Iowa House speaker says no special session before new governor takes office

Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley said Friday he does not believe a special legislative session will be called before Gov.-elect Rob Sand takes office in January.

Though Republicans maintained majority control over both chambers of the Iowa Legislature in the 2026 election, state lawmakers will no longer be working with a Republican governor. Sand, a Democrat, will take over when Gov. Kim Reynolds ends her term. In addition to losing the governorship, Republican majorities shrunk in both legislative chambers.

Some Democrats and observers have questioned whether Republicans would use the final two months before Sand takes office to restrict gubernatorial powers by calling a special session. But Grassley told reporters Friday, “I would say at this point in time, that’s not on the table.”

State legislatures in Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina have used so-called lame duck sessions to restrict future elected officials’ powers after the majority party’s candidate lost an election.

Sand said during a taping of “Iowa Press” earlier Friday that he hoped lawmakers would not restrict his power in an effort to respect voters’ choice in the 2026 election.

“To come in now after the fact and change the meaning of what those voters said, that’s not public service. That’s politics,” Sand said.  “I don’t think that they’ll do that because I would hope and trust that they’re public servants.”

There were several measures making changes to gubernatorial powers discussed during the 2026 session. Reynolds signed into law a ban on future governors’ ability to restrict private businesses’ operations and order places of worship to close during disasters and public health emergencies. These were actions Reynolds, as well as many governors throughout the country, took during the COVID-19 pandemic. The law also requires governors to get legislative approval for election law and regulation changes.

Another proposal discussed during the session would have created “continuing appropriations” in the state. Senate File 2388, introduced by Senate Republicans, proposed having state government funding continue based on the budget approved during the preceding year if the governor does not approve a budget by July 1, the start of the fiscal year. Democratic lawmakers heavily criticized the proposal as a “power grab” that would allow GOP majorities to refuse to negotiate with a Democratic governor — and House Republicans eventually shot the legislation down.

Though he said lawmakers would not return to Des Moines for a special session before January, Grassley also alluded to likely future conflicts between GOP lawmakers and the Democratic governor.

“If there are some issues that the governor-elect wants to propose that we can have a conversation about that are reasonable and responsible for Iowans, we’ll engage in that,” Grassley said. “But at the same time … we’re not going to be afraid to draw the line if there’s things that we think go too far or start to compromise our principles.”

Sand said his hope was to find compromises with state lawmakers, saying there was a reason why he was elected in 2026 while the Iowa Legislature stayed in Republican control.

“There are going to be 55 Republican legislators in the Iowa House next year, 21 of them will be in districts that also picked me as governor,” Sand said. “Iowans want us to work together. This is one of those things that is just, like, an abundantly clear message. You want to talk about messages from the campaign? That level of ticket crossing for different parties is a pretty clear message to me. They want balance.”

Grassley will maintain his position as House Speaker in 2027 as the GOP House lawmakers reelected him to the leadership position Friday. House Majority Leader Bobby Kaufmann will also continue to serve in his role, as will Rep. John Wills, R-Spirit Lake, as speaker pro tempore and Rep. Henry Stone, R-Forest City, as majority whip. Senate Majority Leader Mike Klimesh and Senate President Amy Sinclair will also continue to serve as leaders in the upcoming session, according to a news release from Senate Republicans.