[1] Reynolds attended Northwest Missouri State University, taking classes in business, consumer sciences and clothing sales and design, without earning a degree.

[2] In 2012, Reynolds began taking classes in the bachelor of public administration program at Upper Iowa University.

[3] In December 2016, shortly before Reynolds became governor, Iowa State University awarded her a Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree with three concentrations: political science, business management, and communications.

[6] On November 4, 2008, Reynolds was elected to represent the 48th district in the Iowa Senate, defeating Democratic nominee Ruth Smith and independent candidate Rodney Schmidt.

[8] On June 25, 2010, Republican gubernatorial nominee Terry Branstad publicly selected Reynolds to be his running mate as the lieutenant governor candidate.

[12] She co-chaired the Governor's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Advisory Council, Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress board, and the Military Children Education Coalition.

Kim Reynolds has kept him on as her campaign co-chairman, while muttering increasingly thin-lipped denials that she agrees with his ideological extremism.

[20] Reynolds won the Republican nomination for governor and defeated Democrat Fred Hubbell and Libertarian Jake Porter in the general election on November 6.

[36] Reynolds blocked Miller from including Iowa in a legal challenge to the Trump administration's repeal of the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era regulation that restricted emissions of greenhouses gases (such as carbon) to counteract climate change.

[34] She condemned the storming of the Capitol, which disrupted the counting of the electoral votes, but said many people believed the election was "not valid".

[49] In December 2019, Reynolds launched an anti-vaping social media campaign in an effort to reduce vaping among Iowa youth.

[35] In August 2020, she signed an executive order permitting felons to vote in Iowa elections upon completing their sentence.

[54] In May and July 2020, Reynolds's administration arranged for COVID-19 testing to be done at Iowa Select's West Des Moines headquarters and at the Waverly facility partly owned by another campaign donor, at a time when those most vulnerable to the disease (healthcare workers and residents of nursing homes and other congregate-living facilities) were unable to timely get tested.

[56] After the testing came to light in January 2021, Polk County Supervisor Matt McCoy criticized Reynolds, and State Auditor Rob Sand began an investigation into whether special treatment was accorded to political donors over essential workers and vulnerable persons.

[59][60][61][62] Later that month, she signed legislation that would allow landlords to reject tenants who pay rent with Section 8 vouchers.

[66] In April 2020, Iowa health officials advised Reynolds to enforce face coverings and not ease restrictions.

[70][66] In June, recreational businesses such as bars and restaurants were permitted to fully reopen, which was followed by surges in coronavirus infections.

[66] Reynolds said that the effectiveness of face masks in halting the virus's spread was not settled, although doctors and scientists nearly unanimously held that wearing masks in public substantially reduced viral transmission, and their use was recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Iowa's own Department of Health.

[72] Iowa City's mayor rejected Reynolds's claim and issued a municipal order requiring the use of face coverings in indoor public places.

[72] In April 2020, on the advice of native Iowan actor and entrepreneur Ashton Kutcher, Reynolds signed a $26 million, no-bid contract with Utah startup Nomi Health to develop a COVID-19 testing program called TestIowa.

[79] Despite the outcry from teachers, who noted that social distancing was often impossible in school settings and that many teachers had not yet been vaccinated, in late January 2021 Reynolds signed a bill, passed by the state legislature along party lines, that required school districts to provide full-time in-person classes upon parents' request.

[83] In October 2020, she appeared at an indoor fundraiser for the Republican Party and a large rally in a hangar for President Trump; attendees did not wear masks or socially distance at the events.

[88] In May 2021, Reynolds signed into law a bill that prohibited businesses and local governments from requiring customers to have proof of vaccination.

[89] On March 1, 2022, Reynolds was selected to deliver the Republican response to President Biden's State of the Union address.

[90] On March 3, 2022, she signed into law a bill that bans transgender girls and women from participating on designated female sports teams.

[91] In January 2023, Reynolds signed the Students First Act, which she attempted to pass in 2021, 2022, and which makes ESAs – private school vouchers – available for the first time.

This has benefited state representative Dean Fisher, who founded a private Christian school where "ESA funding will pay the bulk of our operating expenses".

[93][94] In November 2023, Reynolds endorsed Ron DeSantis for the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries, saying she did not believe Trump could win the general election.

[98] On February 1, 2024, she introduced a bill defining "man" and "woman" based on reproductive anatomy and requiring that official identification documents list sex at birth.