Butler County representative Pat Grassley chosen as House Speaker-Select

DES MOINES — The 53 Republicans who are serving in the Iowa House met today to choose new leadership. New Hartford representative Pat Grassley was elected to serve as the next Speaker of the House, while Missouri Valley representative Matt Windschitl was elected to be the House Majority Leader.

House Speaker Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake announced last week that she would not seek re-election in 2020 — AND is stepping down as speaker so another G-O-P colleague could be in charge in the year leading up to the next election.  “We’re in a better recruiting position with more candidates, more opportunities to play offense than we’ve ever been at this point in time prior to an election,” Upmeyer says. “There’s tons of energy out there, frankly, on both sides.”

Upmeyer did not endorsed a successor.  She has promised to campaign with and for G-O-P candidates for House seats.  “Just because I’m not speaker doesn’t mean I won’t be engaged in the campaigns, helping a lot of these candidates, so we’re going to keep recruiting, we’re going to keep raising money,” Upmeyer says. “And we’re going to keep doing our job.”

Upmeyer, who was first elected to the Iowa House in 2002, was the first woman to be speaker of the Iowa House. In the early 1980s, Upmeyer’s father Del Stromer served as House speaker for two years.