Now that he’s been recognized as the longest-serving governor in U.S. history, Governor Branstad says he has not decided whether to run for a seventh term in 2018.
Branstad has made clear he’s grooming Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds to become the state’s first female governor.
However, he says he won’t decide until election year, following the lead of Governor Ray back in 1982.
“He was very popular and I was his third lieutenant governor,” Branstad says. “He didn’t make the decision until February of the election year not to seek reelection.”
That took Branstad and others by surprise.
“I thought he was going to run another time,” Branstad says. “He certainly could have run and won another time.”
That decision cleared the way for Branstad to begin his successful run as governor.
Branstad says he has a lot more he wants to do.
“I’m a pretty competitive person,” he says.
