Kim Reynolds facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kim Reynolds
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Reynolds in 2023
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| 43rd Governor of Iowa | |
| Assumed office May 24, 2017 |
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| Lieutenant |
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| Preceded by | Terry Branstad |
| Chair of the Republican Governors Association | |
| In office November 17, 2022 – December 7, 2023 |
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| Preceded by | Doug Ducey Pete Ricketts |
| Succeeded by | Bill Lee |
| 46th Lieutenant Governor of Iowa | |
| In office January 14, 2011 – May 24, 2017 |
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| Governor | Terry Branstad |
| Preceded by | Patty Judge |
| Succeeded by | Adam Gregg |
| Member of the Iowa Senate from the 48th district |
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| In office January 11, 2009 – January 2, 2011 |
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| Preceded by | Jeff Angelo |
| Succeeded by | Joni Ernst |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Kimberly Kay Strawn
August 4, 1959 St. Charles, Iowa, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Kevin Reynolds
(m. 1982) |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Northwest Missouri State University Upper Iowa University Iowa State University (BLS) |
| Signature |  |
Kimberly Kay Reynolds (born August 4, 1959) is an American politician. She has been the 43rd governor of Iowa since 2017. She is a member of the Republican Party. Kim Reynolds is the first woman to serve as governor in Iowa's history.
Before becoming governor, Reynolds was the Clarke County treasurer for four terms. She then served in the Iowa Senate from 2009 to 2011. From 2011 to 2017, she was the 46th lieutenant governor of Iowa. She became governor in May 2017 when Governor Terry Branstad left office. He became the United States ambassador to China. Reynolds won a full term as governor in 2018 and was reelected in 2022.
As governor, Reynolds has signed laws about education and voting rights. She also signed laws supporting gun rights. In 2020, her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic received low approval. She has a strong connection with Iowa's pork industry. In 2022, Reynolds gave the Republican response to President Joe Biden's 2022 State of the Union Address. In 2023, she signed a law about healthcare. In 2025, she signed a bill that changed anti-discrimination protections for some people.
On April 11, 2025, Reynolds announced she would not run for reelection in 2026.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Kimberly Kay Strawn was born in 1959 in St. Charles, Iowa. She finished high school in 1977 from the Interstate 35 Community School District.
Reynolds attended Northwest Missouri State University. She took classes in business and consumer sciences. She did not earn a degree there. Later, she took classes at Southeastern Community College in the late 1980s. She also studied accounting at Southwestern Community College between 1992 and 1995.
In 2012, Reynolds started taking classes at Upper Iowa University. She was in the bachelor of public administration program.
In December 2016, just before she became governor, Iowa State University gave her a Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree. Her studies focused on political science, business management, and communications.
Early Political Career
Reynolds was elected as the Clarke County treasurer in 1994. She served four terms in that role.
On November 4, 2008, Reynolds was elected to the Iowa Senate. She represented the 48th district. She won against Ruth Smith and Rodney Schmidt. In 2010, Reynolds supported a ban on same-sex marriage in Iowa.
Lieutenant Governor of Iowa (2011–2017)
On June 25, 2010, Terry Branstad, who was running for governor, chose Reynolds as his running mate. The next day, she received the Republican nomination. On November 2, 2010, Branstad and Reynolds won the election. Reynolds left her Senate seat on November 12 to become lieutenant governor.
Reynolds became the lieutenant governor of Iowa on January 14, 2011. She helped lead the Governor's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Advisory Council. She also worked with the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress board. She was also Branstad's representative on the board of the Iowa State Fair.
In July 2015, Reynolds was chosen to be the chair of the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA).
Governor of Iowa (2017–present)
On May 24, 2017, Reynolds became governor of Iowa. This happened after Governor Branstad resigned to become the United States Ambassador to China. She is the first woman to be governor of Iowa.
Elections
2018 Election
In June 2017, Reynolds announced she would run for a full term as governor in 2018.
Reynolds chose Representative Steve King to help lead her campaign. This caused some discussion because King had made comments that some people called racist. The Des Moines Register newspaper said that Reynolds kept him on her campaign team. Reynolds had previously praised King for defending conservative values. After the election, Reynolds said King needed to change his approach.
