Conway’s WHO radio show that he will seek to require Iowa’s state universities to establish a “Charlie Kirk Lecture and Debate Series.”

Prospects for a federal government shutdown

We had just a couple of minutes to talk about news from Congress. Absurdly, the U.S. House and Senate are on break this week—even as a federal government shutdown looms.

All four House members from Iowa voted on Friday for a bill that would keep the government funded at current levels for seven weeks. The House isn’t scheduled to come back until October 1; as Congressional reporter Jamie Dupree explained, House members are trying to “jam” the Senate.

The Senate is scheduled to come back to work on September 29; government funding runs out after September 30.

I don’t think Democrats will provide the votes to keep the government open next week. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer may want to cut a deal, but my sense is that most Democrats agree with Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. During an event in Des Moines this month, he told me, “I’m not going to vote to fund Donald Trump’s ongoing lawbreaking, right? Because right now, any agreement is not worth the paper it’s written on, because Donald Trump is withholding funds illegally as we speak, including funding for cancer patients at NIH.”

If there is a shutdown, Democrats would likely demand that Republicans agree to more health care spending, either extending the health insurance premium subsidies for Affordable Care Act policies, or rolling back some of the Medicaid or food assistance cuts from this summer’s reconciliation bill.

History tells us that the minority party doesn’t win any meaningful concessions by shutting down the government. Since Republicans are less worried about whether the government functions well, they will probably be able to wait it out.

Even if Democrats don’t win any concessions, they will likely accuse Republicans of making health care more expensive and highlight their party’s resistance. We are already seeing public statements along these lines from the Iowa Democratic Party.

Iowans in House again delay vote on Trump’s tariffs

There are some early signs of prices ticking up on consumer goods. But the House of Representatives won’t be voting on President Trump’s tariffs anytime soon. Language tucked into a procedural vote last week means the earliest that issue could come up for a House floor vote would be next February.

Jamie Dupree explained what happened: “The original GOP plan was to block any votes to repeal the Trump tariffs through March 31, 2026.” But House leaders couldn’t get the votes for that. Instead, they voted to prevent any votes on tariffs through January 31, 2026.

I didn’t have time to mention a related development last week: all four Iowans joined most House Republicans in voting to table (kill) a resolution to end Trump’s tariffs on Brazil.

Thanks so much for reading or listening! We’ll be back soon.