Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will deliver the Republican Party's rebuttal to President Biden's State of the Union address next week, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy announced on Tuesday.
"While Washington Democrats fail working Americans, Republican governors are fighting and winning for families," McConnell charged.
And the longtime Republican leader in the Senate emphasized that "Gov. Kim Reynolds’ brave, bold, and successful leadership for Iowans has put her right at the front of that pack."
Reynolds has been among a group of Republican governors who’ve pushed back against what they consider government overreach during the coronavirus, the worst pandemic to strike the globe in a century. And the national attention Reynolds has landed has boosted her standing as a rising star in the GOP.
"Republican governors across America are leading the charge in defending liberty and securing unmatched economic prosperity in our states," Reynolds said in a statement. "The Biden administration is governing from the far-left, ignoring the problems of working-class Americans while pushing an agenda that stifles free speech, free thought, and economic freedom. The American people have had enough, but there is an alternative and that's what I look forward to sharing on Tuesday evening."
Reynolds served as Iowa’s lieutenant governor from 2011 until 2017, when she succeeded longtime Gov. Terry Branstad, who stepped down to serve as U.S. ambassador to China under then-President Donald Trump. Reynolds was elected to a full term as governor in 2018 and is up for reelection this year in a onetime battleground state that’s become increasingly red over the past decade.
The president's expected to deliver the State of the Union address on Tuesday, March 1, at 9 p.m. ET. The GOP response will follow Biden's speech.