Kim Reynolds

The two-term state auditor campaigned on working across party lines and restoring balance to government.

He will succeed Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, who did not seek re-election.

Maine Democrats expanded their legislative majorities, giving Governor-elect Hannah Pingree a stronger base for her agenda.

By early Wednesday, the party said it had won at least 87 of 151 House seats and 22 of 35 Senate seats, up from 76 and 20 in 2024.

Analysis the day after the midterm elections from Dave Peterson of ISU, Megan Goldberg of Cornell College, racing through a lot of the audio that we collected last night.

Governor Kim Reynolds.

says she's committed to a strong transition of power to governor-elect Rob Sand.

In a statement, Reynolds said she spoke with Sand to congratulate him on winning the governor's race.

I mean, I think this is a really open question about what what the strategy of the Republican majority in the legislature will be.

You know, there's there's the possibility that, well, first of all, I think, you know, they get to set the agenda, the Republican agenda.

It's been, you know, at least from the outside looking in, that's been a very top down process lately where Kim Reynolds really sets the agenda.

We hear it in the condition of the state and you know what's coming in the in the next legislative session.

And he happened to draw a dream opponent in Zach Lane because Zach Lane was not what Republicans needed.

Any Republican, whether it had, whether Kim Reynolds was able to, if Kim Reynolds had been able to stay and decided to run for a third term or some, or, you know, if, if somebody, uh, Strong had decided to run in her stead.

It doesn't matter.

Sand would have been either difficult or impossible to beat by anybody, but he happened to draw a guy who just did not hit the mark.

That was 21% of the vote in 2022.

Oh, and even actually in Sioux County, which is as red as it gets, Rob Sand got 20% of the vote.

Kim Reynolds got 90% of the vote there.

So Rob Sand did 10 points better in Sioux County than Democrats did in 2022.

He ran a picture-perfect campaign.

But what people didn't really talk about is that Kim Reynolds had really cratered Iowa's economy, was historically unpopular, much like Sam Brownback when Laura Kelly came in as governor of Kansas.

It's just Sam Brownback ran for president and everybody then learned what a terrible job he'd done in Kansas.

Texas, it's amazing.

This was Iowa's first open seat gubernatorial election in 20 years.

Republican incumbent Governor Kim Reynolds, who has held the office since 2017, did not seek re-election.

Prominent national election forecasters had viewed Iowa's open seat gubernatorial election as leaning or tilting to the Democratic candidate, Sand.

And polling on the campaign consistently showed Sand with an advantage regularly outside the polls margin for error.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says he has no plans to resign, despite there being concerns in his party that a Democratic governor will choose his replacement if he dies in office.

Questions about the future of the oldest member of Congress have been raised after Democrat Rob Sand won Iowa's gubernatorial race to replace Republican Kim Reynolds, but the 93-year-old Grassley, first elected to the Senate in 1980, says he will not step down.

Quote, Senator Grassley is not resigning, a spokesman told the Daily Beast.

He remains committed to delivering for the people of Iowa.

And we didn't have the incumbent.

You know, like with Greg Abbott, we had Kim Reynolds, our governor, decided not to rerun.

And then Senator Joni Ernst decided not to rerun.

So it was a representative running to be a senator.

Vatican officials unveiled the itinerary Tuesday that includes visits to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru.

Governor Kim Reynolds congratulated Democrat Governor-elect Rob Sand on his midterm election victory.

Reynolds says she spoke with Sand Wednesday morning and reaffirmed her commitment to a smooth transition of power.

Iowa voters in Norwalk passed a $65 million bond referendum on Election Day.

The state races were all called early amid a national blue wave election that saw the party retake Congress.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says she is committed to a strong transition of power to Governor-elect Rob Sand.

In a statement, Reynolds says she spoke with Sand to congratulate him on winning the governor's race.

She says after the election, it's time to work together for Iowa, and her office will work to see that the incoming administration is ready for its first day in office.