Iowa House Republicans picked Rep. Pat Grassley on Monday to serve as the new Speaker of the House, putting a young, rural leadership team in place before the Legislature convenes for its 2020 session in January.

"It is a true honor to be the next speaker and I am humbled by the support from the House Republican caucus. I want to thank the members of this caucus for placing their trust in me as we prepare for the 2020 legislative session and campaign season," Grassley said in a statement.

Grassley, 36, is from New Hartford, a town of about 500 people approximately 10 miles northwest of Cedar Falls, and had been chair of the chamber’s powerful budget writing committee. He is the grandson of U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley and farms on the Grassley family farm with his father and grandfather. But, the younger Grassley said, he asked his grandfather not to lobby on his behalf for the speakership.

As speaker of the Republican-controlled House, Grassley will have the power to set the chamber's agenda and to work with the Republican-controlled Senate and Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. He said he plans to bring an open leadership style as speaker — much like, he said, he's approached his chairmanship of the budget writing committee for the past four years.

"We need to hear what the caucus has for feedback for us and try to make sure that we’re getting everyone on board," he told reporters Monday.

It's too early to say what Republicans' priorities will be in 2020, Grassley said, although news releases from House and Senate Republicans on Monday highlighted the importance of "responsible budgeting" and "protecting the taxpayer" or giving taxpayers "a seat at the table."

Grassley said he expects the caucus to unite around "common sense legislation that we think will move Iowa forward."

And although the new leaders are all from rural Iowa, Grassley said they're interested in working on issues that will be good for the entire state.

"It’s going to be things like workforce, child care, recruiting and retaining people to the state," Grassley said.

House Democratic Leader Todd Prichard said he plans to congratulate Grassley on being chosen as speaker and looks forward to working with him. He said he hopes Republicans will work with Democrats to improve the state's agriculture economy, as well as health care, education and the environment.

"The attitude that you bring to the Statehouse needs to be one of solving the problems of the state first, as opposed to partisan politics. So that’s going to be my attitude, and I expect and I hope that Speaker Grassley will take the same approach," Prichard said.

A younger leadership team

House Republicans elected Grassley as their designee for speaker in a private caucus meeting Monday, which lasted only about 45 minutes. Republicans also elected Rep. Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, to serve as majority leader and Rep. John Wills, R-Spirit Lake, to serve as speaker pro tem.

Grassley replaces Speaker Linda Upmeyer, the first woman in state history to be elected speaker. Upmeyer, 67, announced last week that she would step down as speaker and not seek reelection in 2020.

The new leadership team includes two lawmakers — Grassley and Windschitl — who were in their early 20s when they were first elected in 2006.

"I'm 36. I'm shaving now," Grassley joked Monday when a reporter asked his age.

Windschitl, who is 35, is six months younger than Grassley and was the youngest lawmaker in the state when he was elected in 2006 at the age of 22.

Upmeyer was elected to the Iowa House in 2002, elected as House majority leader in 2010 and elected as House speaker in 2015. She began her tenure at the start of the 2016 session. During her four years as speaker, she oversaw Republican action on long-held wish-list items, including limiting collective bargaining for public-sector employees, restricting abortion and cutting taxes.

She will continue to serve as a state representative during the 2020 session but will not seek reelection in 2020.

'Unified' GOP caucus looking forward to 2020 election

The new leadership team does not include Rep. Chris Hagenow, R-Urbandale, who has served as majority leader alongside Upmeyer since 2015.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Republicans repeatedly claimed they are unified and committed to training and recruiting a strong class of candidates to run in the 2020 election.

"There's going to be a lot of people that expect that this shows that House Republicans are not unified, and that is not the case whatsoever," Grassley said.

Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Iowa House, and the new leaders expressed confidence that they'll be able to maintain that majority and recruit a strong class of candidates.

While the GOP kept control of the House in 2018, Democrats won seats, particularly in the suburbs. Before the election, Republicans had 58 House seats. They now have five fewer.

Grassley will not officially take over as speaker until the Legislature returns to the Capitol in January and takes a vote of the full body, including Democrats. The same is true for Wills as the speaker pro tem.

Traditionally, the votes of the full House for speaker and speaker pro tem are unanimous and the minority party does not offer its own candidates. The Legislature will convene for the 2020 session on Jan. 13.

Grassley said he's committed to doing what he can to help Republicans raise money for the 2020 election.

"Just because there’s going to be a transition that we’re seeing here today does not mean that any of that work has stopped," Grassley said.

Windschitl acknowledged that Republicans are going to have to raise a significant amount to keep control of the House, but said he's confident they will be able to do so.

"We’ve got a lot of people calling us that are top-tier candidates, want to get out there and represent the constituents in their own districts," Windschitl said.

On the Democratic side, Prichard says he feels momentum behind his party's efforts to retake the House.

"I feel very good about where Democrats are. We’ve had a lot of success getting ready for the 2020 cycle, in terms of candidate recruitment and fundraising," he said.

Grassley says he asked his grandfather not to campaign for him

Within minutes of the announcement that Grassley had been chosen as speaker, the elder Grassley released a statement Monday morning praising his grandson.

"I’ve watched my grandson Pat mature as a freshman legislator at age 23 to become a very effective leader in the Iowa House. I attribute the mentorship of Speaker Linda Upmeyer for serving as a tremendous role model to Pat and the entire Republican caucus," Chuck Grassley said in the statement. "Notably, Pat became chairman of the Appropriations Committee after just nine years. He likes to remind me that it took 15 years for me to earn that gavel."

Pat Grassley said he asked his grandfather not to make calls on his behalf to lobby House lawmakers to vote for him for speaker.

"To be quite frank with you, I asked him if he wouldn’t do that because I think that, when you look at an election like this, I think it’s really about what the will of the caucus is," Grassley said.

He also said his relationship with his grandfather is less political than people assume.

"There’s this conspiracy theory that I’ve been groomed since the beginning of time to take Chuck Grassley’s seat. What I tell everyone is my grandpa and I, we talk about gas prices and who picks up more pop cans on the side of the road. And so a lot of the conversations that we have are really more about just grandfather and grandson things," he said.

There is one area where they disagree, however: The new speaker said he does not share his grandfather's famous love for Dairy Queen ice cream. He said he would instead celebrate his election by getting back in the field on his farm.

"No, I’m not nearly as big of a Dairy Queen fan as what the senator is," he said.

More:Iowa House Speaker Linda Upmeyer to step down from leadership, won't seek reelection in 2020

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

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