Reynolds makes re-election campaign official, reports at least 10 out-of-state large donors

With just over a week until the candidate filing period ends, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she’s seeking a second four-year term.

Reynolds made the announcement during a campaign rally Wednesday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

Reynolds first assumed office when Gov. Terry Branstad vacated the position to become the U.S. ambassador to China. She beat Democrat Fred Hubbell 667,275 to 630,986 in 2018. Libertarian Jake Porter won about 20,000 votes.

Deidre DeJear, a Des Moines businesswoman, is currently the sole Democrat candidate actively campaigning for governor. Rick Stewart, who founded Frontier Co-op, is running as the Iowa Libertarian Party candidate.

David Kochel, a consultant for the Reynolds campaign who has worked in Iowa politics for nearly four decades, said he sees the momentum behind Reynolds as unrivaled, The Gazette reported.

A Selzer & Co. poll of 813 Iowa adults (612 likely voters) conducted from Feb. 28 to March 2 on behalf of Des Moines Register and Mediacom showed 49% percent approve of Reynolds’ handling of her position while 44% disapprove and 7% aren’t sure, with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points. The margin of approval over disapproval hasn’t been that small since March 2021 (46% approval 47% disapproval). Before then, approval was always at least 20 percentage points higher than disapproval, with two exceptions: September 2018 (46% vs 38%) and January 2018 (47% vs 33%).  Less than 10% of people since March 2020 have said they are “not sure” about whether they approve of how she handles the job.

Reynolds garnered significant national exposure when she delivered the GOP response to President Joe Biden’s 2022 State of the Union address on March 1.

Reynolds’ headliner bills have included reducing state taxes, protections of police, early voting procedures and expanding pathways for opening charter schools.

This article was originally posted on Reynolds makes re-election campaign official, reports at least 10 out-of-state large donors