Sen. Chuck Grassley doesn’t plan on resigning before Sand becomes governor

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, 93, does not plan to resign before Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds leaves office, to allow her, instead of Democratic Gov.-elect Rob Sand, to appoint someone to fill his seat, a spokesperson said Thursday.

There is no immediate need for Grassley, an Iowa Republican who has served in the U.S. Senate since 1981, to vacate his position before the end of his term in 2028. But the senator would be 95 years old when his current term ends, and some Iowans have raised questions about who would be appointed to replace him if he resigned or died in office.

Some have speculated that Grassley might opt to leave office early, allowing a Republican governor to appoint his successor — perhaps U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, whose time in D.C. is ending after an unsuccessful run for Iowa’s open Senate seat, or Grassley’s grandson, Pat Grassley, who currently serves as Iowa House speaker.

Grassley himself spoke about the possibility on the 2026 campaign trail as he rallied voters to support GOP gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn over Sand. In September, he told Republicans, “I don’t plan on dying in office, but if I did, I don’t want a Democratic governor choosing my successor.”

A spokesperson for Grassley said in a statement that he does not plan to leave his role.

“Senator Grassley is not resigning. He remains committed to delivering for the people of Iowa, who overwhelmingly elected him to a six-year term in 2022,” the spokesperson said.

Speaking with Iowa News Now earlier in September, Sand said he’d “be interested in an independent” to fill an Iowa U.S. Senate seat if a vacancy happened during his term.

Beginning in January, there will be only one other Iowa Republican in Iowa’s Washington delegation — Chris McGowan, the Republican elected to represent Iowa’s 4th Congressional District. Democrats won Iowa’s other three U.S. House seats in Tuesday’s election, as well as the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst. Grassley is set to serve alongside Josh Turek, the Council Bluffs Democrat who won the Senate race.

Grassley, who currently chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, will lose the top position as Democrats take over the majority next year. He has served as the committee’s ranking member twice, from 2011 to 2015 and from 2021 to 2023.