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April 22, 2025 • 14 mins
Iowa Gov Kim Reynolds Plans Out Her Final Term
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The governor of the State of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, who
is joining us on the phoneland. Governor Reynolds, thank you
so much once again for being on my show today.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Oh I am Rea's great to be with you as Olie.
Thank you for the opportunity.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Absolutely, I'm sure it's been a little girl in the
last you know, couple of weeks. We played your audio
as soon as it came out on two Fridays ago
when you made the announcement that you were not going
to seek reelection in twenty twenty six. And I'll ask
you about kind of the details of you know, that
decision in a second. But I think it's important for
context as we talk about this of your career, because

(00:33):
you have been a lifelong Iowa and you have worked
your way up within you know, public service in the
state of Iowa. What can you how do you best
describe your career to somebody who you know asks you, Hey,
Governor Reynolds, how do I try to achieve what you
have achieved?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, first of all, it's been an incredible journey and
it's you know, it's been an awesome opportunity to be
able to serve Iowans in various capacities. I never ever,
ever thought I would enter politics. I was not that
girl in fifth, sixth, or seventh grade that thought one
day I want to be the governor. You know, I
grew up in a small community. My parents really were

(01:10):
involved and engaged in the community. We were taught early
on to give back, and you know what kind of happened.
So I started working in local government. That's where I
kind of started in the county Treasure's office. Oddly enough,
the treasure decided not to rerun, which rarely happens, and
so after a lot of conversations with my husband, you know,
we just we decided to step into that role. And

(01:31):
so I served at the county level, and then I
had an opportunity after being re elected four terms. So
I was, you know, nearly sixteen years in the county
Treasure's office, I got asked to run for the state
Senate and it was no, no, no, And then I
finally thought, well, you know, maybe I can take this
level of service and passion that I had for rural
Iowa and for Iowa and you know, expanded a little

(01:53):
bit beyond one county. So I ran and was looking
enough to be elected and represented the largest geographical district
in Iowa at that time, and it was very rural
and a lot of small communities, So I love that.
That was in two thousand and eight, which was a
tough year for Republicans, and I had served just one
and a half year years when Governor Branstead decided to
come back and ask if I would consider running as

(02:16):
his running mate of lieutenant governor. Again, when you don't
think there's a remote possibility of you being selected for that,
turns out you interview pretty well. So I ended up
doing that and I served two terms there, so eight
years of lieutenant governor. Then he was appointed ambassador to
China and I stepped into that role and then immediately
ran in twenty eighteen and have won a really hard

(02:40):
race and a tough year for Republicans, And then again
in twenty twenty two ran for reelection and went from
barely winning by two percent if you round up in
twenty eighteen to winning by nineteen percent. So you know,
we worked hard to really change the dynamics of Iowa,
and I think Iowan's responded based on the conservative values

(03:02):
that we put in place in the things that we
have ran on and so I appreciated their leadership. So
I guess I would say to people that are considering that,
don't have your future so planned that you miss out
on unexpected opportunities. And when those opportunities are presented to you,
even when you think, well, maybe I can't do that,
I'm not qualified for that, you somehow find the result

(03:24):
to push yourself through that opportunity, say yes, give it everything.
And I can almost promise you why. You might not
always get the results you want, you grow a lot
from that experience and learn from that, and that benefits
you in later endeavors that you might have the opportunity
to participate in.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
We're speaking with Iowa Governor Keim Reynolds here on eleven
ten KFAB. You know, based on politics these days and
how active I see you in the community. Heck, I'm
at the fair, you know. I just see you walking
around just like another citizen of of the state of Iowa.
A lot of people would say, Governor Reynolds, you have
a lot left in the tank. But I know that

(04:06):
politics is I mean, it is a full on, like
twenty four to seven, three sixty five job, especially when
you're at your level, What was that process like and
how long have you kind of been thinking about what
the future looked like knowing twenty six is, you know,
right around the corner now.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah, I tell you, it was probably one of the
hardest decisions I've made in a long long time. Because
I love what I'm doing. I love serving Iowans. I
love what we've been able to do working with the
legislature and the progress that we've made and the things
that we've accomplished over the eight years. So I mean,
I love it so much, but I've also felt the weight,
you know, and just the privilege of that responsibility every

