Leadership

Jeff Kaufmann
Chairman, Republican Party of Iowa

Chairman Jeff Kaufmann served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 2005 to 2013, including six years in leadership positions in the GOP caucus and two years as Speaker Pro Tem. During his tenure in the Iowa House, he developed a record as a fiscal conservative, Second Amendment defender and a tireless advocate of property rights. Kaufmann represented a competitive district and built a reputation as a consensus problem-solver and constituent advocate. During half of his time in the legislature, Democrats outnumbered Republicans in his district, and Kaufmann maintained working relationships across the aisle.

kaufmann-profile-picKaufmann served eight years on the Ways and Means Committee, and he authored a key anti-eminent domain bill that culminated in a landmark conservative victory overriding a veto by former Democrat Gov. Tom Vilsack. As an Assistant Republican Leader and Speaker Pro Tem, Kaufmann worked with his colleagues to turn around the state’s fiscal house after financial mismanagement by the administration of former Democrat Gov. Chet Culver.

As a member of the House leadership team, Kaufmann engaged in candidate recruitment, raised more than $500,000 for candidates and spoke at events across the state for more than 70 candidates. In 2010, Kaufmann was part of the campaign leadership team that helped elect 60 House Republicans to the chamber.

In 2014, Kaufmann took over the Iowa GOP and led the party to tremendous success on the local, state, and federal levels. In his time as the chair, the GOP won control of both chambers of the state legislature and the governorship for the first time in almost twenty years, and on the federal level, the GOP captured 5 of 6 federal offices while delivering Iowa to the GOP presidential candidate for the first time since 2004.

Kaufmann, 54, is a seventh-generation livestock farmer. He is a department chair at Muscatine Community College, where he teaches history and government. Kaufmann has a 4.8 A+ score on ratemyprofessors.com. In 2012, Kaufmann was honored as Iowa’s faculty member of the year by the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees. He obtained his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.

Prior to his legislative career, Kaufmann was a Township Trustee and president of the Wilton School Board. Currently, he is a member of the Cedar County Board of Supervisors.

Jeff and his wife, Vicki, have been married for 32 years. They raised three sons: Bobby, a state representative in House District 73; Jacob, a middle school science teacher; and John, a member of the Executive Board of the National Federation of College Republicans and the former chairman of the Iowa Federation of College Republicans.

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Cody Hoefert
Co-Chairman, Republican Party of Iowa

Dr. Cody Hoefert is a member of the Rock Rapids City Council, where he voted to reduce property taxes, provide incentives for business development (leading to millions of dollars in private sector investment since 2009), and increase revenue by cutting property taxes while growing the city’s tax base. Gov. Terry Branstad appointed Hoefert to the Judicial Selection Committee in 2012. Hoefert, who stands 7 ft. tall, maintains a chiropractic practice in Rock Rapids. As a small business owner, he experiences first-hand the effects of regulations imposed by the state and federal government and how they affect the decisions made by business owners, their ability to grow, and their ability to provide for their employees.

hoefert-headshotBefore his election as party co-chairman, Hoefert served as the chairman of the Republican Party of Lyon County, where he excelled at fundraising for statewide, county and local candidates. Republicans dominate government in Lyon County—they hold elected office in all county-wide offices, the Rock Rapids City Council and Mayor—but, under Hoefert’s leadership, he has ensured that activists work aggressively to boost margins to offset Democrat margins in other areas of the state.

During his tenure as county party chair, the party has provided financial support to candidates in contested races, no Democrat has won a majority of votes for any office at the state or local level, and the party has constantly placed among the top five counties for net GOP margins of victory in general elections. The party established email lists, a Facebook page with one of the highest engagement levels among county parties, an active Twitter account and a texting tree. During the last two election cycles, party officials and volunteers made personal calls to every registered Republican in Lyon County to ask them to vote, drive early voting and tracked absentee balloting. From 2006 to 2010, the Lyon County GOP increased midterm election turnout from 3,065 to 3,774, a 23 percent increase attributable to enhanced GOTV efforts.

Hoefert served as an unpaid national field representative for former Sen. Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign in 2012, when Santorum narrowly won the Iowa precinct caucuses. Hoefert was responsible for the upper Midwest, serving on the Iowa steering team and contributing to substantial victories in Minnesota and North Dakota. He was a delegate to the 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 Iowa District and State GOP conventions.

Hoefert, 40, is the past president of Rock Rapids Kiwanis Club, a former board member of the Rock Rapids Chamber of Commerce (where he generated the first positive cash flow in five years and established an emergency fund), and a Sunday school teacher and former deacon at the First Reformed Church in Rock Rapids.

Cody has been married to his high school sweetheart, Jennifer, for 14 years. They have four young children: Ethan, Ephraim, Ellianna, and Emmalynn.

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Republican National Committee members

Steve Scheffler
[email protected]

Tamara Scott
[email protected]

State Central Committee members

Name District County Email
Chelle Adkins 1 Black Hawk  [email protected]
Tim Busch 1 Benton  [email protected]
David Chung 1 Benton [email protected]
 Jennifer Smith 1 Dubuque  [email protected]
Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks 2 Wapello [email protected]
State Representative Jarad Klein 2 Washington [email protected]
Trudy Caviness 2 Wapello [email protected]
David Barker 2 Johnson [email protected]
State Senator Dan Dawson 3 Pottawattamie [email protected]
Paul Dykstra 3 Ringgold [email protected]
Bill Gustoff 3 Polk [email protected]
Cheryl Weisheit 3 Polk [email protected]
Kolby DeWitt 4 Woodbury [email protected]
Andy Cable 4 Hardin [email protected]
Barbara Hovland 4 Cerro Gordo [email protected]
Craig Williams 4 Carroll [email protected]

District Executive Committee Officers

Established in Article VII of the Constitution of the Republican Party of Iowa, District Executive Committees, or DEC’s, are vital organizations dedicated to electing Republicans and ensuring communication between the county parties and the state party. DEC’s possess their own bylaws, elect their officers, and meet regularly within their district.

District  Position Name E-mail
1 Chair Scott Adkins  [email protected]
1 Co-Chair Thomas Hansen [email protected]
1 Secretary Tom Cooper [email protected]
2 Chair Trudy Caviness [email protected]
2 Co-Chair Vacant Vacant
2 Secretary T. Waldmann-Williams [email protected]
3 Chair Margaret Stoldorf [email protected]
3 Co-Chair John Strathman [email protected]
3 Secretary Sharon McNutt [email protected]
4 Chair Jesse Wolfe [email protected]
4 Co-Chair Shaun Broyhill [email protected]
4 Secretary Kay Rice [email protected]
4 Treasurer Carey Wilkens [email protected]