Iowa Senate

Iowa Senate
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	Jack Whitver (R) ; since March 14, 2018
Minority Leader	Janice Weiner (D) ; since January 8, 2025
Structure
Seats	50
Political groups	Majority Republican (33); Minority Democratic (16); Vacant Vacant (1);
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

41°35′28″N 93°36′14″W / 41.591°N 93.604°W / 41.591; -93.604

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 60,927 per constituency, as of the 2010 United States census^[update].^[1] 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.

Vacancy

Date	District	Previous senator			Reason	Elected senator
TBD	1	Rocky De Witt		Republican	Died on June 25, 2025^[2]	TBD

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 Pam Jochum 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	Claire Celsi
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]	26	23	1	50	0

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	34		50	0
June 25, 2025^[10]	16	33		49	1
Latest voting share	32.7%	67.3%

Senators

Iowa senators as of June 25, 2025^[update]
District	Jurisdiction(s) represented	Senator	Party	First elected	Standing committee leader	Appropriations subcommittee member
1	Woodbury	Vacant^[a]
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	Claire Celsi	Democratic	2018	Government Oversight (Ranking Member)	Administration and Regulation (Ranking Member)
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

^ Republican Rocky De Witt died on June 25, 2025.
^ First elected in a December 30, 2014 special election.
^ First elected in a November 19, 2013 special election.
^ First elected in a January 18, 2011 special election.
^ First elected in a January 28, 2025 special election.
^ First elected in a January 26, 2021 special election.

Past notable members

Samuel J. Kirkwood, two-time governor of Iowa (1860–1864, 1876–1877); two-time U.S. senator (1866–1867, 1877–1881); U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1881–1882)
George G. Wright, U.S. senator 1871–1877
Tom Vilsack, incumbent United States Secretary of Agriculture 2009–2017 and 2021–2025, former governor of Iowa 1999–2007, and briefly Democratic candidate for president of the United States in 2008
George A. Wilson, governor of Iowa 1939–1943
Patty Judge, former lieutenant governor of Iowa (2007–2011), former Iowa Secretary of Agriculture (1999–2007)
Steve King, former U.S. representative for Iowa's 4th congressional district (2003–2021)
Joni Ernst, incumbent U.S. senator since 2015
Kim Reynolds, incumbent governor of Iowa since 2017, former lieutenant governor of Iowa (2011–2017)
Randy Feenstra, incumbent U.S. representative for Iowa's 4th congressional district since 2021
Mariannette Miller-Meeks, U.S. representative for Iowa's 2nd congressional district since 2021 and Republican nominee for Iowa's 2nd congressional district in 2008, 2010, and 2014

Past composition of the Senate

References

^ Iowa Legislative Services Agency (2011-03-31). "First Redistricting Plan" (PDF). p. 3. Retrieved 2012-11-17.
^ State Sen. Rocky De Witt dies at 66 — The Gazette
^ "The Three Branches of Government". Iowa General Assembly. Archived from the original on 2005-11-10. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
^ "The Drafting of Iowa's Constitution". Steven Cross, Iowa General Assembly. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
^ "Iowa Legislature - Leadership".
^ Agency, Iowa Legislative Services. "Committees". www.legis.iowa.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
^ David Johnson (District 1) switched parties from Republican to "No Party" on June 7, 2016. [1]
^ Republican Chris Cournoyer (District 49) resigned to become lieutenant governor of Iowa.[2]
^ Democrat Mike Zimmer elected to succeed Cournoyer.[3]
^ Republican Rocky De Witt (District 1) died.[4]

External links

Iowa Legislature official government website
Iowa Senate at Ballotpedia
Iowa Senate Democrats
Iowa Senate Republicans
Current Iowa Senators

[11] Republican Rocky De Witt died on June 25, 2025.

[12] First elected in a December 30, 2014 special election.

[13] First elected in a November 19, 2013 special election.

[14] First elected in a January 18, 2011 special election.

[15] First elected in a January 28, 2025 special election.

[16] First elected in a January 26, 2021 special election.

[1] Iowa Legislative Services Agency (2011-03-31). "First Redistricting Plan" (PDF). p. 3. Retrieved 2012-11-17.

[2] State Sen. Rocky De Witt dies at 66 — The Gazette

[3] "The Three Branches of Government". Iowa General Assembly. Archived from the original on 2005-11-10. Retrieved 2008-03-10.

[4] "The Drafting of Iowa's Constitution". Steven Cross, Iowa General Assembly. Retrieved 2008-03-10.

[5] "Iowa Legislature - Leadership".

[6] Agency, Iowa Legislative Services. "Committees". www.legis.iowa.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-12.

[johnsonnoparty-7] David Johnson (District 1) switched parties from Republican to "No Party" on June 7, 2016. [1]

[8] Republican Chris Cournoyer (District 49) resigned to become lieutenant governor of Iowa.[2]

[9] Democrat Mike Zimmer elected to succeed Cournoyer.[3]

[10] Republican Rocky De Witt (District 1) died.[4]

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v t e Members of the Iowa Senate
90th General Assembly (2025–2027) President of the Senate Amy Sinclair (R) President pro tempore Ken Rozenboom (R) Majority Leader Jack Whitver (R) Minority Leader Janice Weiner (D)
▌Vacant ▌Jeff Taylor (R) ▌Lynn Evans (R) ▌Tim Kraayenbrink (R) ▌Dave Rowley (R) ▌Jason Schultz (R) ▌Kevin Alons (R) ▌Mark Costello (R) ▌Tom Shipley (R) ▌Dan Dawson (R) ▌Julian Garrett (R) ▌Amy Sinclair (R) ▌Cherielynn Westrich (R) ▌Sarah Trone Garriott (D) ▌Tony Bisignano (D) ▌Claire Celsi (D) ▌Izaah Knox (D) ▌Janet Petersen (D) ▌Ken Rozenboom (R) ▌Mike Pike (R) ▌Mike Bousselot (R) ▌Matt Blake (D) ▌Jack Whitver (R) ▌Jesse Green (R) ▌Herman Quirmbach (D) ▌Kara Warme (R) ▌Annette Sweeney (R) ▌Dennis Guth (R) ▌Sandy Salmon (R) ▌Doug Campbell (R) ▌William Dotzler (D) ▌Mike Klimesh (R) ▌Carrie Koelker (R) ▌Dan Zumbach (R) ▌Mike Zimmer (D) ▌Thomas Townsend (D) ▌Molly Donahue (D) ▌Dave Sires (R) ▌Liz Bennett (D) ▌Art Staed (D) ▌Kerry Gruenhagen (R) ▌Charlie McClintock (R) ▌Zach Wahls (D) ▌Adrian Dickey (R) ▌Janice Weiner (D) ▌Dawn Driscoll (R) ▌Scott Webster (R) ▌Mark Lofgren (R) ▌Cindy Winckler (D) ▌Jeff Reichman (R)
▌Republican (33) ▌Democratic (16) ▌Vacant (1) Iowa General Assembly Iowa House of Representatives Iowa Senate

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v t e Statewide political officials of Iowa
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