'Fired up': Kim Reynolds launches reelection bid with millions in cash, lead in Iowa Poll

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds launched her bid for a second full term Wednesday — an announcement that came on the heels of a week that included a nationally televised speech, a pair of major legislative victories and deadly tornadoes that killed seven Iowans. 

A crowd of supporters gathered at the Iowa State Fairgrounds for Wednesday's announcement, which served as mostly a formality, confirming expectations that Iowans have had for months about Reynolds' intentions.

In her speech, Reynolds told the crowd she was "fired up." And she touted her COVID-19 pandemic policies and several laws the Republican-controlled Legislature has passed in the last four years, saying the next election is a question of what party is going to put their trust in Iowans. 

“With a victory in November, we can ensure that Iowa remains a beacon of freedom, liberty and unlimited prosperity,” Reynolds said. “A state that's known for opportunity. An Iowa where our young people will grow up here and want to stay here to raise a family."

Reynolds, 62, has served as governor since 2017, when she succeeded Terry Branstad after he resigned to become the Trump administration’s ambassador to China. Reynolds, who had been Iowa's lieutenant governor, became Iowa's first female governor and won reelection to her first full term in 2018, defeating Democrat Fred Hubbell.   

►More: Who is Kim Reynolds? Meet Iowa's governor

“As long as I am governor, Iowa is going to be a state where you can live your life freely, where you don't have to wake up in the morning and worry about the next thing that the government is going to do to you, your business or your children," Reynolds said. 

At the end of her remarks, she called several candidates for statewide office on stage, saying Iowa has a chance to expand its state legislative majorities, win all four congressional districts and take full control of statewide offices next year. Democrats currently hold the state treasurer, auditor and attorney general offices.

The announcement means the race for governor is coming into focus ahead of the March 18 candidate filing deadline. Her likely Democratic opponent, Deidre DeJear, is the only Democrat actively campaigning. Libertarian candidate Rick Stewart, 70, of Cedar Rapids, also has filed paperwork to run in the general election. Stewart briefly worked in law enforcement and founded Frontier Natural Products Coop in Norway, Iowa.

DeJear on Wednesday received the endorsement of Hubbell, giving her candidacy a boost of establishment support and the backing of a heavyweight Democratic donor. 

She told reporters that she sees Reynolds' announcement as solidifying the race. She said she believes the laws Reynolds has signed restrict Iowans' freedoms and favor wealthy donors. 

"We see a national political agenda being toured across the state — an agenda that does no good for our country and does no good for Iowa," DeJear said.  "And her biggest accomplishments this session are legislation that bullies our kids and tax giveaways to millionaires, leaving out, unfortunately, working families."

If DeJear secures the Democratic nomination, it would pit two women candidates against each other in the governor's race for the first time in Iowa history. If DeJear wins the general election, she would become the first Black Iowan elected to statewide office. 

Reynolds is announcing her candidacy as she holds a significant lead in head-to-head fundraising, as well as a lead in statewide polling.

Reynolds reported nearly $4.8 million in cash on hand at the January campaign finance reporting deadline. DeJear had just $8,500 in cash on hand as of the same deadline. 

A Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released over the weekend showed Reynolds with an 8-point lead over DeJear, who announced her run in August 2021. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report, an election forecaster, has rated the race "solidly Republican."

Reynolds' timing taps into national recognition, high-profile law signings

Reynolds' Wednesday announcement followed a week where she represented Iowa in her nationally televised response to the State of the Union. In her speech, she said Republican governors are working to "fill the leadership vacuum" they say the Biden administration has left. 

That same week, she also signed two major policy proposals into law. On March 1, Reynolds signed a sweeping tax cut that will lower corporate taxes and gradually reduce Iowa’s individual income tax to a flat rate of 3.9%. On Thursday, she signed a law banning transgender girls and women from female sports, making Iowa the 11th state in the nation to place some form of restriction on transgender female athletes. 

Elements of both laws have strong support from likely Reynolds voters, according to new Iowa Poll data on both the tax cut proposal and the transgender athletes law.

The passage of those two laws came as Reynolds has struggled to gain enough Republican support for another of her major legislative policy goals, a publicly funded program that would help children switch from public to private school. 

