Statewide Iowa — (RI) — Pat Grassley, the 36-year-old grandson of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, is the new GOP leader in the Iowa House of Representatives.
The 53 Republicans who serve in the House met Monday morning to elect a new speaker.
Grassley’s new title is House Speaker-select until he’s elected speaker by the full House when the legislature convenes in January. Grassley’s grandfather served 16 years in the Iowa House before winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974.
Grassley told reporters he asked his grandfather not to lobby his colleagues to elect him speaker. The Speaker-select says his grandfather’s 99-county tour is an example of how politicians should make themselves available to voters.
The speaker-select says it’s too early to say what the House GOP’s top agenda items will be in 2020.
The House GOP has elected a new Majority Leader as well. Thirty-five-year-old Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley will manage debate on the House floor and he, too, indicates the 2020 agenda is still under development.
Representative John Wills of Spirit Lake has been elected by his Republican peers to be the third-ranking leader in the House, with the title of Speaker Pro Tem.
The leadership change was sparked by Linda Upmeyer’s decision not to seek reelection to the House in 2020. She stepped aside to let someone else manage the House for a year and be in charge of House races in 2020. Speaker-select Grassley told reporters he will not celebrate his new role in the way his grandfather would, as he’s “not nearly as big a Dairy Queen fan” as Senator Grassley is.
Photo Caption: New House GOP leaders, John Wills, Matt Windschitl and Pat Grassley.
