What Kim Reynolds Forgot to Say: Economy, Education, Health Care Failing After a Decade of One-Party Rule
DES MOINES – Governor Kim Reynolds’ Condition of the State address was a great reminder from the most unpopular governor in the country of just how badly a decade of one-party rule has failed Iowans. When it comes to the economy, education, and health care, Iowans are measurably worse off thanks to Reynolds’ record of putting insiders, special interests, and her own partisan agenda first.
A day before Reynolds’ speech, an updated report from the nonpartisan Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found Iowa dead-last in the country for economic growth. To make matters worse, Reynolds is taking a page out of her old friend (and fellow least popular governor in the country!) former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback’s failed economic playbook, blowing a massive $1.3 billion deficit in Iowa’s budget for 2026.
Education was another of Reynolds’ main talking points, but she conveniently forgot to mention how Iowa has fallen from 5th in the country to 20th, setting parents, teachers, and children up for failure. And school vouchers — Reynolds’ crowning “achievement” — have funneled $315 million in tax dollars to unaccountable private schools, leaving rural school districts to foot the bill for wealthy families and forcing cuts to local programs.
Reynolds also found time to praise D.C. Republicans’ deeply unpopular budget law that jacks up costs, threatens health care for 106,700 Iowans, and puts at least 20 rural hospitals on the brink of closure — which Randy Feenstra bragged about being a “key author” of. Iowans are seeing disastrous health care outcomes under Reynolds, like the highest cancer rate in the nation, ranking 44th for physicians, and falling to worst in the country for OB-GYNs, while women and families are suffering thanks to her extreme abortion ban that restricts women’s access to care before they even know they’re pregnant.
From Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Terra Hernandez:
“After a decade of one-party rule, Iowa is last in economic growth, test scores are falling, and working families are losing access to health care. We can’t afford more of the same corrupt and dysfunctional status quo, but Randy Feenstra, Adam Steen, Zach Lahn, Brad Sherman, and Eddie Andrews are all running to continue Kim Reynolds’ failures.”
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