Reynolds won the Republican nomination for governor. She defeated Democrat Fred Hubbell and Libertarian Jake Porter. She won with 50% of the votes to Hubbell's 48%. She won most of the state west of Des Moines. She is the first woman elected governor of Iowa.
2022 Election
Reynolds was reelected for her second full term. She won against Democratic candidate Deidre DeJear. Reynolds received 58% of the votes, while DeJear received 40%.
First Term as Governor
When Reynolds became governor, the lieutenant governor position became open. To avoid legal issues, Reynolds announced that Iowa Public Defender Adam Gregg would serve as acting lieutenant governor. He would not officially hold the title of lieutenant governor.
In 2018, Reynolds suggested cutting $10 million from Medicaid. This program helps low-income adults, children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities. In 2020, she proposed increasing the state sales tax by one cent. She also suggested lowering the state income tax. This plan would have further reduced income taxes, building on a large tax cut from 2018. However, state lawmakers mostly opposed her sales-tax increase.
In 2018, Reynolds said that same-sex marriage was a "settled" issue. This was after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). She said she did not have to follow her party's platform against same-sex marriage.
Reynolds has supported some of Donald Trump's ideas. She blocked many requests from the Democratic state Attorney General Tom Miller. These requests were to join lawsuits against Trump administration policies. She blocked challenges related to immigration, environmental rules, and other topics. In 2018, she admitted that Trump's trade policies were hurting American farmers. But she claimed farmers would benefit later. Reynolds appeared with Trump during the 2020 presidential campaign. Trump won Iowa but lost the national election to Joe Biden. After Trump's loss, Reynolds did not speak out against his claims of election fraud. She did not recognize Biden's victory until January 2021. She condemned the storming of the Capitol. But she said many people believed the election was "not valid."
In May 2018, Reynolds signed a bill to update Iowa's energy efficiency rules. Also in May 2018, she signed a bill about healthcare. In January 2019, an Iowa judge said the law was unconstitutional. Reynolds decided not to appeal. She said she did not think a "losing legal battle" would help the cause. She has often asked for a change to the state constitution. This change would say that the constitution does not protect certain healthcare rights. In 2021, Reynolds signed a law that required women to wait 24 hours before getting certain healthcare. An Iowa court struck down this law.
Reynolds began her first full term on January 18, 2019. In March 2019, she signed a bill requiring public universities to protect all speech on campus. Through her choices for judges, Reynolds changed the Iowa Supreme Court.
In December 2019, Reynolds started a social media campaign against vaping. This was to reduce vaping among young people in Iowa. In July 2020, she signed a law that raised the legal age to buy tobacco products to 21.
From 2017 to April 2020, Reynolds gave back the voting rights to 543 people who had committed serious crimes. This was more than her predecessor had done. In August 2020, she signed an executive order. This order allowed people who had committed serious crimes to vote in Iowa after finishing their sentence. Iowa used to have a lifetime ban on voting for these individuals. Reynolds explained her order by talking about her own experiences. She said she had overcome personal challenges. She used this experience to show the importance of second chances.
Reynolds has a close connection with the Iowa pork industry. She is especially close with Iowa Select Farms. This is one of the country's largest pork producers. In 2019, she donated her time for a charity auction to help the company's owners' foundation. The owners had given almost $300,000 to Reynolds's campaigns. A Republican donor who is important in the pork industry won the auction. The director of the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board said he did not think the auction broke state law. But lawyers for two former Democratic governors said it looked improper. In May and July 2020, Reynolds's office arranged for COVID-19 testing at Iowa Select's headquarters. This happened when many vulnerable people could not get tested quickly. Another pork company that gave $25,000 to Reynolds's campaign received a large amount of state pandemic aid. After this came out, State Auditor Rob Sand started an investigation. In 2023, Reynolds signed a law to reduce the state auditor's powers.
In March 2021, Reynolds signed a bill that changed voting rules. It shortened polling place hours on Election Day. It also reduced the early voting period. This was part of a wider effort by Republicans to change voting access.
On April 2, 2021, Reynolds signed a bill allowing people to buy and carry handguns without a permit. This is called constitutional carry. Later that month, she signed a law allowing landlords to refuse tenants who pay rent with Section 8 vouchers.
