Iowa

GOP Rep. Nancy Mace praises Iowa ending trans civil rights, uses anti-trans slur in Clive

Published

11 months ago

April 13, 2025

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GOP Rep. Nancy Mace praises Iowa ending trans civil rights, uses anti-trans slur in Clive

Rep. Nancy Mace praised Iowa’s new law removing gender identity as a protected class from the state’s antidiscrimination law, echoing anti-transgender rhetoric.
Mace repeated an anti-transgender slur at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s spring kickoff, echoing her previous use of the same slur at a February U.S. House hearing.
An Iowa LGBTQ advocacy group condemned Mace’s language, while other GOP speakers doubled down on anti-transgender messaging.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican who is a vocal anti-transgender voice in Congress, praised Iowa’s new law removing gender identity as a protected class from the Iowa Civil Rights Act in a visit Saturday to the Hawkeye State where she repeated a transphobic slur.

“You are leading a nation,” Mace said to cheers from the audience gathered for the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s spring kickoff in Clive. “You are leading our country. It’s not just about protecting women and girls. Yes, it’s about protecting our boys, too. They deserve it. Democrats can’t even define what a woman is.”

Iowa was thrust into the national spotlight after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the bill into law in February, ending 18 years of protections against discrimination for transgender Iowans.

The move drew heated protests that packed the Capitol with hundreds of transgender Iowans and LGBTQ advocates decrying the legislation, warning it would expose people to discrimination in housing, employment and other facets of life.

Mace later repeated an anti-transgender slur Saturday as she mentioned allegations that she was assaulted last year at the U.S. Capitol by someone who was “pro-trans.” Federal prosecutors have dropped all criminal charges against James McIntyre, the Chicago-based foster care advocate and transgender activist Mace accused of assault.

“Can I say trans in Iowa? Can I say tr—-? Can I say it three times?” said Mace, who has shared she is “seriously considering” running for South Carolina governor in 2026.

The crowd laughed as she said the slur three times, harkening back to her news-making moment in February where she repeatedly used the same slur during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing. Reynolds was called as a witness to testify in the hearing on government efficiency.

Mace used the slur in February as she asked witnesses to weigh in on USAID, a U.S. foreign aid agency, awarding $2 million to strengthen transgender-led organizations to deliver gender-affirming healthcare in Guatemala.

The term Mace used is considered derogatory, defamatory and dehumanizing for transgender people according to GLAAD, an LGBTQ media advocacy organization.

Statewide LGBTQ advocacy group One Iowa condemned Mace’s rhetoric in Iowa in a statement Sunday.

“While it comes as no surprise that GOP leaders continue to spread anti-trans language, condoning the use of offensive slurs is a new low,” said Keenan Crow, One Iowa’s policy and advocacy director. “This kind of language serves no purpose other than to demean a group of Iowans who deserve the same respect and dignity as anyone else, and therefore should have no place in the political discourse of any serious party or public official.”

Nancy Mace is a prominent anti-trans voice in Congress

Mace has led the charge in Congress to bar trans women from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identity on federal property, openly looking to block her colleague Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, from using the women’s restroom at the Capitol.

House Speaker Mike Johnson ultimately implemented a rule for the current Congress banning transgender women from using female restrooms near the House chamber.

“Bless their hearts, the far left in our society today no longer understands the difference between male and female, and this is a battleground that Congresswoman Mace and I have shared within the last few years,” said state Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison, who was born and raised in South Carolina.

Holt said he received death threats and had to have armed security with him during the week that Iowa lawmakers fast-tracked the civil rights law changes to the governor’s desk. He was floor manager of the bill, tasked with shepherding it through the legislative process.

Republicans have said the law was necessary to protect other recent Iowa legislation from court challenges, including a ban on transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming medical care, restricting transgender students from using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity and banning transgender women and girls from competing in female sports.

“We restored immutable truth to the Iowa Civil Rights Code,” Holt said. “The governor signed into law despite thousands of transgender activists screaming profanity and calling us Nazis.”

Jeff Pitts, a lobbyist for the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, expressed gratitude to lawmakers who “removed the great gender identity fiction from the state civil rights code.”

“Thank you for standing strong for women, thank you for standing up for girls and maybe most of all thank you for literally laying down the law in defense of what’s real,” Pitts said. “The truth still matters, at least in Iowa.”

GOP speakers double down on anti-transgender messaging

Mace’s remarks underscored an evening that heavily featured GOP messaging against policies supporting transgender people, signaling anti-transgender rhetoric may become an even more common message on the campaign trail leading up to the 2026 midterms.

It’s an increasingly prevalent Republican campaign message although transgender people make up an estimated 1% of the U.S. population, Census Bureau data show.

