Iowa Senate

41.591°N 93.604°W / 41.591; -93.604

Iowa Senate
Iowa General Assembly
Type
Type	Upper house
Term limits	None
History
New session started	January 13, 2023
Leadership
President	Amy Sinclair (R) since January 4, 2023
President pro tempore	Ken Rozenboom (R) since January 8, 2025
Majority Leader	Mike Klimesh (R)[1] since September 24, 2025[1]
Minority Leader	Janice Weiner (D) since January 8, 2025
Structure
Seats	50
Seat display Map display
Political groups	Majority   Republican (33) Minority   Democratic (17)
Length of term	4 years
Authority	Legislative Department, Section 3, Iowa Constitution
Salary	$25,000/year + per diem
Elections
Last election	November 5, 2024 (25 seats)
Next election	November 3, 2026 (25 seats)
Redistricting	Legislative Service Agency with legislative approval
Meeting place
State Senate Chamber Iowa State Capitol Des Moines, Iowa
Website
Iowa General Assembly
Rules
90th General Assembly Senate Rules

The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the state of Iowa with populations of approximately 63,807 per constituency, as of the 2020 United States census^[update].^[2] Each Senate district is composed of two House districts. The Senate meets at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines.

Unlike the lower house, the Iowa House of Representatives, senators serve four-year terms, with no term limits. Terms are staggered so that half the Senate is up for reelection every two years.

Leadership

The President of the Senate presides over the body, whose powers include referring bills to committees, recognizing members during debate, and making procedural rulings. Unlike the more powerful Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives, the Senate President cannot appoint committee chairmanships or shuffle committee memberships.^[3] The lieutenant governor of Iowa was the presiding officer of the Senate until 1988, when an amendment to the Constitution of Iowa was passed in a referendum (effective from 1991).^[4] The other partisan Senate leadership positions, such as the Majority and Minority leaders, are elected by their respective party caucuses to head their parties in the chamber.

The President of the Senate is Republican Amy Sinclair of the 12th District. The Majority Leader is Republican Jack Whitver of the 23rd District. The Minority Leader is Democrat Janice Weiner of the 36th District.^[5]

Committee leadership

Committee	Chair	Vice chair	Ranking member
Agriculture	Dan Zumbach	Annette Sweeney	Kevin Kinney
Appropriations	Tim Kraayenbrink	Mark Lofgren	Joe Bolkcom
Commerce	Jason Schultz	Carrie Koelker	Jim Lykam
Education	Amy Sinclair	Jeff Taylor	Herman Quirmbach
Ethics	Carrie Koelker	Jim Carlin	Pam Jochum
Government Oversight	Jason Schultz	Craig Williams
Human Resources	Jeff Edler	Mark Costello	Liz Mathis
Judiciary	Brad Zaun	Julian Garrett	Kevin Kinney
Labor and Business Relations	Zach Whiting	Jesse Green	Nate Boulton
Local Government	Tom Shipley	Mike Klimesh	Jackie Smith
Natural Resources and Environment	Annette Sweeney	Dawn Driscoll	Sarah Trone Garriott
Rules and Administration	Jack Whitver	Jake Chapman	Zach Wahls
State Government	Roby Smith	Chris Cournoyer	Tony Bisignano
Transportation	Waylon Brown	Adrian Dickey	Eric Giddens
Veterans Affairs	Jim Carlin	Jeff Reichman	Eric Giddens
Ways and Means	Dan Dawson	Tim Goodwin	Pam Jochum

*All chairs and vice chairs are Republicans. All ranking members are Democrats.^[6]

Current composition

Affiliation	Party (shading indicates majority caucus)			Total
	Democratic	Republican	Ind		Vacant
End 2012	26	23	0	49	1
2013–2014	26	24	0	50	0
Begin 2015	26	24	0	50	0
End 2016 session[7]		23	1
2017–2018	20	29	1	50	0
2019–2022	18	32	0	50	0
2023–2024	16	34	0	50	0
Begin 2025[8]	15	34	0	49	1
January 28, 2025[9]	16			50	0
June 25, 2025[10]		33		49	1
August 26, 2025[11]	17			50	0
October 6, 2025[12]	16			49	1
Latest voting share	32.7%	67.3%

Senators

Iowa senators as of October 6, 2025^[update]

