2026 Musical Chairs
Earlier this month, the Iowa House Republicans elected a new majority leader (Rep. Bobby Kaufmann). He replaces Rep. Matt Windschitl, who is stepping down from his leadership role in order to run for Congress in Iowa’s 4th District. That seat opens up after the announcement that US Rep. Randy Feenstra will run for Governor. This change in House leadership has triggered committee shifts, but we won’t know for a while how those committee chairs will change. Rep. Kaufmann had chaired the tax-writing House Ways & Means Committee. Rep. Carter Nordman, Rep. Jane Bloomingdale, and Rep. David Young are all rumored to want this post. They currently chair the House Human Resources Committee, House State Government Committee, and House Transportation Committee. Rep. Angel Ramirez, the late-session elected member from Linn County, still has not been assigned her committees. As you can see, some shuffling of committee chairs and membership is ahead.
Similarly, we still do not know whether Sen. Jack Whitver will remain Senate Majority Leader. Sen. Whitver was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer and has had to step back and let his caucus members help with some of his leadership responsibilities as he continues treatment. There are a number of names floating around to replace him when appropriate, including Sen. Mike Klimesh (who chairs Senate Health/Human Services), Sen. Mike Bousselot (who chairs Senate Commerce), and Sen. Dan Zumbach (who chairs Senate Transportation).
Finally, the special election on August 26 to replace Sen. Rocky DeWitt has ended the Republican supermajority lock in the Iowa Senate after Democrat Catelin Drey won 55% of the vote. That means the Senate breakdown for 2026 will now be 32 Republicans & 18 Democrats, still a hefty majority to pass most policies brought to the floor.