(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says using Iowa State Patrol airplanes on official travel helps her get more done, more quickly. “I travel the state extensively and I have a family and we work weekends, “Reynolds said. “…We try to get out and attend as many things as we can.” Earlier this week the Des Moines Register reported Reynolds has been using a state-owned plane purchased in late 2024 with federal COVID-19 relief funds.

Yesterday (Thursday), Reynolds told statehouse reporters while she has flown in that plane and others in the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s fleet and it’s the agency that decides which one is available and who’ll fly it. “It allows me to actually get out and reach constituents quicker, so it’s the right thing to do. I don’t ever use it for personal use. It’s always for official use,” Reynolds said. “Several governors have their own plane. We don’t.”

In the 1980s Governor Terry Branstad sold three state-owned airplanes as a budget-cutting move. Democrats say it is outrageous that Reynolds has used a state-owned plane for political purposes. The Register reported Reynolds flew to Sioux City January 29th to visit with students and staff at two local schools, then she endorsed Congresswoman Ashley Hinson’s U-S Senate bid during an event in Sioux City that evening.

Representative Adam Zabner, a Democrat from Iowa City, says it was wrong to use over four-and-a-half MILLION dollars in pandemic relief money on a plane. “At a time when Iowans are struggling to make ends meet…the governor used money intended to help everyday Iowans to purchase this plane,” Zabner said.

Reynolds says the plane purchased with pandemic funds is primarily being used for law enforcement purposes and her flights accounted for fewer than three percent of the hours state-owned planes were flown last year.