Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa

Kay Henderson: Republicans had another very successful election in Iowa. How does the GOP now govern? And what do they have to deliver for the people of Iowa? We'll talk to Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann on this edition of Iowa Press.

Announce: Funding for Iowa Press was provided by friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation, the Associated General Contractors of Iowa, the public's partner in building Iowa's highway, bridge and municipal utility infrastructure.

Announce: A live casino, resorts is rooted in Iowa. The Elite’s 1,600 employees are our company's greatest asset. A family run business, Elite supports volunteerism, encourages promotions from within, and shares profits with our employees.

Announce: Across Iowa, hundreds of neighborhood banks strive to serve their communities, provide jobs, and help local businesses. Iowa banks are proud to back the life you build. Learn more at iowabankers.com.

Announce: For decades, Iowa Press has brought you political leaders and newsmakers from across Iowa and beyond. Celebrating more than 50 years on statewide Iowa PBS. This is the Friday, January 3rd edition of Iowa Press. Here is Kay Henderson.

Kay Henderson: Our guest on this week's Iowa Press is a former member of the Iowa House. He is a current member of the Cedar County Board of Supervisors. And for the past decade, he has been chair of the Iowa Republican Party. Jeff Kaufmann, welcome back to Iowa Press.

Jeff Kaufmann: Always good to be here. Kay.

Kay Henderson: Joining the conversation today, Brian Farnum Steele of the Des Moines Register. And Erin Murphy of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids.

Erin Murphy: So, Chairman Kaufmann, the next month, the state party's leadership committee is going to meet. And among the duties, there will be elections. Are you planning to run for another term as state party chair?

Jeff Kaufmann: Well, you don't mix any words. All right, let's.

Erin Murphy: Get right to.

Jeff Kaufmann: It. I have not. I have not made that decision yet. There's a lot of various factors and balls in the air at this point. Certainly. We'll take a look at it. Regardless of the decision, I will be still heavily involved in Iowa politics at one level or the other, but I truly haven't made that decision yet.

Erin Murphy: You've done this for ten years now, if I remember.

Jeff Kaufmann: Over about ten and a half years. Yes.

Erin Murphy: Yeah. What's what's the decision making process you're going through here in this late stage?

Jeff Kaufmann: Well, I mean, you know, it's I'm the longest serving chair, in a GOP chair in Iowa history, having looked at the, of the list of the Democratic chairs. There may have been one person in the 1800s that served two terms or two. So, you know, it's, it's a tiring job. I'm all over the state. I'm every place. Everywhere. You know, you got a, it's like herding cats sometimes. It's like herding cats in the end stages of rabies. In terms of focusing on a particular goal and these campaigns, they're long, they're expensive. The fundraising is expensive. This year it was a little bit more challenging because we did not have the resources coming from the National Party, not a, not a criticism of the National Party. It's just they had other places. But it's so all of those factors in, new blood is always good. As well. On the other hand, I, you know, at this point I feel like I made a difference. So we're going to take a look at that, going to see what other options that I have. And, one of these days I'm going to get back to Cedar County and work on history and write history again, which is what I thought I was going to be doing the last ten years.

Erin Murphy: Well, speaking of other options, you've formed a healthy professional relationship with president elect Donald Trump. If he picked up the phone and said, I got a job for you in my administration, would you entertain that?

Jeff Kaufmann: I would, when the most powerful human being in the world wants to have a conversation, we'd certainly have a conversation. I, I value the interaction that I'm able to have with the president. I was able to talk to him, right before the election. I, I have to say, though, what I value the most about the interaction with President Trump is that I'm a representative of Iowa. I don't have my eye on running for, office after I'm done with his stint as chair at office at the state or international level. And so at this point, any relationships that I build is more about promoting my state of a little over 3 million than anything else. But certainly, I mean, we we've talked, the evening we talked for about 15 minutes, talked about a wide variety of, of subjects. I, you know, the most important thing that I can do is make sure that Iowa is still one of his favorites, and I and I don't mean that as a metaphor. I we really have been and I believe we will continue to be one of his favorite states, which is so important because we've got a lot of competition out there with a lot more cities, a lot more resources, and, not a whole lot more red than we are. But.

