Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will give the Republican response following President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address next Tuesday, March 1.

“While Washington Democrats fail working Americans, Republican governors are fighting and winning for families. Governor Kim Reynolds’ brave, bold, and successful leadership for Iowans has put her right at the front of that pack,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a Tuesday release.

“She fought COVID without forgetting common sense and protected Iowans’ health and their rights at the same time. She’s defended kids and parents with laws that have kept students in classrooms and woke propaganda out. She has even taken action to address our border crisis while the Biden Administration makes it worse. I am thrilled the American people will hear directly from Gov. Reynolds. The President and his team should take notes.”

“Americans are in disbelief when they see how incompetent our government has become in one year, under one-party rule,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said. “But for many, disastrous decision-making in Washington has been offset by real leadership in states across the country.

“Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds represents what it means to lead with conviction and true faith in our fellow citizens,” he said. “She handled COVID by choosing freedom over lockdowns and personal responsibility over mandates – leading to real economic recovery from the pandemic. She kept kids in school and critical race theory out. And she stood tall for election integrity when Speaker Pelosi tried to steal a congressional seat from Iowans. While Democrats in Washington have failed, Republicans across the country are stepping up – and America will be better off hearing Governor Reynolds’ Iowa story.”

“Republican Governors across America are leading the charge in defending liberty and securing unmatched economic prosperity in our states,” Gov. Reynolds said in the release. “The Biden Administration is governing from the far-left, ignoring the problems of working-class Americans while pushing an agenda that stifles free speech, free thought, and economic freedom. The American people have had enough, but there is an alternative and that’s what I look forward to sharing on Tuesday evening.”

Progress Iowa Executive Director Matt Sinovic issued the following statement in response to this announcement about Reynolds:

“Next week, Americans will hear from President Biden about how he has delivered for working families through an unprecedented pandemic over the last year, in his State of the Union address.

“Today we learned that national Republicans are rewarding their favorite sellout, Corporate Kim Reynolds, by handpicking her to give the response to the President.

“Iowans work hard to take care of our families, and want to do right by our neighbors,” Sinovic said. “But Gov. Reynolds has abandoned those values, and now is being propped up by Republicans in D.C. because of it. Washington Republicans are giving Corporate Kim this platform because she ignored working families in favor of corporate greed and outsourced our health care to private companies who get to decide whether we live or die based on profit.

“She has given the wealthiest corporations one handout after another, while taking money away from our public schools, public safety, and health care services,” he said.

“Over the last year, while President Biden worked to get Americans vaccinated and back to work, Corporate Kim Reynolds put our families in unsafe conditions to fatten her corporate donors’ profits and worsen her workforce crisis. We deserve better. It’s time our nation’s leaders agree to put people over corporations. Instead of selling corporate greed on the nation’s stage, Gov. Reynolds should stay home and work to solve her workforce crisis.”

Reynolds pushed back against mask and vaccine mandates amid the COVID pandemic, according to the Associated Press. She was chided by the Trump administration’s White House Coronavirus Task Force for ending mask mandates while Iowa was seeing a rapid increase in cases and deaths. Defying science, Reynolds sometimes spoke skeptically about the effectiveness of masks in halting the spread of the virus, the AP said.

President Biden is scheduled to deliver the State of the Union at 8 p.m. March 1, from the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Reynolds will give the GOP response from Des Moines following the speech.