State reference

How does government work in Iowa?

Iowa’s legislature, governor, courts, local governments and election offices, with a source for every fact.

Facts checked November 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify from a source is left out rather than guessed. Rules change, so confirm deadlines with the official election office.

150

State legislators

Legislature

4 years

Governor’s term

Governor

Counties

Local

Seats in the US House

Clerk of the House

Foundation: Constitution of the State of Iowa source
In effect since: 1857 source

What may surprise you here

Iowa judges are appointed by the governor from a nominating commission list and then face retention votes; the commissions mix governor appointees with members elected by lawyers. source
In Iowa, the county auditor is the county commissioner of elections. source

Legislature

Name: General Assembly source
Senate: seats: 50 source
Senate: term in years: 4 source
House of Representatives: seats: 100 source
House of Representatives: term in years: 2 source
Term limits: None source

Structure set by: Art. III, s. 1.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years: 4 source
Term limit: None source
Next regular election: 2030 source
Lieutenant governor: joint ticket source
Attorney general: elected source
Attorney general’s term in years: 4 source
Secretary of state: elected source
Secretary of state’s term in years: 4 source

Courts

Highest court: Supreme Court source
Intermediate appeals court: Court of Appeals source
Main trial court: District Court source
How high-court judges reach the bench: merit selection with retention source

Local government

Called: county source
How many: 99 source
Cities and towns: Cities and counties have home rule power to run their local affairs, within limits set by state law. source
Schools: Iowa has no dependent public school systems, so its school districts are independent governments (2022 Census of Governments). source

Elections

Chief election official: Secretary of State (state commissioner of elections) source
Who runs elections locally: County auditors (county commissioners of elections) source
Primary type: partially open source
Regular governor elections fall in: even source
Citizen initiatives: no source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Kim Reynolds Republican, in office since May 27, 2017. source

US senators for Iowa
Senator	Party	Seat	Senator since	Current term ends
Joni Ernst	Republican	Class 2	January 6, 2015	January 3, 2027
Chuck Grassley	Republican	Class 3	January 5, 1981	January 3, 2029

Members of the House for Iowa
Seat	Member	Party	In the House since
District 1	Mariannette Miller-Meeks	Republican	January 3, 2021
District 2	Ashley Hinson	Republican	January 3, 2021
District 3	Zachary Nunn	Republican	January 3, 2023
District 4	Randy Feenstra	Republican	January 3, 2021

Boundaries for the 119th Congress, simplified from the Census Bureau cartographic boundary file. For an exact address, use the House lookup.

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Senate seat, Class 2