Brianne Pfannenstiel: Well, as you think about the future of the Iowa Republican Party, whether it's you leading it or somebody else, as you look to the next kind of four year election cycle, what is the next chair again, whether it's you or somebody else, what does that person need to be doing? What is the role of the party coming up?

Jeff Kaufmann: You know, I think probably one of the most important things that I've done and I think that continueation of that is to not forget the role of a party, not to forget the role of the chair. I am not here to play legislator. I'm not here to, to punish, people that have been duly elected in a fair primary by the grassroots. I am here to wait to see who the grassroots want to run as the GOP nominee, and to do everything humanly possible to get them elected. And sometimes we've gotten away from that. The president, my predecessors before me when the party was an absolute mess. They got away from that. They, they were embarrassment nationally. Which happens a lot of times when you move away from what the soul function is. So I would, I would say whoever the next chair is, whether it be me or anyone else, has to remember what that is. The other thing is don't, don't, don't seat any ground. I mean, we did well in the suburbs. I want to continue to do even better in the suburbs. I want to reach out to and continue to, to, increase what we're doing with Latino, citizens and African American citizens, etc.. I think we have a lot to give. And what Donald Trump has given us is he's given us our blue collar roots back. I want to, I want of all like outside. I want, I want the blue collar vote. I want the rank and file union member. I want the, the suburbs. I want the soccer moms. And I want to maintain rural Iowa. I think there's going to be very, very few demographics in the state that will not be fair game to at least talk to. I think the next chair has to be cognizant of all of those balls that, that he or she is juggling.

Kay Henderson: Let's look back a couple of months. What happened in November and what you think the lessons are for your party?

Jeff Kaufmann: I you know, one of the big lessons is, is once again taking it to the people. And, Donald Trump was, was not in the state for the, for the general election because obviously Iowa was tied up already. But when you look at what Trump did in the caucuses, I mean, he had, he had 100% name recognition. But he solidified that. And, I think, what he did in the caucuses. Now, looking back in retrospect, the caucus, that it was pretty much destined he was going to win. He took nothing for granted that carried over and ensured that, that we were going to be red and he was going to get our six electoral votes. You know, again and again that that hurt a little bit because we didn't have the national resources, but better that than than the other. But I, so I think that's part of it. I, you know, at our, at our legislative level, outline what you're going to do and then do it and then do not shy away from it. Take it directly to the people that asked you to do what they were doing. So we've got, you know, we heard all kinds of, you know, the Democrats, picking issues out of the air and saying we're going to have, you know, we're going to hammer you with this and Harry with that and hammer. But in the end, the people, I believe, reinforced what they want, and what they want is someone, a candidate that's going to say what they're going to do and then do it. So I think sticking to our guns, making sure to reach out. We won races in suburban Iowa. We won races in rural Iowa. We ran races. There was a race that was very, very close in Davenport that was even off most of our radar. There wasn't even a lot of money spent in there. And, and the Republicans almost picked up that race in suburban Davenport. So I think sticking to your guns and making sure you take it directly to the people and make sure you've got an Iowa agenda. There were, there were Democrats running against Republicans that you could have seen the commercials that they were running in downtown San Francisco. I would say that you did not see any thing but an Iowa agenda that had already been proven either out of the governor's mouth, the governor's signature pattern, or in the legislature that way. And the same with our federal delegation.

Kay Henderson: Let's talk a little bit about the mechanics. Something that would have been unheard of 20 years ago. Republicans encouraged party faithful to cast absentee or early votes. What did you learn from that exercise and how might it play out in 2026?

Jeff Kaufmann: Well, what what we learned, previous and what's been reinforced now is, you know, the times they are a changing and, and if we if we do not want to emerge on Election Day a way down as we have been, we had to go the route of absentee voting. We did. We put resources in. We raised those resources hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was involved with a dominated my life leading up to that program, and it worked out for us. I, it worked better than what I thought I would have never dreamed. Had I been open and transparent about exactly what I think, in, in, in the summer of how do you think you're going to do with. Absolutely. I would have never told you that we were going to win the state. I didn't think that was going to happen. It did happen. I think it just reinforced that we need to go after those votes in any way possible. And I think absentee with the Republican Party is here to stay as long as the legislature keeps their eye on it. Make sure things are transparent. Voter integrity is intact.

Erin Murphy: I'm just curious, has your analysis of the election told you yet? Were those voters who were going to vote Republican anyways on Election Day, and you just got them locked in? Or do you think maybe you expanded your electorate?

