Speaker Grassley celebrates supermajority, including picking up Mason City-based House seat

DES MOINES — Prior to the start of the 2025 session of the Iowa Legislature on Monday, Iowa Republican Party leaders celebrated during a fundraiser, calling their “supermajorities” in the Iowa House and Senate a mandate for the GOP’s policy agenda.

House Speaker Pat Grassley will lead a 67-seat majority in the House. “You keep hearing, ‘Oh, Republicans are struggling in the suburbs all across the country. Republicans are struggling in certain areas,'” Grassley said. “Well, it feels so good for us to be winning in Dubuque like we did…knocking off a long-time Democratic incumbent. We represent Mason City for the first time in 20 years, so we continue to expand our map all across the state,” Grassley said.

Christian Hermanson won election in November to the Mason City-based House District 59 that also includes most of the eastern two-thirds of Cerro Gordo County. The last time a Mason City-based House seat was held by a Republican was when current Mason City mayor Bill Schickel held a seat in the legislature from 2003 to 2009.