(04:45):
single day. And I've tried to give it everything that
I had, And honestly, if you're going to do it right,
you have to you have to give it it all,
your all. It takes everything that you have. I've tried.
Family is so important to me. We you know, I
worked really hard to carve out time for them, and
I did, but it's still it still means working late
nights and seven days a week sometimes and being on

(05:06):
the road and just different things, and so you miss
out on family events and celebrations and and I just
you know, after eight years as as a governor and
really nine and then you know as LG before that,
I just it just I miss my family, and family
is really important to me, and my old our oldest

(05:27):
granddaughter will be a senior next year, and I want
to make sure that I'm at those events. I'm cheering
them on. I'm really a part of that as much
as I can be. Our parents. My parents are are
you know, getting older, and and they need they need
me home too, and I want to be there for
them and be there for my family and Kevin and
our daughters. And so again, just a hard, hard, hard decision.

(05:52):
I mean I was running until I wasn't. But you
just kind of know when it's placed on your heart
that you know it's it's time for me to hass
it on to somebody else. And what gives me great
comfort is we have a great, great bench of dynamics,
strong Republican leaders, and so I see it every day.
I see, you know, their passion and the courage, and

(06:14):
and we've got you know, we have the trifecta. We've
got a super majority, and you know we did having
both chambers, but in the House right now and so
there's there's we have a lot of opportunity and a
lot of really qualified people that can step up and
take the state to the next level. And so I'm
going to do everything I can to make sure that
this office stays in Republican Republican hands and that all

(06:36):
of the good work that we've done doesn't get reversed. Uh,
you know, I think that's really really important to understand.
I think we just witnessed that under four years under
under President Biden. I never in my lifetime thought I
could see would see the decline of this amazing, great
country that we live in in such a short timeline.
So it really elections matter, leaders matter, and I want

(06:58):
people to you know, we just really have to make
sure that we pay attention to that. And lastly, it's
a long answer, but I got a year and eight
months ago, and so I am a hard charger, and
this governor is going to run really, really, really strong
through the Cape and we're going to soak up every
minute of our time and fulfilling this term and continue

(07:19):
to do big and bold things and continue to elevate
our great state and the people that live here.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Hi with Governor Camerial joining us on eleven ten kfab
this afternoon. Of course that announcement followed it. I mean,
you can't help but kind of speculate, like who would
be next, and you mentioned the bench. How do you
approach this? I mean, you just appointed a new lieutenant
governor in the last few months, and Chris Gerhart Kenoyer,
and she you would imagine would be a rising star.

(07:46):
Brenda Byrd definitely has put herself on a big level
as the attorney general and now I think nationally people
have kind of taken note of her ambition when she
was in New York with Donald Trump's trial and showing
support last year. And then you throw in people like
Zach Nunn, who's already in Washington representing Iowa. He's mentioned
that he would be interested in the job, and then

(08:07):
Mike Nagg who's Secretary of Agriculture as well. I mean,
you just talk about just those four, but how do
how does a governor who you want to do all
this stuff still before you're out of office. You still have,
like you mentioned, almost two full years left to go.
How do you approach kind of what that battle will
be as these great candidates kind of kind of try

(08:27):
to make themselves your successor.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah, well, first of all, just talk to him about
what it's like. You know, what I think it will
take to you know, the dollars that it will take
to run a successful race, talk about what the what
the day in and the day out looks like. But
I you know, I think the best thing I can
do is to you know, stand back and let the
primary take place. That you know, the Democratic Party has
not done that at the federal level for the last

(08:51):
two election cycles, and it's not served them very well.
You know, that's how they got President Biden. And then
it's how they got Kamala Harris is they anointed their
design And I think, you know, it's been sixteen years
since we've had an open primary, and so I think
that's healthy. It makes you you know it also, you know,
it takes resources. There's that side of it too, but
it really it helps you organize, It helps you get

(09:12):
your message out, It helps you, you know, listen to
Iowa's figure out, get get a feel of you know,
what's on their minds, what they like, and what you know,
where they have concerns. And so I think it will
serve us well to have to have that process take place,
and then we'll know that we're putting the strongest person

