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 9, 2023
Leadership
President	Amy Sinclair (R) since January 4, 2023
President Pro Tempore	Brad Zaun (R) since January 11, 2021
Majority Leader	Jack Whitver (R) since March 14, 2018
Minority Leader	Pam Jochum (D) since June 7, 2023
Structure
Political groups	Majority   Republican (34) Minority   Democratic (16)
Length of term	4 years
Authority	Legislative Department, Section 3, Iowa Constitution
Salary	$25,000/year + per diem
Elections
Last election	November 8, 2022 (25 seats)
Next election	November 5, 2024 (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 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.

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.^[2] 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).^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5]

Current composition

Iowa Senate districts from 2012 to 2022

Current partisan composition

Affiliation	Party (shading indicates majority caucus)			Total
	Democratic	Republican	Independent		Vacant
End 2012	26	23	0	49	1
Begin 2013	26	24	0	50	0
End of 2014 session
Begin 2015	26	24	0	50	0
End 2016 session[6]		23	1
Begin 2017	20	29	1	50	0
End 2018				50	0
Begin 2019	18	32	0	50	0
Begin 2023	16	34	0	50	0
Latest voting share	32%	68%	0%

Past notable members

• Samuel J. Kirkwood, two-time governor of Iowa (1860–64, 1876–77); two time U.S. senator (1866–67), (1877–81); U.S. secretary of the interior (1881–82)
• George G. Wright, U.S. senator from 1871 to 1877
• Tom Vilsack, Incumbent United States secretary of agriculture since 2021 and from 2009 to 2017, former governor of Iowa from 1999 to 2007, and briefly Democratic candidate for president of the United States in 2008
• George A. Wilson, governor of Iowa from 1939 to 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

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

References

1. Iowa Legislative Services Agency (2011-03-31). "First Redistricting Plan" (PDF). p. 3. Retrieved 2012-11-17.
2. "The Three Branches of Government". Iowa General Assembly. Archived from the original on 2005-11-10. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
3. "The Drafting of Iowa's Constitution". Steven Cross, Iowa General Assembly. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
4. "Iowa Legislature - Leadership".
5. Agency, Iowa Legislative Services. "Committees". www.legis.iowa.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
6. David Johnson (District 1) switched parties from Republican to "No Party" on June 7, 2016.

External links

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