52 Facts About Kim Reynolds

Kimberly Kay Reynolds is an American politician serving as the 43rd governor of Iowa since 2017.

Kim Reynolds became governor in May 2017 when Governor Terry Branstad stepped down to become the United States ambassador to China.

Kim Reynolds won a full term as governor in 2018, and was reelected in 2022.

Kim Reynolds graduated from high school at the Interstate 35 Community School District in 1977.

Kim Reynolds attended Northwest Missouri State University, taking classes in business, consumer sciences and clothing sales and design.

Kim Reynolds later took classes at Southeastern Community College in the late 1980s, and then accounting classes at Southwestern Community College between 1992 and 1995.

Kim Reynolds did not earn degrees from any of these institutions.

In 2010, Kim Reynolds endorsed a ban on same-sex marriage in Iowa.

On June 25,2010, Republican gubernatorial nominee Terry Branstad publicly selected Kim Reynolds to be his running mate as the lieutenant governor candidate.

Kim Reynolds was sworn in as lieutenant governor of Iowa on January 14,2011.

Kim Reynolds co-chaired the Governor's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Advisory Council, Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress board, and the Military Children Education Coalition.

Kim Reynolds was Branstad's representative on the board of the Iowa State Fair.

Kim Reynolds was elected chair of the National Lieutenant Governors Association in July 2015.

On May 24,2017, Kim Reynolds became governor of Iowa upon the resignation of Branstad, who stepped down to become United States Ambassador to China.

In 2018, Kim Reynolds proposed cutting $10 million from Medicaid, which cares for eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities.

Kim Reynolds's proposed restructuring of the state tax code would represent a further reduction in income taxes, going beyond 2018 legislation that was the largest income tax cut in Iowa history.

Kim Reynolds's proposed sales-tax increase was largely opposed by state legislators.

In 2018, after the US Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v Hodges, Reynolds called same-sex marriage a "settled" issue and said that she did not consider herself obligated to follow the Iowa Republican Party platform provision against same-sex marriage.

Kim Reynolds blocked two-thirds of requests from Democratic state Attorney General Tom Miller to join multi-state lawsuits challenging Trump administration policies or to submit amicus briefs in such suits; among the vetoed requests were proposals to challenge Trump policies related to immigration, asylum, abortion, birth control, environmental deregulation, gun policy, and LGBT rights.

Kim Reynolds blocked Miller from including Iowa in a legal challenge to the Trump administration's repeal of the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era regulation that restricted emissions of greenhouses gases to counteract climate change.

Kim Reynolds made campaign appearances with Trump during the 2020 presidential campaign; in the November election, Trump carried Iowa, but lost nationally to Joe Biden, who won both the electoral vote and the national popular vote.

Kim Reynolds condemned the storming of the Capitol, which disrupted the counting of the electoral votes, but said many people believed the election was "not valid".

In May 2018, Kim Reynolds signed a bill to revamp Iowa's energy efficiency policies.

Kim Reynolds chose not to appeal, saying she did not believe that "a losing legal battle" would advance the anti-abortion cause.

Kim Reynolds has repeatedly called for an amendment to the state constitution to the effect that it does not protect abortion rights; such an amendment would overturn a 2019 Iowa Supreme Court decision concluding that the state constitution does protect the right to an abortion.

In 2021, Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that forced women getting abortion to wait for 24 hours; an Iowa court struck the law down.

Kim Reynolds began her first full term on January 18,2019.

In December 2019, Kim Reynolds launched an anti-vaping social media campaign in an effort to reduce vaping among Iowa youth.

From 2017 to April 2020, Kim Reynolds restored the voting rights of 543 felons, more than the roughly 200 restorations that her predecessor gave over almost seven years in office.

Kim Reynolds has a close relationship with the Iowa pork industry, and in particular with Iowa Select, one of the country's largest pork producers.

Kim Reynolds donated an afternoon of her time as part of a 2019 charity auction to benefit the company's owners' foundation; the owners had contributed almost $300,000 to Reynolds's campaigns.

In May and July 2020, Kim Reynolds's administration arranged for COVID-19 testing to be done at Iowa Select's West Des Moines headquarters and at the Waverly facility partly owned by another campaign donor, at a time when those most vulnerable to the disease were unable to timely get tested.

In March 2021, Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that shortened the hours of polling places on Election Day, reduced the early voting period, and required that absentee ballots be received by ballot places before the end of Election Day.

On March 1,2022, as a prominent national female leader, Kim Reynolds was selected to deliver the Republican response to President Biden's State of the Union address.

On March 3,2022, Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that bans transgender girls and women from participating on designated female sports teams.

Kim Reynolds signed a Proclamation of Disaster Emergency on March 9,2020.

Kim Reynolds did not implement a requirement to wear masks in public places until after the November 2020 election, when she ordered the mandatory wearing of masks at large gatherings.

Kim Reynolds said that the effectiveness of face masks in halting the virus's spread was not settled, although doctors and scientists nearly unanimously held that wearing masks in public substantially reduced viral transmission, and their use is recommended by the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Iowa's own Department of Health.

Kim Reynolds was eventually sued for refusing to release public records related to the $26 million no-bid contract.

In July 2020, Kim Reynolds said she would invalidate some school districts' plans to limit in-person classes to one day a week for most students, with online learning on other days, overriding local school districts and requiring students to spend at least half of their schooling in classrooms.

In November 2020, Kim Reynolds issued a statewide mask mandate, ordering anyone over age 2 to wear a mask in indoor public spaces, a reversal of her previous claim that face masks are ineffective.

In February 2021, Kim Reynolds rolled back mask requirements in indoor public places and restrictions on indoor dining.

Kim Reynolds did so without consulting with experts at the Iowa Department of Public Health.

In May 2021, Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that prohibited businesses and local governments from requiring customers to have proof of vaccination.

Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that prohibited school districts from requiring masks.

Kim Reynolds was twice charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, in 1999 and in August 2000.

In 2017, Kim Reynolds said she had sought inpatient treatment for alcoholism after her second arrest and had been sober for nearly 17 years.

In June 2017, Kim Reynolds stated that she would seek a full term as Governor of Iowa in the 2018 election.

Kim Reynolds has kept him on as her campaign co-chairman, while muttering increasingly thin-lipped denials that she agrees with his ideological extremism.

Kim Reynolds won the Republican nomination for Governor and defeated Democrat Fred Hubbell and Libertarian Jake Porter in the general election on November 6,2018.

Kim Reynolds made history as the first woman elected Governor of Iowa.

Kim Reynolds won primarily by sweeping nearly the entire state west of Des Moines.