DES MOINES — Sen. Janice Weiner, of Iowa City, has been chosen by her colleagues to lead the Democrats in the Iowa Senate, the caucus announced late last week.
Weiner replaces Pam Jochum, who earlier this year announced her retirement from the Iowa Senate after serving 31 years in the Iowa Legislature.
Jochum became the Senate Democratic caucus leader in 2023 when the group voted to make a change from its previous leader, Sen. Zach Wahls, of Coralville.
Weiner was first elected to the Iowa Senate in 2022. Her district, Senate District 45, includes most of Iowa City and University Heights.
Prior to the Senate, Weiner served on the Iowa City Council and worked for 26 years as a Foreign Services Officer with the U.S. State Department abroad and in Washington, D.C., according to a Senate Democrats news release.
Weiner assumes the top leadership position of a Democratic caucus that in recent elections has dwindled to just 15 members in the 50-member Senate. That’s the smallest number of Senate Democrats since 1972.
“I have spent countless hours talking to Iowans all over our state — from small towns to urban centers, from the suburbs to our rural communities. I listened to Iowans describe their struggle to make ends meet, their challenges accessing health care, and their concerns about inadequate resources and a lack of funding for their kids’ public schools. It is clear we have a lot of work to do for the people of Iowa,” Weiner said in a news release.
“As I look ahead to 2025 and beyond, Senate Democrats will fight to ensure opportunity for all Iowans — every worker, every family, and every child,” Weiner added. “We will hold those in power accountable, and work to preserve and protect Iowans’ freedoms.”
Senate Democrats also elected the remainder of their leadership team: Sen. Bill Dotzler, of Waterloo, as Democratic Whip; and as assistant leaders, Sens. Cindy Winckler, of Davenport; Molly Donahue, of Cedar Rapids; Claire Celsi, of West Des Moines; and Izaah Knox, of Des Moines.
The 2025 session of the Iowa Legislature begins Jan. 13.
Ernst creates Senate group to work with DOGE
Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst has announced the creation of the Senate DOGE Caucus, a group of Republican Senators that plans to work with President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency.
The new department, whose creation and mission is being led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, has pledged to reduce federal spending by trillions of dollars.
Ernst said the Senate DOGE Caucus will expose “trillions in waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“Iowans elected me with a mandate to cut Washington’s pork and make ’em squeal,” Ernst said in a news release, making a reference to her 2014 campaign slogan. “From billion-dollar boondoggles to welfare for politicians and trillion-dollar slush funds, my decade-long investigations have exposed levels of abuse that are almost too insane to believe. The tables are finally turning, the knives are out, and waste is on the chopping block.”
The news release from Ernst’s office included a statement of support and thanks from Ramaswamy.
Ernst said the Senate DOGE Caucus will include Republican Sens. John Cornyn, Texas; Ted Budd, N.C.; Mike Lee, Utah; Rick Scott, Fla.; Roger Marshall, Kan.; and James Lankford, Okla. A House DOGE Caucus also has formed, Ernst said, and is led by Republican Reps. Aaron Bean, Fla.; and Pete Sessions, Texas.
Ernst’s office said this week she will release a “Thanksgiving menu of trillions of dollars of cuts to be carved out of Washington’s budget.”
State officials complete trade trip to Japan, Taiwan
Led by Iowa Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Grant Menke, a 16-member delegation recently completed a nine-day trade mission to Japan and Taiwan, according to the Iowa Economic Development Authority, the state agency that coordinated the trip.
The Iowa delegation visited Taipei, Taiwan, and Tokyo and Osaka in Japan from Nov. 15 to Nov. 23, according to IEDA.
The delegation included representatives from Iowa’s meat production, grain, and meat processing industries, and the trip’s purpose was to “encourage trade development, bolster partnerships and identify opportunities to expand export markets,” according to IEDA. The representatives included officials from the Iowa Beef Industry Council, Iowa Corn, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Iowa Pork Producers Association and the Iowa Soybean Association.
Iowa companies in 2023 exported $1.3 billion in agricultural goods to Japan and $225.1 million to Taiwan, according to IEDA. Japan is Iowa’s fourth-largest export destination and Taiwan the state’s 13th-largest, according to IEDA.
“Iowa is an agricultural production powerhouse, so it is vital for our state’s farmers and agribusinesses to be able to share our abundance with the world through trade and to seek new market opportunities for Iowa ag products through participation in international trade missions,” Menke said in a news release.
“This North Asian mission allowed our well-rounded ag delegation to build on Iowa’s long-standing friendship and partnership in trade with both Japan and Taiwan — strong, stable markets that depend heavily on imports for their food and agriculture needs and deeply value the reliability and premium quality of Iowa’s meat products and commodities,” Menke added.
Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau
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