The recent policy wins and national exposure make the timing of Reynolds' campaign launch smart for her politically, said Kelly Winfrey, the coordinator of research and outreach at the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. 

"When you make that announcement, you want to be bringing in more funds and getting more publicity, so drawing from the momentum that she has is probably a pretty good strategy," Winfrey said. 

Winfrey said Reynolds, after navigating the challenges of the pandemic and developing more of a leadership record, now finds herself in a much different position than she did four years ago.

"She's done a lot," Winfrey said. "Now, I'll say she's done a lot that not everyone agrees with. But she's also done a lot that about half the state really do agree with, so she has that record to run on that she didn't have four years ago. She also has a lot broader name recognition and identity recognition."

The State of the Union rebuttal is evidence of her rise to national prominence, Winfrey said. Leading up to the speech, Reynolds had gained national attention for her pandemic response, and she has reportedly been among the names floated as possible vice presidential contenders should former President Donald Trump seek reelection in 2024. 

Reynolds has not yet received Trump's endorsement in the governor's race, although she appears to have his support. Trump said during an Oct. 9 visit to Iowa that he had offered her his endorsement but she chose to wait. 

Reynolds' announcement also came after she had toured damage from deadly tornadoes that swept through the state over the weekend, killing six people in Winterset and one near Chariton.

Reynolds acknowledged the recovery at the beginning of her remarks, encouraging prayers for the impacted families and saying she was inspired by how Iowans came to help each other. 

"The outpouring and compassion and hope even in the face of tragedy was moving," she said. "The number of volunteers on the ground that next morning — inspiring." 

Pandemic policies, parental choice frequent themes among Reynolds, supporters

The crowd for Reynolds' announcement gathered in the Elwell Family Food Center at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. Many of them wore red T-shirts, some holding up campaign signs that said "PARENTS MATTER." 

Sherrie Mandsager, of Clive, said she has supported Reynolds' leadership, including her work to cut taxes and ban mask mandates in school classrooms. 

"I was a teacher, and I know that when you're teaching English to children, you have to be able to read their lips and see their expressions," she said. 

Reynolds' pandemic response in schools was a prominent portion of her speech as she applauded how Iowa "fought for greater freedom" and "took on Biden's COVID mandates" during the pandemic.

"We got our kids back in the classroom, and again we did it before anyone else," she said. "Unlike Democrats, we didn't wait for bad poll numbers to finally discover science." 

Former Gov. Terry Branstad was among those in attendance. Branstad said he was impressed with Reynolds' response to the State of the Union, as well as her pandemic response. 

“I was governor during the Farm Crisis," he said. "That was tough. And I think the COVID pandemic has been worse, and she’s done a great job."

"I like to say she’s improved on everything I taught her," he joked. 

As Reynolds announces, DeJear says her campaign is also gaining momentum

Reynolds wasn't the only one to benefit from her turn in the national spotlight.

DeJear told reporters Wednesday that she has seen an influx of grassroots support since Reynolds' nationally televised speech last week. 

The recent Iowa Poll, with Reynolds leading DeJear by 51% to 43%, showed many Iowans are still formulating an opinion about DeJear. Among those who said they would vote for DeJear, 61% said they did not know enough about her to form an opinion.

“It just says that people are voting on party,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co. “And that explains pretty much all of what’s happening in this early test of that vote.”  

Selzer told the Des Moines Register that the results were surprising given DeJear's low name recognition. The race will be "a fight for the independent vote," she said. 

DeJear said she found the numbers encouraging.

"It shows us what we're capable of," she said. "It's less about me, and more about us. That's how I'm reading into that poll." 

Winfrey said having two women likely facing off in the governor's race is a "big accomplishment" compared to where Iowa was a decade ago. Since then, Iowa has elected its first female governor in Reynolds, its first female U.S. senator in Joni Ernst and its first females to the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrats Cindy Axne and Abby Finkenauer were both elected to Congress in 2018.  

"It's noteworthy that we have two women running," she said of the governor's race. "But it also makes their gender less relevant. Because we're not talking about can the woman win. We have two women, so hopefully, that can be a new normal, that we have women running against other women — or against men — and we can focus on those policy issues."

Ian Richardson covers the Iowa Statehouse for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at irichardson@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8254, or on Twitter at @DMRIanR.