Rep. Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, spoke with reporters outside the House chamber at the Iowa Capitol May 8, 2025 following his election as House Minority Leader. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Rep. Brian Meyer of Des Moines said House Democrats will be “more aggressive” on showing Iowans alternatives to Republican policies at the Legislature under his leadership as House minority leader.
“People are living paycheck to paycheck,” Meyer told reporters Thursday. “There’s no relief in sight, and we need to address those things moving forward as to how, as a caucus, we are going to say to Iowans, ‘we are the better option’ when we go to vote in November of ’26.”
Meyer was elected to serve as House minority leader following the 2o25 legislative session, House Democrats announced Thursday. He will take over from current House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Des Moines, who has held the leadership position since 2021. Konfrst will step down from the position at the end of the session as she pursues a campaign for Congress, running in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District currently represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn. She plans to serve out the rest of her term in office, through 2026.
Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner thanked Konfrst for her service and congratulated House Democrats for electing Meyer as leader in a statement Thursday.
“I look forward to working closely with Leader Brian Meyer as our caucuses continue to work together to move Iowa forward and focus on lowering costs for all Iowans,” Weiner said.
Konfrst said in a statement she was honored to serve in the position and was looking forward to working with Meyer “through the transition when session adjourns.” Meyer, representing Iowa House District 29, was first elected to the Legislature in 2012 after winning a special election. The seat was previously held by former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, under whom Meyer served as chief of staff.
He has also served on the Des Moines City Council, was a member of the Iowa National Guard and works as an attorney at the Hope Law Firm in Des Moines.
Meyer, who was serving this session as the House minority whip, told reporters Thursday he plans for the Democratic caucus to focus on “kitchen table issues,” like rising property taxes and costs of living, at the Statehouse and on the campaign trail.
At the Capitol, that will mean proposing amendments to major bills and legislative proposals that showcase Democrats’ plan to tackle these issues. Though most Democrat-backed policy proposals are not able to gain traction under the Republican trifecta, Meyer said this approach will show Iowans “an alternative” to what Republicans are passing — and may help shift the needle in control at the Statehouse.
“Iowans have to decide — you want to just continue giving tax cuts to millionaires and giving away tax dollars to private schools? No property tax relief?” Meyer said. “We have these alternatives, and we will be proposing them as we move forward.”
Meyer said the current stall in budget negotiations between House and Senate Republicans shows the need for new leadership in the Legislature. He compared the lengthy process for reaching a budget agreement with the quick turnaround on passing and signing into law a measure removing gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.
“Get us out of here — move as quickly on this stuff as you did taking away rights,” Meyer said. “But at the end of the day, they’re running the budget into the ground. They have been for multiple years. The budget is a disaster.”
Heading into the 2026 election season, Meyer, 51, said he will work with other members of the caucus including Rep. Sean Bagniewski, D-Des Moines, to recruit candidates to run as Democrats across the state. He said it was his goal to have Democratic candidates running in all Iowa House districts, and putting a focus on winning back areas that have flipped from blue to red in recent election cycles.
“I think some of these places are hurting, and I think they’ve been let down by their legislators,” Meyer said. “And I think we plan on having candidates in all of those kind of mid-level — mid-level for Iowa — smaller, former industrial communities that have had Democrats in them before.”