District	County(ies) represented	Portrait	Senator	Party	First elected	Standing committee leader	Appropriations subcommittee member
1	Woodbury		Catelin Drey	Democratic	2025[a]	TBA	TBA
2	Plymouth and Sioux		Jeff Taylor	Republican	2020	Education (Vice Chair)	Education (Chair)
3	Osceola, O'Brien, Clay, Cherokee, and Buena Vista		Lynn Evans	Republican	2022		Education
4	Calhoun, Pocahontas, Sac, and Webster		Tim Kraayenbrink	Republican	2014	Appropriations (Chair), Technology (Vice Chair)
5	Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Kossuth, Palo Alto and Winnebago		Dave Rowley	Republican	2020		Administration and Regulation Appropriations (Chair)
6	Audubon, Carroll, Crawford, Ida, and Shelby		Jason Schultz	Republican	2014	State Government (Chair)
7	Cherokee, Monona, Plymouth, and Woodbury		Kevin Alons	Republican	2022		Health and Human Services
8	Fremont, Harrison, Mills, and Pottawattamie,		Mark Costello	Republican	2014[b]	Ethics (Vice Chair)	Health and Human Services (Chair)
9	Adams, Cass, Montgomery, Page, Ringgold, Taylor, and Union		Tom Shipley	Republican	2014	Ethics (Chair), Natural Resources and Environment (Vice Chair)	Agriculture and Natural Resources
10	Pottawattamie		Dan Dawson	Republican	2016	Ways and Means (Chair)
11	Marion and Warren		Julian Garrett	Republican	2013[c]	Judiciary (Vice Chair)	Justice System (Chair)
12	Adair, Appanoose, Clarke, Dallas, Decatur, Lucas, Madison, Union and Wayne		Amy Sinclair	Republican	2012	Government Oversight (Chair), Rules and Administration (Vice Chair)
13	Appanoose, Davis, Monroe, and Wapello		Cherielynn Westrich	Republican	2022		Justice System (Vice Chair)
14	Dallas		Sarah Trone Garriott	Democratic	2020	Health and Human Services (Ranking Member)	Health and Human Services
15	Polk		Tony Bisignano	Democratic	2014	State Government (Ranking Member), Agriculture (Ranking Member)
16	Dallas and Polk		Vacant[12]
17	Polk		Izaah Knox	Democratic	2022	Natural Resources and Environment (Ranking Member)	Education
18	Polk		Janet Petersen	Democratic	2012	Appropriations (Ranking Member)	Transportation, Infrastructure, and Capitals (Ranking Member)
19	Jasper, Mahaska, and Marion		Ken Rozenboom	Republican	2012	Agriculture (Vice Chair), Education (Chair)
20	Polk		Mike Pike	Republican	2024
21	Polk		Mike Bousselot	Republican	2022	Commerce (Vice Chair)	Transportation, Infrastructure, and Capitals (Vice Chair)
22	Polk		Matt Blake	Democratic	2024
23	Dallas and Polk		Jack Whitver	Republican	2011[d]	Rules and Administration (Chair)
24	Boone, Dallas, Greene, Guthrie, and Story		Jesse Green	Republican	2020	Local Government (Chair)
25	Story		Herman Quirmbach	Democratic	2002	Education (Ranking Member)	Economic Development
26	Marshall and Story		Kara Warme	Republican	2024
27	Black Hawk, Grundy, Hardin, Poweshiek, and Tama		Annette Sweeney	Republican	2018	Natural Resources and Environment (Chair)	Agriculture and Natural Resources (Vice Chair)
28	Franklin, Hancock, Hamilton, Humbolt, and Wright		Dennis Guth	Republican	2012	N/A	Administration and Regulation (Vice Chair)
29	Bremer, Butler, Chickasaw, and Floyd		Sandy Salmon	Republican	2022	Veterans Affairs (Vice Chair)	Justice System
30	Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Mitchell, and Worth		Doug Campbell	Republican	2024
31	Black Hawk		William Dotzler	Democratic	2002	Veterans Affairs (Ranking Member)	Economic Development (Ranking Member)
32	Allamakee, Clayton, Fayette, Howard, and Winneshiek		Mike Klimesh	Republican	2020	Government Oversight (Vice Chair); Transportation (Chair)	Health and Human Services
33	Dubuque, Jones and Jackson		Carrie Koelker	Republican	2018	Was and Means (Vice Chair)	Transportation, Infrastructure, and Capitals (Chair)
34	Black Hawk, Buchanan, Delaware, Dubuque, and Fayette		Dan Zumbach	Republican	2012	Appropriations(Vice Chair)	Agriculture and Natural Resources (Chair)
35	Clinton, Jackson, and Scott		Mike Zimmer	Democratic	2025[e]
36	Dubuque		Thomas Townsend	Democratic	2024
37	Linn		Molly Donahue	Democratic	2022	Workforce (Ranking Member)	Health and Human Services (Ranking Member)
38	Benton, Black Hawk, and Tama		Dave Sires	Republican	2024
39	Linn		Liz Bennett	Democratic	2022	Technology (Ranking Member)	Transportation, Infrastructure, and Capitals
40	Linn		Art Staed	Democratic	2024
41	Cedar, Muscatine, and Scott		Kerry Gruenhagen	Republican	2022		Economic Development
42	Benton and Linn		Charlie McClintock	Republican	2022	Workforce (Vice Chair)	Justice System
43	Johnson		Zach Wahls	Democratic	2018	Rules and Administration (Ranking Member)
44	Henry, Jefferson, Keokuk, Mahaska, and Van Buren		Adrian Dickey	Republican	2021[f]	Workforce (Chair); Transportation (Vice Chair)	Economic Development
45	Johnson		Janice Weiner	Democratic	2022	Local Government (Ranking Member)	Agriculture and Natural Resources
46	Iowa, Johnson and Washington		Dawn Driscoll	Republican	2020	Agriculture (Chair)
47	Scott		Scott Webster	Republican	2022		Administration and Regulation
48	Des Moines, Henry, Louisa, and Muscatine		Mark Lofgren	Republican	2016	Local Government (Vice Chair)	Economic Development (Chair)
49	Scott		Cindy Winckler	Democratic	2022	Ethics (Ranking Member)	Education (Ranking Member)
50	Des Moines and Lee		Jeff Reichman	Republican	2020	Veterans Affairs (Chair)