Jeff Kaufmann: And I think a mix I definitely believe in terms of what people are calling the MAGA voter, a voter that maybe wouldn't have showed up, that voted Republican, perhaps wouldn't have showed up without a lot of work without Donald Trump at the head of the ticket. I definitely think we expanded there, and I think the president, giving a head nod, to absentee voting, helped us tremendously. We also had every single one of our Republican leaders that were singing off the same page. I mean, the governor ended every one of our speeches. Make sure that you vote early. All six of our delegation, most of our legislators were saying vote early. I was saying vote early. And it worked out. We have turned a major page. I don't know what it bodes for us, but I think it probably solidifies even more so the redness of the state.

Erin Murphy: So let's shift gears a little bit here and, look forward. One of the jobs again, whether if you or a colleague leading the state party will be working on the next caucus cycle. What do you expect the 2028 Iowa Republican caucuses will look like?

Jeff Kaufmann: Well, I expect that we're going to lead off the, the whole process, and we're going to be first in the nation if we're not first in the nation. We are flyover country, there's no doubt about that. It's, it's looking more and more like we're going to have to go it alone again. I, I just read the letter from Rita Hart. Not one place when she's talking to her own state central committee that she mentioned first in the nation. I am, I am dismayed and stunned that the lack of leadership, and that the Democrats are just tanking their First Nation status, it makes it more difficult. I would love to. And all of you have heard me. I was the only one sticking up for the Democrats besides Troy Price in 2020. I put my money where my mouth is, but I am seeing the Democrats because of a few outlying counties that for some reason want to pick a primary over their state because of that. I'm seeing an entire party not pushing back against their national party, and I'm seeing a party that's probably going to lose first of the nation for themselves. So my new reality is I've got to go it alone. I don't relish that. I wished I could be here and thinking we are the world with my Democratic colleagues. But darn it, this is hurting my state for everyone Republican, Democrat and independent. And so if we got to go it alone, we've got to go it alone. And my number one goal, in fact, I had a conversation with Chairman Watley yesterday. And I it is. We are starting on that errand. I mean, absolutely, that is the number one thought in my mind right now, making sure to nail that down. I feel good about it. I feel good at where we're at with, with President Trump, but I don't, I will never understand, partisanship aside, I will never understand what the Democratic Party does not push back on their national party. And when the Democratic Party doesn't show leadership and say, we're going to remain first in the nation. And you know what, Johnson County, if you don't like it, tough, tough. But they have to make their own decisions. In the end, it helps the Republican Party because every single person in this state know, who knows who is fighting for First in the Nation and who is giving it away.

Brianne Pfannenstiel: Well, speaking about the, you know, the success of your absentee program, do you have any interest in adding an absentee element to your caucuses?

Jeff Kaufmann: Brianne, we can't do that. We can't do that. And I don't mean that to be aggressive towards you. It's just we right now we have a fine, a very fine tuned balancing act, among the four carve out states. And that is we are a caucus. New Hampshire's a primary. And then, the, that Nevada sometimes goes first, sometimes South Carolina, then you've got another caucus state in a primary state. We can't do that the minute we become a primary state, which that would do, then that is when we begin to lose first, the nation, Iowa Democrats know that. And I know that we all know that. So here's the decision. Even if you prefer a primary, do you want to remain first in the nation and every single one of our citizens get a whisper in the ear first of the most powerful human being in the world, Jimmy Carter, just passed away. God bless him for what he did for Iowa in terms of putting us on the map for the caucuses. What a sad, sad situation. You know, pioneers like that that have brought us in have are going to throw this whole thing away because they think they want a primary instead of a caucus. It is a complete and total waste and an abrogation of duty as far as I'm concerned, as a party.

Kay Henderson: You were chair of the Iowa Republican Party in 2018, the mid midterm of the Trump administration. .1.0, I guess we can call it. What did you learn from that? Because midterms are traditionally not the best for the party of the president.

