Iowans Call Out Kim Reynolds’ Failed Record, GOP Gov Field in Cedar Rapids

The Gazette: “[Reynolds’] tour underscores the stakes for Iowa voters as the next governor’s race begins to take shape.”

DES MOINES – Outside of the first stop of Kim Reynolds’ “legacy tour” in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, over 40 Iowans gathered to call out Reynolds’ record of failure and how the Republicans running to replace her would only keep Iowa on her failed path.

Reynolds and a decade of one-party rule have crushed Iowa’s economy, failed our schools, and made it harder to get health care, but Randy Feenstra, Adam Steen, Zach Lahn, Brad Sherman, and Eddie Andrews are all running to continue the failed status quo that puts powerful insiders first and working families last.

What Iowans are watching, reading, and hearing about Reynolds’ failed record and the GOP gov field:

KGAN: Iowans call out Reynolds’ failed record, GOP gov field outside legacy tour

• Meanwhile, outside, a group of protesters, including some Democratic lawmakers, pushing back on the notion of a legacy to celebrate. They say Reynolds’ tenure is built on policies they think hurt poor and working class Iowans and minorities.

• Linn County Supervisor Sami Scheetz: Unfortunately, it’s going to be a legacy of financial mismanagement, taking away fundamental liberties and rights of Iowans, and just truly putting the state on a bad path, in a negative direction. And I think that’s why you’re seeing so many people out here in this freezing cold tonight, because they do not believe that she’s had a good legacy and a good impact in her almost 17 years in leadership in this state.

The Gazette: Protesters rally near Reynolds’ ‘Legacy Tour’ stop in Cedar Rapids, accusing her of weakening public schools, civil rights protections

• Local Democrats pushed back on the governor’s record, arguing that many Iowa families are still struggling under policies enacted during her tenure. About 40 protesters lined the corner of 76th Avenue Drive and Kirkwood Boulevard SW near the hotel.

• Local critics say the tour underscores the stakes for Iowa voters as the next governor’s race begins to take shape.

• Based on Morning Consult polling, Reynolds was ranked as one of the most unpopular governors in the country for several consecutive quarters during 2024 to 2026.

Daily Iowan:

• Outside the building were dozens of protesters bundled up from the onslaught of evening wind, gathering honks from passing cars and holding signs denouncing Reynolds.

• One of the protesters, Patricia Bowen, said she disapproved of the legacy event because she believes Reynolds has not done enough to provide the state with clean drinking water or adequate funding for public schools.

• Bowen said Iowa is far away from the state it was when she was growing up, and emerging trends such as Iowa becoming the second most cancer prone state in the nation, according to a 2025 report from the Iowa Cancer Registry, have caused young adults like her own daughter to leave the state.

Des Moines Register:

• Democrats also took the opportunity to try to drive home their own message about Reynolds’ leadership. About 40 people joined the Iowa Democratic Party to protest outside the event center.

Radio Iowa:

• Last night, about three dozen protesters gathered in Cedar Rapids to criticize the governor’s record on issues like water quality and for diverting state tax dollars into accounts that cover tuition costs for nearly all the students in Iowa’s private K-12 schools [regardless of parental income levels].

WVIK (Quad Cities NPR): 

• Reynolds and her guests were welcomed to the event by dozens of protestors outside the hotel.

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