Attorney General Brenna Bird, who hinted at throwing her hat in the ring to the wide-open race for Iowa governor in 2026, touted joining a lawsuit against the Biden administration “to keep him from forcing that radical gender ideology into our Iowa schools.”

The lawsuit argued Biden’s proposed Title IX rule changes would force schools to allow transgender and nonbinary students share locker rooms and restrooms with female students and would penalize students who oppose transgender rights on religious grounds. The Trump administration has dropped the federal government’s appeal in the case.

“Here in Iowa, we protected our girls and women in school, didn’t we?” Bird said. “… We sued and we defended the laws that we have as a state, and I’m proud of our Legislature and what they have done, lighting the way to show America what it looks like.”

U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, the Republican representing southeastern Iowa’s 1st District, joined in cheering for Republicans’ November election wins thwarting Democratic policies on transgender issues.

“We were told that boys can play in girls’ sports because it’s fair,” Miller-Meeks said. “We slayed that dragon. We were told that men can be women just because they say they are. We’ve got another thing coming for them. We’ve slayed that dragon, and we’re going to continue one after another after another, until every single one of those woke dominoes fall.”

In her closing remarks, Mace portrayed the nation as being “in a battle” between good and evil and cast the political left as a dangerous force that the room full of Republicans needed to defeat in the 2026 midterms.

“I will never apologize for saying men don’t belong in women’s locker rooms,” Mace said. “Men don’t belong in women’s sports and they don’t belong in women’s shelters. I will never apologize for saying a woman is an adult human female, because women were made by our creator.”

USA Today reporter Kinsey Crowley contributed to this article

Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @marissajpayne.

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Iowa

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Published

5 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Iowans who commit multiple serious crimes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a “three strikes” bill passed by House lawmakers.
Republicans said the bill would keep Iowans safe and “prioritize victims and public safety over criminals.”
A nonpartisan state agency says the bill would disproportionately impact Black Iowans and could require the state to spend millions to build a new prison.

Repeat offenders convicted of multiple serious crimes would receive a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a bill passed by House lawmakers.

House lawmakers debated for more than an hour about high costs, lack of prison space and the bill’s impact on Black Iowans before voting 68-23 to pass House File 2542, sending it to the Iowa Senate.

Seven Democrats, including Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

“It will put public safety first,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison. “It will ensure that the debt to victims and society is paid. It will prioritize victims and public safety over criminals. It will establish real and effective deterrence that is nonexistent in our current system. It will reduce chaos and violence in our society.”

Here’s what to know about the bill.

What would the House Republican three strikes bill do?

Iowans who accumulate three strikes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, with no parole, under the bill.

That would replace Iowa’s current law that says habitual offenders must serve a minimum three-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.

All felonies, as well as aggravated misdemeanors involving sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault and organized retail theft would be considered level-one offenses that are worth one full strike.

Other aggravated misdemeanors, as well as serious misdemeanors involving assault, domestic abuse and criminal mischief would be considered level-two offenses worth half a strike each.

Lawmakers amended the bill to remove theft, harassment and possession of a controlled substance from the crimes that would count toward a person’s strikes.

And the amendment specifies that the bill would only apply to convictions that occur beginning July 1, 2026.

If someone is arrested and convicted of multiple offenses, only the most serious charge would count towards the defendant’s strikes.

Convictions would not count toward someone’s total if more than 20 years passes between a prior conviction and their current conviction.

Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to say that only a violent crime would qualify as someone’s third strike, but Republicans rejected the amendment.

“The bill still scores murder, felony embezzlement and felony theft the same, even though they are very different crimes,” Wilburn said. “One point is one point and three gets you 20 years with no ability for parole or judicial discretion.”

Holt said the legislation leaves room for judicial and prosecutorial discretion.

“There are deferred sentences, there are plea bargains,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity for grace and judicial discretion in the legislation that we are proposing.”

Bill could cost millions, require Iowa to build a new prison, agency says

A fiscal analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it could cost Iowa nearly $165 million more per year by 2031 based on the cost of housing inmates for longer prison stays.

FY 2027: $33 million
FY 2028: $66 million
FY 2029: $99 million
FY 2030: $132 million
FY 2031: $164.9 million

The agency said if the bill had been in effect between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2025, there would have been 5,373 people who qualified for the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.

“An increase in the prison population due to increased (length of stay) will require the DOC to build additional prison(s),” the agency states. “The size, security and other features that a future prison may require cannot be determined, but costs would be significant.”

The analysis noted that South Dakota appropriated $650 million last fall to build a 1,500-bed prison.

As of March 1, the Iowa Department of Corrections’ website describes the state’s prison system as being overcrowded by 25%, with 8,705 inmates compared to a capacity of 6,990.

The Office of the State Public Defender could see a projected cost increase of $1.6 million due to an increased number of trials resulting from the legislation.