(09:32):
forward to really head into the general election. But like
I said, I'll work tirelessly and around the clock. I
don't want to see all the good stuff that we've
done the undone. We're leading the country in so many ways,
and so that means like cutting texas and regulation and
keeping our communities safe and making sure that we're protecting life,
and making sure that we are giving parents the choice

(09:54):
and their child's education that they are one, that they
are the ones that are determining, you know, where their
child should be educated. And of course ninety four percent
right now parents choose a public school, and so we
want to make sure that we have really strong and
robust public schools, and they shouldn't be afraid of competition.
It's a healthy thing. It makes us all stronger. That's
the environment that we've created, and hopefully then we'll start

(10:15):
to see that reflected in our test scores moving forward.
But the best thing that can happen is that exchange
of ideas, that vision on where they want to take
the state, what they're proud of, and how we can
build on that. And I think that benefits us and
puts us in a strong position moving forward.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Governor Kimeralds from the state of Iowa joining us on
eleven ten kfab last question. I know this is probably
a Pandora's box, but I'm going to ask it anyway.
You mentioned we have some the legislative session still going
on in Iowa, and you mentioned the way that Iowa
does it. For our Nebraska listeners, it's really like Washington.
You have a House and you have a Senate, two

(10:51):
different chambers that are working on legislation. Like you mentioned
majorities for both in the Republicans, you're able to get
a lot done right now, and you have all of
next session next year as well. Is there anything really
top of the list that you would love to get
done before your legacy as complete as the governor.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, so if we aren't unable to get they've done
a lot of great work on property tax reform this
legislative session. So I want to give a shout out.
I want to give a shout out to Senator Dawson.
He really does the work and puts in the time,
and as well as this Bod Kaufman in the House
that's working on it. So it's just a really hard
thing to do and I've appreciated their approach and if
we're not able to make significant changes, we will be

(11:32):
working around the clock over the interim to take a
look at that. And the thing is, it's just you
have to look at it holistically. So we have too
much government in the state of Iowa. It's the third
sector as far as the GDP, that what contributes to
our overall economy, and we in on a per capita basis,
we just have too much and so we have to
look at things differently. We have to look at just

(11:54):
the property tax system. It's convoluted. It just needs to
be you know, And that's what Dan has tried to do,
kind of scratched and started over. But funding for educational
funding formula is also a piece of that. So it's
not going to be easy. It's going to take a
lot of work and a lot of time over the interim,
but that's something that will be spending some time on

(12:14):
because that's one of the things I hear about all
the time, and I know the legislators do too. That's
why they focused on it this year is just we're
not competitive when it comes to that. I'm helping if
we'll see what happens with trade and with the agricultural environment.
We've had two really tough years, but I'm hoping if
we can get the President to extend or make permanent

(12:35):
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, then I'm hoping we
can come back in next year and lower our individual
income tax rate. Again. The commercial is on a trigger,
so that kind of takes care of itself, but I'd
like to get that a little bit lower before I
leave to but I want to make sure we can
sustain it. So if I feel comfortable and if he's
able to get that path that it's Congress is and

(12:57):
the President signed into law, then and we will be
ready to hopefully step in take advantage of that and
continue to lower ours. We're at three eight this year,
so we started with one of the highest in the
country and we're one of the one of the lowest,
and we want to keep that. We want to keep
bringing those individual income tax rates down.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
It's definitely something that has people's ears perked. I think
all over the country property taxes and Iowa and no
exception there. Governor cam Renolds. I know this isn't the
last time that we'll chat while you're the governor, but
just from me as a lifelong iyowent into the last
couple of years and still somebody who is my entire
family living in Iowa. Thank you so much for the
service that you've done to the state. Can't wait to

(13:36):
see at the state Fair this year. And thank you
so much for being a part of our radio show
and telling us everything that you have planned and being
so transparent with us.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. I'll look for you.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
It's fair absolutely. Governor cam Reynolds being part of our show.
Of course, still a lot of time left in her
term before the twenty twenty six governor election, and we'll
see all of the different things that play out before that.
Two fifty is our time. We will have more on
the way on Newsdio eleven ten k F A B
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