Will Kim Reynolds’ legislative agenda be hurt by her Iowa Caucuses endorsement of Ron DeSantis?

With the GOP presidential primary seemingly sewn up by former President Donald Trump, Republicans at the Iowa Capitol say they’re settling back into business as usual and shaking off the divisions of a fractious 2024 caucus that split their ranks for months.

Whatever factions emerged as the product of a divided caucus field are mostly forgotten now, they said, and many who had endorsed other candidates now say they will support Trump in the general election — including Gov. Kim Reynolds, who had said of Trump in November, "I don't think he can win."

“This isn't our first rodeo, right?” said state Rep. Megan Jones, a Republican from Sioux Rapids who endorsed third-place finisher Nikki Haley ahead of the caucuses. “I mean, Iowa has been through this process how many times before? So, I don't think that those feelings last long, and it's not personal.”

But it remains to be seen whether Reynolds will be able to wield the same political clout she enjoyed before the caucuses as she moves to enact another ambitious legislative agenda this year.

After stating explicitly for months that she did not intend to endorse anyone in the caucuses, Reynolds expended some of her political capital to back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was lagging badly in the polls and finished a distant second place on caucus night before dropping out in advance of the New Hampshire primary.

The question remains: How much is left over?

Reynolds had already ruffled feathers among legislators when she waded into the 2022 Republican primary process to muscle out members of her own party who had stood in the way of her plan to use public funds to help families cover the costs of private schools.

She remains popular, according to the Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll, but one Republican said privately that Reynolds may not see the same “rubber stamping” of her agenda that she’s received in recent years.

The governor has already outlined aggressive new proposals to reshape Area Education Agencies and the state tax code, both of which will require political finessing if they are to gain majority support — even with Republicans firmly in control of the Iowa House and Senate.

State Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton who was a top Iowa adviser to the Trump campaign, said he and the former president harbor no ill will to those who endorsed other candidates.

But the former president has been far less charitable in public, repeatedly lashing out against Reynolds after her endorsement, saying it would be “the end of her political career.”

“We at the Trump campaign welcome everyone to come and support us, because we are a big tent presidential campaign and we want to earn and seek everybody's vote, regardless of who they may have endorsed or supported in the caucuses,” Kaufmann said. “Gov. Reynolds is still a very popular governor, and we welcome her support.”

Shortly after Kaufmann spoke to the Register, Trump threatened on social media to bar donors "from the MAGA camp" if they contribute to Haley's campaign.

"We don’t want them, and will not accept them," he wrote on Truth Social.

Reynolds has said she intends to support Trump in the general election, and she told KCCI that she hopes to again have a good working relationship with Trump if he wins the White House.

“I supported him in 2016. I supported him in 2020 — really did a lot of work in both election cycles,” Reynolds said. “I wished he would have won. He didn’t. I took a different path on this one. But again, I told him, and I’ve made it very clear, we’ll support whoever the nominee is. So, he’ll see that.”

Ron DeSantis gets more than half of Iowa Republican lawmaker endorsements

Reynolds was far from the only Republican to endorse this caucus cycle. At least 76 of 98 sitting GOP lawmakers waded into the race on behalf of a candidate.

Of them, about 5% endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy, about 11% endorsed Haley, about 30% endorsed Trump, and about 54% endorsed DeSantis.

Today, lawmakers said, those allegiances are more likely to be the subject of gentle ribbing at the Capitol than a source of lingering animosity.

“I have not heard of any animus between members that chose different candidates,” said House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley. “As a matter of fact, it's just kind of a running jovial thing like 'Ah, you know, your guy won,' or 'Your gal came in third' … It just is what it is. Iowans spoke.”

Windschitl said he doesn’t expect anything to “stymie” the governor’s agenda, though he noted few executives get everything they want.

Kaufmann said that Republicans’ priorities will likely overlap regardless of who they endorsed.

“I think that the governor and House and Senate Republicans are so similar ideologically that you're going to see most things happen, because we're all on the same team, regardless of a family fight that may have just taken place,” said Kaufmann, who is also chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. “I can tell you as the senior adviser in Iowa for President Trump that it's not going to have any impact on me.”

Was Kim Reynolds’ endorsement effective?

Reynolds' endorsement appears to have done little to boost DeSantis’ standing in Iowa.

