Terry Branstad

Former Iowa Governor and Ambassador to China   

Terry Branstad is an American politician, university administrator, and diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to China from 2017 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as governor of Iowa. Branstad also served three terms in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979.

Branstad served as the 39th governor of Iowa from 1983 to 1999. After retiring from politics, he served as President of Des Moines University from 2003 to 2009. In 2010 he ran for governor again and defeated incumbent Chet Culver to become the state’s 42nd governor.  He was reelected to a sixth term in 2014. In December 2015 he surpassed New York’s George Clinton as the longest-tenured governor in American history, with 8,169 days in office.

In December 2016 Branstad accepted President Donald Trump’s nomination as United States Ambassador to China. He was confirmed and sworn in in May 2017. In 2020, Branstad resigned as Ambassador to China to work on Trump’s reelection campaign. On October 4, 2020, Branstad and his family returned from China to the US.