Chuck Grassley: “I first met State Representative Terry Branstad in January 1973, when he was a new member of the legislature. He served…”

“I first met State Representative Terry Branstad in January 1973, when he was a new member of the legislature. He served 6 years in the State legislature. Then, we used to elect our Lieutenant Governor separate from the Governor, and he served 4 years as Lieutenant Governor. Then he was elected Governor of Iowa in 1982 and served 16 years, until 1998. Then he decided to have a private life and a business life, and during those 12 years that he was not Governor, we had 12 years of Democratic Governors. They left a big fiscal hole. There was a real feeling among Iowans that only former Governor Branstad, then, could get us back on a strong fiscal path to fiscal sanity in Iowa. So he decided to run for Governor again, and he selected now-Governor Reynolds as his running mate. And Terry Branstad served until the Trump administration, when he was appointed Ambassador to China. The second Branstad administration, continued by Governor Reynolds, has had Iowa on a strong fiscal path, not with any deficits, and reducing taxes, having balanced budgets, and having several billions of dollars in reserve funds.”