He ended the race about where he started — with 21% of the vote, a full 30 percentage points behind Trump.

A December Iowa Poll found that only 31% of likely Republican caucusgoers said Reynolds’ endorsement made them more likely to support DeSantis.

Still, that’s substantially more influential than the endorsements of evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, who backed DeSantis, or the Americans for Prosperity Action group, which backed Haley. Just 13% and 14%, respectively, said those endorsements would make them more likely to back the candidate.

But endorsements can shape the race in less tangible ways. Reynolds waded into the race at a moment when Haley was gaining ground in the polling; Reynolds potentially blunted her upward momentum and gave DeSantis needed attention at a key moment. She also cut several TV ads on behalf of DeSantis and campaigned with him across the state.

Reynolds said she chose to wade into the race because the country shouldn’t gamble on Trump winning the presidency. DeSantis, she said, was a better bet for the country.

"I believe he's the candidate that can win," she said at the time. "And we also not only need somebody that can win, but we need somebody that has the skill and the resolve, which he clearly does, to reverse the madness that we see happening across this country."

David Kochel, a veteran political operative who has worked on numerous caucus cycles, said Reynolds’ endorsement may have lifted DeSantis in some of the more populous, urban counties where he slightly overperformed expectations compared to Haley.

In Polk County, which is home to Des Moines, Trump won 38%, DeSantis got 27% and Haley came in third with 26%.

“I think Kim Reynolds' endorsement probably helped him in some of those places where she does really well,” Kochel said. “She runs ahead of Trump in all those kinds of precincts. And I think that her imprimatur probably helped DeSantis.”

More: Trump and DeSantis beat expectations in 2024 Iowa Caucuses; 6 precincts show how they did it

Reynolds has consistently polled better than Trump, with a greater share of respondents viewing her favorably. And there’s no indication from recent Iowa Polls that her standing is substantially diminished.

In August, she was viewed favorably by 81% of likely Republican caucusgoers and unfavorably by 18%.

That was down slightly in December, when she was viewed favorably by 78% and unfavorably by 20%.

In December, Trump was viewed favorably by 72% and unfavorably by 28%.

But at some Trump rallies, Iowans booed when the former president mentioned Reynolds’ endorsement of DeSantis.

More than her own personal standing, some Iowans worried early on that Reynolds’ endorsement would hurt Iowa’s chances at remaining first among states in the Republican presidential nominating process.

Kaufmann, who worked for Trump, said he does not share those concerns.

“The president has assured me repeatedly that he supports Iowa's first-in-the-nation status, and I believe he will continue to protect it,” he said.

Some Republicans begin to rally around Trump, focus on legislative work

Already, Reynolds and other Republicans are rallying back around Trump.

Vander Plaats, who also lined up behind DeSantis ahead of the caucuses, said he now plans to vote for Trump as the party’s nominee in November. He said he’s not worried about any backlash from Trump as a result of his decision to endorse someone else.

“I think he knows I will continue to be a friend to him,” Vander Plaats said. "It was my promise to him several years ago. It remains my promise today. I'll pray for him. I'll cheer him on. I'll still be a voice of accountability. And I think everybody wins when that's the case. We all need friends like that, who will pray for us and be a voice of accountability."

But Vander Plaats also backed away from some of the more critical things he said about Trump before the caucuses.

In a Jan. 9 editorial published in the Register, Vander Plaats wrote that “the system and the sheer number of Trump haters will never allow him to win the presidency.”

In a post-caucus interview, Vander Plaats said he does think Trump can win the White House.

“I've always said I believe (Trump) presents our highest hurdle of winning,” he said. “That said, when you take a look at President Biden, his record, I mean, I think everybody sees him as being past his prime. … Who couldn't beat him at this stage?”

Back at the Capitol, other Republican lawmakers say they’re looking forward to getting back to their legislative business.

“At the end of the day, we all just want to do what's right for Iowans,” said Rep. Brian Lohse, a Republican from Bondurant. “And you know, and that doesn't always mean we agree with every bill but we are able to be friends and continue to work and work together and find the best solutions. So you know, from our standpoint in the Legislature, you know, who we endorse really has nothing to do with the work that we do.”

Des Moines Register reporter Stephen Gruber-Miller contributed to this report.

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Lawmakers supporting Trump say they hold no grudges over Iowa Caucuses