Jeff Kaufmann: You're exactly right, Kay. With a few exceptions in history. The party the president is usually has a tough road to hoe in 2018. There are exceptions to that. Obviously I'm working, I'm working very hard for us to be that exception. I think that would be a game changer if we were. I think what we have to do is just remind people what we are doing. Not just at the national level, but at the state level. I mean, that seems almost, almost nonsensical to say, well, of course they're going to see what you're doing. But remembering that what we are doing is honoring campaign promises and making sure that people understand what we have emerged from and I think as soon as we seal up that southern border, as soon as we we get a voice back in the in, in, around the globe, as soon as inflation starts to curb, as soon as you don't have to sell a cow on the farm to fill up your your vehicle, I think there's a chance that we can actually push back on that trend. But you are exactly right. That's the reality of it. And we have to have special circumstance to push back on that.

Kay Henderson: Speaking of the Iowa legislature, there are a couple of things that might impact jobs that you have.

Erin Murphy: Yeah. So you talk about the campaigning and delivering a message and then delivering, legislatively. We hear a lot leading up to this upcoming legislative session about property taxes and the need to address those. Again, by the way, that there was a bill a couple years ago that started that process. You are a county supervisor, as case it has to stop one of the concerns whenever you address property taxes is whether local governments will remain whole and be able to deliver the services they provide. What kind of perspective do you have on this debate about trying to lower individuals property taxes without hurting those local budgets?

Jeff Kaufmann: Sure, absolutely. I mean, it's a, it's a balancing act, no doubt about it. In Cedar County, we made a lot of cuts, last year in order to comply with the new law. I will say this, though, we had conversations that we should have had years and years ago, and we made things more efficient and, and Armageddon as we know it. Financial Armageddon did not happen in, in these counties. You have to separate who's crying wolf from actual impact of services. And that's difficult because I'm not God. I'm not I'm not just sweeping your comment, under the rug to yes, there are some of our most vulnerable depend on our counties as front line, a little less so with mental health since the state has taken that over now. But those services are actually are actually, a given or offered at that particular county level. We do have the, a new EMS opportunity or a fund where counties can raise those dollars. But yeah, I mean, it's a balancing act. I think. Speaker Grassley, I heard him discuss and I've also talked to many senators who agree with this as well, is putting a lot of options on the table. I look for that to happen in the legislature. A lot of options having time for people to talk about it. And, and from a county Board of Supervisors perspective, for far as that goes, a city council member, they've got to go in saying nothing. Nope. Not going to do it. This is ridic. Go in there with the idea that we are hearing the number one issue at the doors at the party everywhere is property taxes. I mean, it is here and number two is here, whether we like it or not. As local officials, we have got to address that. I think the legislature is going to address that in a way where local officials are going to have the ability to weigh in. And I'm not talking about organizations like ISAC the legislators like interested in official organizations. They're interested in hearing from their actual supervisors, from their actual treasurer and such. So I think balancing that, but it's like a balloon you squeeze in here for the property tax relief. It it bulges here. So it's going to be tricky. That is not an easy thing to do, but it's, something must be done.

Erin Murphy: You're also a community college professor. The Iowa House Republicans have established a new higher education committee. Are you expecting to see something that could involve that line of work?

Jeff Kaufmann: You know, I Taylor Collins is chairing that committee, looking at what they are trying to do. I really think community colleges are already doing it. I don't anticipate that committee, being anything other than a partner for, for many entities. I will tell you that there are some elements in higher education. I think the University of Iowa, I think some of the bureaucracy on the Board of Regents, I think they're some in their nose at the Iowa Legislature for some of the laws that were passed. And I think there's a new day coming when Taylor Collins is on the committee. I don't know if you've seen the makeup of that committee, but they are committee chairs and leaders throughout the House that the House is sending a message to any entity in higher education, whether it be the University of Iowa, the administration and the, at the at the Board of Regents that when the laws are passed, you are going to comply with them. You take tax dollars. I think if I were a higher education, if you're doing everything right, I think while this is great, we can put the focus on us. If I am thumbing my nose and there is some administrators of the University of Iowa, I think they need to start taking the legislature seriously because I don't see that happening.

Brianne Pfannenstiel: Well, I want to take us in another direction. I want to ask about us Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican. She's faced pretty intense pressure over the last couple of weeks about her decision making over Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth. Do you foresee a primary for her, or do you see that fizzling out?

