Chuck Grassley Is Not Resigning, His Office Says, as a Fresh Call Asks Him to Step Down in Iowa
Conservative commentator Steve Deace urged the 93-year-old senator on Friday to resign so outgoing Gov. Kim Reynolds could appoint his successor. Grassley's office rejected the idea, and his chief of staff said he remains committed to the six-year term Iowa voters gave him in 2022.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is not resigning, his office said, after conservative commentator Steve Deace publicly urged the Iowa Republican on Friday to step down before Gov. Kim Reynolds leaves office. Deace argued that Grassley, 93, should resign so Reynolds, a Republican, could appoint a successor before Gov.-elect Rob Sand, a Democrat, takes office.
"Without question @ChuckGrassley should resign ASAP to allow @KimReynoldsIA to appoint his successor before it's too late," Deace wrote on Nov. 6. "And it's beyond self-centered if not immoral for him not to. Father Time will eventually come for Chuck, too." Deace said he would support appointing Grassley's grandson, Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley, to the seat, and Bob Vander Plaats, president of the Family Leader, also urged Grassley to reconsider retiring, according to Iowa's Pulse.
Grassley's office rejected the idea. A spokesperson said the senator "is not resigning" and remains focused on serving the Iowans who elected him to a six-year term in 2022. His chief of staff, Jennifer Heins Davis, posted the same message on Nov. 5: Grassley "remains committed to delivering for the people of Iowa, who overwhelmingly elected him to a six-year term in 2022."
The pressure follows Tuesday's midterm elections, in which Sand defeated Republican Zach Lahn by about 11 percentage points and Democrats made major gains in Iowa. Grassley had raised the succession question himself on the campaign trail: "I don't plan on dying in office," he said at a Sept. 25 event in Des Moines. "But if I did, I don't want a Democrat governor choosing my successor." Reynolds did not seek re-election and remains governor until about mid-January 2027. Grassley, first elected to the Senate in 1980, turned 93 in September; he has not announced whether he will run again in 2028 and has said he plans to decide in 2027.
