Governor Kim Reynolds has chosen a state senator from Le Claire to be her lieutenant governor.

Chris Cournoyer (kuh-NOY-yer) took the oath of office in a ceremony at the statehouse this (Monday) morning.

Cournoyer has served in the Iowa Senate since 2019. Iowa has not had a lieutenant governor since September 2nd when Adam Gregg resigned to become C-E-O of the Iowa Bankers Association. Reynolds waited until after the election to begin interviewing candidates for the position. The governor says Cournoyer will support a wide range of policy priorities.

Reynolds, who was a state senator in 2010 when Governor Terry Branstad chose her as his running mate, says Cournoyer is ideally suited to join her administration.

Cournoyer, who is 54, graduated from the University of Texas with a computer science degree and worked as a consultant in a Fortune 500 firm before becoming an independent website developer. The governor says that firsthand experience — including her work teaching robotics and coding to elementary and junior high students — are major assets.

Cournoyer has been chairman of the Iowa Senate Technology Committee since its creation.

Cournoyer first met the governor in 2015, when Reynolds was lieutenant governor, at a Davenport event focused on encouraging girls and young women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Cournoyer says she’s ready to advance the governor’s agenda in any way that she can.

Cournoyer’s first campaign was for the Pleasant Valley School Board after she had raised a safety concern — and didn’t get a response from the board. Cournoyer won her seat in the Iowa Senate in 2018. A special election will be scheduled next year to fill the vacancy in the Iowa Senate, where Republicans will hold a super majority in 2025.

O. Kay Henderson, Radio Iowa