Notes

1. First elected in an August 26, 2025 special election
2. First elected in a December 30, 2014 special election.
3. First elected in a November 19, 2013 special election.
4. First elected in a January 18, 2011 special election.
5. First elected in a January 28, 2025 special election.
6. First elected in a January 26, 2021 special election.

Past notable members

Federal offices

10 members became US Senators including: Samuel J. Kirkwood, George G. Wright, James F. Wilson, Albert B. Cummins (also served as President Pro Tempore of the Senate), Lafayette Young, George A. Wilson, Guy Gillette, Jack Miller, Roger Jepsen and Joni Ernst.

5 members became members of the US House of Representatives including: James F. Wilson, Madison Miner Walden, Steve King, Randy Feenstra and Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

3 members became Federal Cabinet Members including: Samuel J. Kirkwood as Secretary of Interior, George W. McCrary, Secretary of War and Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture.

State offices

13 members became Governor including: Samuel J. Kirkwood, William Larrabee, Beryl F. Carroll, Albert B. Cummins, Warren Garst, John Hammill (served as Acting Governor in 1922, then Governor in 1925), Daniel Webster Turner, George A. Wilson, William S. Beardsley, Leo Elthon, Robert D. Fulton, Tom Vilsack and Kim Reynolds.

28 members became Lieutenant Governor including: Nicholas J. Rusch, John R. Needham, Enoch W. Eastman, Benjamin F. Gue, John Scott, Madison Miner Walden, Henry C. Bulis, Joseph Dysart, Frank T. Campbell, Alfred N. Poyneer, Samuel L. Bestow, Warren S. Dungan, Mathies Parrott, Warren Garst, John Hammill, Clem F. Kimball, Arch W. McFarlane, John K. Valentine, Kenneth A. Evans, Leo Elthon, Edward J. McManus, Robert D. Fulton, Roger Jepsen, Arthur Neu, Joy Corning, Patty Judge, Kim Reynolds and Chris Cournoyer.

1 member was twice the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court and Associate Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court: George G. Wright

2 members held state level elected positions including: Beryl F. Carroll as Iowa State Auditor from 1903 to 1909 and Patty Judge as Iowa Secretary of Agriculture from 1999 to 2007.

Senate chamber seating chart detail from the 1882 Iowa Redbook

Past composition of the Senate

Main article: Political party strength in Iowa

See also

• List of current members of the Iowa Senate
• Iowa House of Representatives