DES MOINES, Iowa — On Tuesday morning Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds pardoned two turkeys named ‘Caitlin’ and ‘Clark’ at the governor’s residence at Terrace Hill.

After the annual event, the governor answered questions from local reporters about the lieutenant governor vacancy, the prospect of banning phones in schools and the incoming Trump administration.

Gov. Reynolds said that she’s done with interviews in the search for the state’s new second-in-command. Former Lt. Gov Adam Gregg left the office in early September to become the new President and CEO of the Iowa Bankers Association.

“Really soon, in the next couple of weeks probably, we’ll have a decision for you,” said Reynolds. “I’m not going to give you the number that we’ve interviewed, but we’ve talked to several people.”

Reynolds wouldn’t comment on if the pick would be traditional or not for her lieutenant governor.

She also discussed the election results from earlier this month leaving both chambers in Iowa’s Legislative body with super majorities for the Iowa GOP. Reynolds went on record saying that she would introduce a bill to do something about phone use in school buildings.

“I want to just give a lot of respect to the really large number of school districts that have already implemented the policies, that have listened to the parents, that have listened to the educators that are in the classroom, you know, every day with these kids and they see the distractions,” said Reynolds. “So, I want to supplement that and enhance that. I don’t want to really step on anything that they’ve done. So, it’ll probably be more of a floor is what we’re looking at.”

The governor added examples that other schools are exercising for limiting phone use, one was only allowing students to be on phones during the lunch hour; another was from arrival to dismissal phones were not allowed to be out. Once the new session starts at the beginning of 2025, Iowa families will have a better idea of what this policy could look like.

In national political talking points, Reynolds said the Trump Administration should do what it can before taking office to curb illegal immigration, approving of Trump’s talk of using tariffs on imports from China, Mexico and Canada.

“And so he’s, because he’s not the president, he’s the president-elect. He’s using every vise that he can to say, ‘this is going to stop, we’re going to go back to where it was when I was president before, we’re going to secure the border and we’re going to put policies or executive orders in place that does that. Those are the same policies that on day one, President Biden and Harris completely eliminated,” said Reynolds. “And you can see the results of that. And so, you know, until he is sworn in, he’s got to do what he can to help deter another huge migration of illegal immigrants into this country. And so, you know, we’ll see how it works, but that’s, I’m sure that’s what he’s trying to do.”

Reynolds did not mention how the tariffs may impact the Iowa farmer or consumer.

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