But the agency’s estimates come with a caveat — the Department of Corrections did not respond to its requests for data.

“The LSA has not received a response to multiple requests for information from the DOC,” the note states. “Without additional information, the LSA cannot estimate the total fiscal impact of the bill.”

Holt called the fiscal note “an embarrassment to the Department of Corrections” and “an agenda masquerading as math.”

“It is clear, in my judgment, that because they did not like the legislation they went all out and extreme to create a fiscal note that cannot be taken seriously in its assumptions,” he said. “It assumes that nothing will change, that there will be no deterrent factor and that the numbers will continue as usual.”

Black Iowans would be disproportionately impacted by the law

The Legislative Services Agency analysis says the bill “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.”

Of the 29,438 people convicted in fiscal year 2025 of felonies and aggravated misdemeanors that constitute a level one offense under the bill, the agency said about 70% were White, 22% were Black and 9% were other races.

Iowa’s overall population is 83% White, 4% Black and 13% other races, the agency said.

It’s not clear how the bill’s impact would change to account for the House amendment removing some crimes from counting towards the three strikes.

“Expanding three-strike laws will intensify disparities — and that’s what this statement shows — by mandating longer sentences, limiting judicial discretion,” Wilburn said. “We already have a habitual offender statute. We already have one in place. We have a 10-year low in recidivism in our correctional system.”

Rep. Angel Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, said California’s three strikes law, passed in the 1990s, worsened racial disparities, and “Iowa is about to repeat the same mistake.”

“I urge every member here, do not pass legislation that our own minority impact statement tells us will deepen inequality in our state,” Ramirez said.

Holt said minority communities in Iowa are impacted by crime and that the legislation “will make citizens of all colors safer.”

And he said the minority impact statement “tells only one side of the story, doesn’t it? It tells the criminal’s story. What about the victim’s story?”

“What about the mother who will continue to tuck her kids in at night and read them Bible stories because she never became the next victim of a violent career criminal?” he said. “Where is that data point in the minority impact statement?”

House lawmakers also approved separate legislation that would increase Iowa’s statewide bond schedule, Senate File 2399.

That bill passed on a vote of 74-19.

Iowans could see more information on judges’ rulings

Iowans would have access to more information about judges’ rulings ahead of the state’s judicial retention elections under a separate measure, House File 2719, which passed on a 73-19 vote.

The Iowa secretary of state’s office would be required to publish information including:

The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond amount lower than the state’s bond schedule
The frequency that the judge releases someone on their own recognizance for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent offense
The frequency that the judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations or a prosecutor’s recommendations
The number of times the judge issues a deferred judgement, deferred sentence or suspended sentence
The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed on appeal due to abuse of discretion or error of law
The average time it takes the judge to rule on a motion or case
The number of cases the judge has resolved compared to the number of cases on the judge’s docket

The data would have to be displayed with a five-year trend line beginning five years after the bill takes effect.

The Secretary of State’s Office would also be required to maintain a searchable database of all judicial opinions and orders for the judge’s current term and the preceding six years. The decisions would be redacted when appropriate.

And judges would have the opportunity to write a 2,000-word personal statement on their judicial philosophy or data trends present in their rulings.

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 X at @sgrubermiller.

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Iowa

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

Published

17 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Luke Truesdell’s attorney has filed as of Sunday to appeal his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Truesdell was sentenced last week to three consecutive life sentences plus 50 years for the deaths of four people killed in rural Linn County.

A jury convicted Luke Truesdell, 36, in November on the first-degree murder of Brent Brown, 34; his girlfriend, Keonna Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids; and Amanda Parker, 33, of Vinton. They also found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Romondus Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids.

His attorneys previously argued multiple reasons for a retrial that could potentially be brought up again.

They said that one juror was overheard talking about news on the case.

They also said the prosecutors inflamed the jury, rather than focusing on the facts.

His lawyers said there is no direct evidence that Truesdell committed the murders.

Truesdell’s defense also pointed to Truesdell’s father, Larry Tuesdell, who was found covered in blood at the scene but never fully investigated. Authorities have not been able to locate Larry.

The state disagreed, citing overwhelming evidence including DNA on the murder weapon, eyewitness testimony and video of Truesdell entering the garage where the four people were found dead.

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Iowa

2026 Iowa high school boys basketball state tournament brackets, schedule

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

2026 Iowa high school boys basketball state tournament brackets, schedule

The Iowa high school boys state basketball tournament is just around the corner and the full field has now been set.

By March 13, four teams will be crowned state champions and there are plenty of worthy squads vying for the title. On Tuesday, the final brackets were released and we now have a clear picture of the eight teams in each class hoping to take home the trophy.

Here’s a look at the first-round pairings and the full state tournament schedule for next week’s IHSAA action.