It’s Monday, Apr. 14, 2025.

🗣️ Amie here, and we’ve heard from lots of you regarding Gov. Kim Reynolds‘ announcement Friday that she won’t be seeking a third term running Iowa. So we’re running a special edition today of some of your responses!

Read that article here, or watch a video recap from Starting Line’s Zachary Oren Smith on Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok.

Here’s what elected Republican and Democratic leaders in the Iowa Legislature said:

Republicans praised her: Senate President Amy Sinclair touted Reynolds for signing an anti-trans law, “restoring parental rights” (which could be referring to any number of things), as well as “making Iowa one of the most business friendly states in the nation. “I am proud to have been a part of these policies,” Sinclair said.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver added Reynolds is “the best governor in the country,” and that, thanks to her, Iowa Republicans like him “have delivered truly historic results for Iowans few people could have dreamed possible.”

Democrats brought the reality check: “After 10 years under Gov. Reynolds, the state faces budget deficits, a runaway private school voucher program, an unemployment system that leaves workers hung out to dry, contracting GDP, and a history of culture wars pushing Iowans away,” Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner said.

“There’s a reason Reynolds is the least popular governor in America: Iowans are worse off than they were a decade ago,” House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst said. “It’s time for a governor who will build an economy that works for everyone. It’s time for a governor who knows that public money is for public schools. It’s time for a governor who will bring balance and common sense back to Iowa. It’s time for a governor who will put people over politics.”

Amie Rivers

Newsletter Editor, Iowa Starting Line

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Readers are invited to add to the conversation by emailing responses@iowastartingline.com. Please include your first name and last initial. You may also want to include your city, but that’s up to you.

Share your thoughts here

What do you think about Reynolds’ announcement?

“Hallelujah” ~Curt W.
“Good riddance!!” ~Robert B.
“Good riddance to another Trump brown noser; Iowa will be better for it.” ~Henry L.
“Maybe most people are just sick and tired of the party of Trump.” ~Will L.
“My husband says that he dislikes her for the reasons you listed, PLUS her voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard. I agree.” ~Nancy B., Council Bluffs
“Great news. She’s toxic. Hope we can manage some damage control before she’s gone.” ~Edith C.
“Thank Goodness! Now, how do we undo the damage she has done?” ~Rose E.
“Iowa used to rank in the top five for education. Not only has she not helped to regain that status, she has actively worked at harming the ability to do so. Giving away public education money with no checks and balances on the recipients has educated her voters that she might not have the best interests of the majority of Iowa’s children in mind. Iowans aren’t stupid, especially not the generations who grew up during the high Iowa educational standards heyday. I guess she ‘asked about our weather in July’ one too many times.” ~Rosemarie W.
“There’s not much left to burn down. Time to rebuild Iowa with a new vision of caring for people.” ~Kathy J., Ankeny
“Best interruption I’ve had in many a Friday! … Iowa has always been conservative—it goes with the nature of being an ag state—but [there] was a time that we had a compassionate and empathetic perspective towards our fellow Hawkeyes. Hope we can get that back someday soon. Kimmy’s unkind and snotty attitude have just worn me out. Glad to see her go!” ~Bill O., Plymouth
“This is good news unless Iowans elect someone worse.

I can’t fathom how hateful a person has to be to want to starve Iowa’s schools and then, in the summer, starve their children, all while sitting on a big pile of cash.

And then bragging that she was DOGE before DOGE was cool (my word choice). Puh-lease. If she had been reading the room at all (ever!) she would know that DOGE is not cool, and that the DOGE-cat is reviled as much as she is.” ~Joan C.
“Given the wave that seems to be building for the next mid-term elections and beyond, I can certainly see her reading the room and not wanting to have to try to defend what she and state/fed GOP folks are doing. I *very* much worry about what she’ll try without having to worry about winning another election.” ~Jeff S.
“I have two suspicions. The first is she knows realistically that Rob Sand would beat her in a contest for the next term. So that has come home for her. The second is more ominous. Couple knowing she’s unpopular with her fanaticism about destroying public education and other functions that help people in this state, she’s determined to go all fire and brimstone on advancing this unpopular approach come hell or high water. Why? Because now she will be totally unconcerned about the political fallout. Lame duck status will be a plus in her eyes.” ~Chris S., Stuart
“I would like to think that Reynolds’ exit is a sign that the good people of Iowa may slowly be coming to their senses, and that her decision reflects her reading of ‘which way the wind is blowing.’

However, there are still too many signs that for me indicate that Iowa’s drinking from the MAGA fountain of rage and deceit is not finished. How else to explain the continued devotion of farmers to Trump when his tariff policies are going to cost them dearly, and not for just this year, but for decades to come?

Iowa’s agricultural industry—for that is what it has, unfortunately, become—has not gained back the customers it lost during Trump’s first term because of his trade policies. What he is doing now will cause much greater and more lasting damage.” ~Greg C.
“Honestly, Iowa has become the Appalachia of the North. The Republican Party is an embarrassment. But, sadly, the Democrats seem to be worse. They have no vision—all they do is complain. Essentially, their platform is, ‘Vote for us because we aren’t Republicans.’ What do they stand for? What would they change? How would they accomplish it? Do they have a leader?

As horrible as Iowa’s Republicans are, at least they have a platform. They are religious zealots and xenophobes. It’s not what I want to do, but it is something and is identifiable and seems to resonate with Iowans.” ~Randy Z.
“So here is the deal. If an open governor’s seat and Joni Ernst’s Senate seat are up for election in 2026, every whacked-out MAGA will come to the polls. Every liberal, Democrat, progressive must come out to vote. None of this ‘I don’t like the candidate’s position on this’ shit. And then every appalled independent and GOP voter must be encouraged to vote. We can’t afford a new MAGA governor getting elected and thus gaining incumbent status.” ~Patrick M.
“I think Kim Reynolds read the poll showing she’s the only governor in the country with a net negative approval rating and decided to beat the press to the punch. This wasn’t a farewell speech; it was a preemptive exit strategy disguised as a love letter to Iowa.

She framed it as ‘family first’—and listen, I respect the hell out of anyone choosing family over power. But let’s not pretend this is purely sentimental. This is political calculus dressed up in grandma’s Sunday cardigan.

Reynolds has spent nearly a decade pushing policies that hollowed out public education, took aim at blue counties under the guise of redistricting, and handed child nutrition efforts to cronies instead of accepting proven federal aid. She governed like someone allergic to accountability and absolutely enamored with performative conservatism.

Her farewell message said Iowa is a place where ‘anything is possible.’ Yeah—including starving schools while feeding right-wing donor pipelines. Including making working-class families jump through hoops while corporations get tax write-offs like Halloween candy. Including silencing dissent by cutting resources and then wondering why folks are angry.

So what do I think? I think the most dangerous thing Iowa could do right now is sigh with relief and go quiet. Because the political machine that kept Reynolds in power for so long? It’s still oiled, loud, and ready to install the next hand-picked heir to the ideology. If we don’t organize, speak up, and vote, we’re going to wake up in 2027 with Reynolds 2.0—this time with better PR and fewer apologies.

This is the opening, not the end.

So if you’re mad, or tired, or just finally paying attention, good. Stay mad. Stay focused. Find candidates who deserve to lead this state—or be one. Either way, Iowa deserves better than what we’ve tolerated. Now is not the time for nostalgia. It’s the time to build something worth remembering.” ~Jay S., Davenport