COVID-19 Pandemic Response
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Reynolds did not support face mask mandates. She declared a disaster emergency on March 9, 2020. That month, she ordered some businesses and schools to close. She also stopped "non-essential" surgeries. But she did not order people to stay at home. In April 2020, Iowa health officials told Reynolds to enforce mask-wearing. They also advised her not to ease restrictions. Reynolds believed it was better to reopen the economy. She encouraged people to be responsible and wear masks. Reynolds did not require masks in public until after the November 2020 election. Then, she ordered masks to be worn at large gatherings. In June, businesses like bars and restaurants could fully reopen. This led to more coronavirus infections. Reynolds said the effectiveness of masks was not clear. However, doctors and scientists widely agreed that masks reduced the virus's spread. The World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended them. In July 2020, Reynolds said local mask mandates were "not appropriate." She tried to block them. Iowa City's mayor disagreed. He issued an order requiring masks in indoor public places.
In April 2020, Reynolds signed a $26 million contract with a company called Nomi Health. This was to create a COVID-19 testing program called TestIowa. She was later sued for not releasing public records about the program. The program had problems.
In July 2020, Reynolds said she would change some school districts' plans. These plans limited in-person classes to one day a week. She wanted students to spend at least half their time in classrooms. The state teachers' union criticized her. Iowa public school teachers protested. Despite this, in January 2021, Reynolds signed a bill. This bill required school districts to offer full-time in-person classes if parents asked.
In 2020, Reynolds had the lowest approval rating among governors for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her approval was 28% in July and 26% in September. COVID-19 cases in Iowa were highest in November 2020. In January 2021, Iowa had one of the highest infection rates. It also had one of the lowest vaccination rates per person.
In September 2020, Reynolds's office changed the CDC's quarantine rules. They removed the recommendation for people exposed to the virus to quarantine for 14 days. In October 2020, she attended events where people did not wear masks or keep distance.
In November 2020, Reynolds issued a statewide mask mandate. This ordered anyone over age 2 to wear a mask in indoor public places. This was a change from her earlier statements. When she issued the order, Reynolds said, "No one wants to do this. I don't want to do this." She added that if Iowans did not follow the rules, businesses would close and the healthcare system would struggle.
In February 2021, Reynolds removed mask requirements in indoor public places. She also removed restrictions on indoor dining. She did this without asking experts at the Iowa Department of Public Health. The CDC had told states not to loosen their COVID-19 health measures.
In March 2021, Reynolds spoke against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. She said it would give more money to states that had strict shutdowns. In September 2021, she highlighted $100 million in funding for Iowa's water systems. This funding came from that bill.
In May 2021, Reynolds signed a bill. This bill stopped businesses and local governments from requiring customers to show proof of vaccination. She also signed a bill that stopped school districts from requiring masks.
Second Term as Governor
On March 1, 2022, Reynolds was chosen to give the Republican response to President Biden's State of the Union address. On March 3, 2022, she signed a bill that affected sports teams. In January 2023, Reynolds signed the Students First Act. This law made private school vouchers available in Iowa for the first time. On March 22, 2023, she signed a law about healthcare for minors. She also signed a law about school restrooms.
In November 2023, Reynolds supported Ron DeSantis for the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries. She said she did not think Trump could win the general election. She later said she would support the Republican nominee. She endorsed Trump in March 2024. Around this time, a survey showed Reynolds had the lowest approval rating of any U.S. governor.
In 2024, Reynolds signed a bill. This law allowed state police to arrest people who had been deported from the United States before. The bill also allowed state courts to order deportations. On February 1, 2024, she introduced a bill that defined "man" and "woman" based on biology. It also required official ID documents to list sex at birth.
On February 28, 2025, Reynolds signed Senate File 418. This law changed protections in the Iowa Civil Rights Act. This made Iowa the first U.S. state to remove certain protections from a civil rights law.
On April 11, 2025, Reynolds announced she will not run for reelection in 2026.
Personal Life
Kim Reynolds married Kevin Reynolds in 1982. They have three children. Kevin Reynolds was diagnosed with lung cancer in September 2023.
Reynolds attends the Lutheran Church of Hope.
Reynolds has spoken about overcoming personal challenges in her life. She says these experiences helped her understand the importance of second chances.
Images for kids
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Kim Reynolds's signature
