Governor Reynolds Says ‘Family Comes First’ in Decision Not to Seek Re-election

Governor Kim Reynolds announced on Friday that she will not run for re-election.

Over the weekend, Reynolds says she was intending to seek a third term as governor, but in the past couple of months she’s been weighing whether she could keep giving 100 percent to the job if she were elected to serve until early 2031. Reynolds spoke with a handful of reporters Saturday as a few hundred kids and grown-ups roamed the grounds at the governor’s mansion for an Easter Egg hunt. Reynolds, who will turn 66 in early August, said she’s been happy to make her work as governor her number one priority, but when her current term ends in 2027, she’s going home. 

Reynolds says the decisions she made during the COVID-19 pandemic are the most consequential actions she’s taken as governor, from re-opening schools in the fall of 2020 to the televised news conferences she had that year.

The governor told reporters she’s “really proud” things like the tax cuts and state funded savings accounts for private school expenses she proposed are now law – but her decision to not to run for a third term is the right one. Reynolds said every so often she’s struck by how surreal her rise through politics has been – from Clarke County Treasurer, to state senator, to lieutenant governor and to taking over as governor in mid-2017.

Reynolds says primaries are a healthy process for a political party and she will not endorse a GOP successor – but once Republican voters choose a 2026 nominee for governor, Reynolds says she’ll be all in and will campaign for that person daily.

Reynolds’ seat will be up for election in 2026.

story courtesy of Radio Iowa