Jeff Kaufmann: I, you know, there's always going to be talk this time of the year of primaries, whoever's up the next cycle. I've been hearing that it's actually increased the last 2 or 3 cycles of the individual. You never know whether it's a serious attempt at a primary or whether it's just another way to critique. So I don't I, you know, no one has come to me and, and asked about primaries. I'm neutral and primaries always have been, will continue to be. But I, you know, at this point, there has not been any votes for those cabinet officials for those picks. So I, I, you know, I at some point in time, if, if a specific vote is your reason for exploring a primary, the vote has to happen first. The other thing in terms of from the perspective of, of, you know, the president and President Trump and Joni Ernst, and her relationship with President Trump, nobody, I don't think, doubts for a second that if Donald Trump didn't trust Joni Ernst to actually find inefficiencies to go after, bureaucracies that are not that are not complying with the wishes of the people, there is no way he was not going to tweet about her being chair of that committee. So at this point, what I'm seeing is that we have not had a vote yet on these cabinet officials. Joni Ernst is, is having conversation with all of them. Let's wait to see what the votes are on that. And then we can, people can adjust, Senator. I'm sure you'll have her on the show and she can talk about that. But also, let's not forget that she's chair of this committee, and that is a committee that is near and dear to the heart of President Trump. In some ways, if, I, she has to impress her voters here. But many of those voters expect her to work with Donald Trump as chair of the DOJ's committee. That's exactly what she's going to do.

Kay Henderson: In 2021. When you were on this program and Senator Grassley was in the middle of a term that was coming up. You said he was the best candidate for Republicans, and you hoped he ran. Is Kim Reynolds the best candidate to run for governor in 2026, or do you expect others to emerge?

Jeff Kaufmann: I'm going do it. Well, in terms of, of others emerging. I don't know who's going to emerge this year. Well, here's what I will tell you. As chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, I think Kim Reynolds is the best governor in the United States of America. And I will back then, I will continue to say that I'm not going to I'm, I'm neutral in, in actual campaigns. So if someone wants to, if someone wants to campaign and try to, to dissuade people from thinking, that's fine. But from my perch as the Republican Party of Iowa also is wearing the, the hat of, of a professor of Iowa history, I believe Kim Reynolds is absolutely one of the best.

Kay Henderson: So is the Reynolds brand as popular as it has been?

Jeff Kaufmann: I think the Reynolds accomplishments and following through on promises are as are as popular as they always have been.

Erin Murphy: Not just about a minute or so left. You've been doing this, as we said, at the top for ten years. And whether there's another term or not in your future one, and you could just kind of reflect on those ten years and, you know, everything that the party has gone through and accomplished or changed under your tenure.

Jeff Kaufmann: Thanks for that question. Erin, I you know, the one thing that hasn't changed is and I would take it all the way back to ten years before that. What, much younger guy with less gray hair and less here, was out campaigning. We still have maintained that the most important thing that candidates can do is ask for the vote and do it by knocking on a door and personalizing and individualizing that. If we lose that, then a lot of things change. So that hardens. Things have gotten way too expensive. Things have gotten almost prohibitive in terms of the expensive, you know, the expense of these campaigns. I still believe at the Iowa Legislature they have to balance the budget. I still believe at that committee and subcommittee, there is bipartisanship. And I think I know all of you attend those subcommittees. And yes, there are times when the majority party rolls are true because they believe that they have a mandate. Certainly, we have a lot of mandates that came out of this last election, but I think at those at that committee, there's still that element of bipartisanship at the state level. I'm hoping at the national level that that will continue. You know, we have control. Republicans have control. The Senate. But it's 60 votes. We have 53 by definition. If Trump's, mandates are going to come through, it's going to have to be bipartisanship.

Kay Henderson: We are out of time for this edition of Iowa Press. Thanks for joining us.

Jeff Kaufmann: It's always a pleasure. I like you folks.

Kay Henderson: You may watch every episode of Iowa Press at Iowa. PBS.org for everyone here at Iowa PBS. Thanks for watching. Today.

Announce: Funding for Iowa Press was provided by friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation, and the Associated General Contractors of Iowa, the public's partner in building Iowa's highway, bridge and municipal utility infrastructure.

Announce: Elite casino Resorts is a family run business rooted in Iowa. We believe our employees are part of our family, and we strive to improve their quality of life and the quality of lives within the communities we serve.

Announce: Across Iowa, hundreds of neighborhood banks strive to serve their communities, provide jobs, and help local businesses. Iowa banks are proud to back the life you build. Learn more at iowabankers.com.