Iowa House Speaker Kraig Paulsen confirmed yesterday that he may run for the open seat in Iowa’s first Congressional district. If he does so, he can’t seek re-election to the Iowa House and probably would do well to step down as speaker before next year’s legislative session. It would be hard to campaign effectively across the 20 counties in IA-01 while trying to manage affairs in the Iowa House. Paulsen wouldn’t be a sure thing in the primary; Steve Rathje and Rod Blum are also seeking the GOP nomination, and others may enter the race.
The obvious successor to Paulsen is Linda Upmeyer, who has served as House majority leader for the past three years. If chosen, she would be the first woman speaker of the Iowa House, and I believe her family would also make history as the first parent/child pair who were both speakers. Upmeyer’s father is Del Stromer, who was a legislative leader during the 1980s. But Cityview’s Civic Skinny columnist recently reported Republican rumors that State Representative Peter Cownie may be the next speaker. Skinny added that choosing Cownie would be a “snub” to Upmeyer.
After the jump I’ve listed the 53 Iowa House Republicans, grouped by length of service in the lower chamber. Note that more than half of the House GOP caucus has served in the Iowa legislature for less than four years.
Any scenario spinning about the IA-01 campaign or the next Iowa House leader is welcome in this thread.
You can view the current Iowa House Republican leadership team and committee chairs here. I enclose below the full list of lawmakers who will elect a new speaker if Kraig Paulsen runs for Congress in 2014. Members of the leadership team are marked with an asterisk.
First elected to the Iowa House in 1992
Jack Drake
First elected in 1994
Dave Heaton
Dan Huseman
First elected in 1996
Cecil Dolecheck
Henry Rayhons
First elected in 1998
Clel Baudler
Dwayne Alons
First elected in 2002
Kraig Paulsen*
Linda Upmeyer*
Steve Olson*
Ralph Watts
Tom Sands
First elected in 2004
Chuck Soderberg
Dawn Pettengill
First elected in 2006
Matt Windschitl*
Pat Grassley
Dave Deyoe
Gary Worthan
Linda Miller
Greg Forristall
First elected in 2008
Peter Cownie
Chris Hagenow*
Kevin Koester
Jason Schultz
First elected in 2010
Walt Rogers*
Jeff Smith*
Joel Fry*
Mark Lofgren
Mark Brandenburg
Mary Ann Hanusa
Ron Jorgensen
Lee Hein
Chip Baltimore
Tom Shaw
Guy Vander Linden
Josh Byrnes
Brian Moore
Jarad Klein
Julian Garrett
First elected in 2012
Rob Taylor
Dean Fisher
Greg Heartsill
Tedd Gassman
Megan Hess
Rob Bacon
Mark Costello
John Landon
David Maxwell
Jake Highfill
Sandy Salmon
Quentin Stanerson
Larry Sheets
Bobby Kaufmann
2 Comments
The next Iowa House speaker could be a Democrat n/t
cocinero Wed 29 May 3:55 PM
I meant for the 2014 legislative session
not after next year’s midterm election.
Paulsen can’t be tied down at the statehouse if he’s serious about the IA-01 primary.
desmoinesdem Wed 29 May 4:06 PM