Jo Ann Zimmerman, Iowa's first female lieutenant governor, dies at 82

Jo Ann McIntosh Zimmerman, Iowa's first female lieutenant governor, died Tuesday evening. She was 82.

"Changing the world with five kids in tow is not an easy thing, but she managed to do it," Zimmerman's daughter Beth Boland said Wednesday. 

A Democrat, Zimmerman was elected lieutenant governor in 1986, becoming the first woman to serve in the role. She was elected by popular vote independently of the governor and served alongside then-Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican.

"People often ask, 'Can I work with Branstad?'" Zimmerman said in a 1986 interview soon after the election. Instead, she said, people should ask "if he can work with me."

Another of Zimmerman’s daughters, Lisa Giudici, described her mom as "feisty." She says Zimmerman's philosophy was, "I'm moving forward, you can either follow or get out of the way, but we are moving forward."

When she was elected, the lieutenant governor's responsibilities included serving as president of the Iowa Senate, and Zimmerman was also the first woman to serve in that role. She challenged Branstad in the 1990 gubernatorial election, then switched her candidacy to run for lieutenant governor on a Democratic ticket. She was defeated in 1990 by Joy Corning, a Republican.

"She led the way for women and girls in every corner of the state, showing that they, too, can hold high office in this state," Iowa Democratic Chair Troy Price said in a statement Wednesday. 

“Jo Ann blazed a trail for others to follow,” said Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a former lieutenant governor, in a statement. “As a nurse, school board member, legislator and lieutenant governor, she led with a caring heart and with a true passion for public service.”

Reynolds, elected in 2018, is the first female governor of Iowa. She ordered Wednesday for flags in Iowa to be lowered to half-staff on Thursday and Friday to honor Zimmerman.

Evelyn Murphy, now 79, was elected lieutenant governor of Massachusetts the same year Zimmerman was elected in Iowa. Murphy was also the first woman to hold that position in her state. The two struck up a friendship through a group of women executives in state government.

"What she did in Iowa was to diffuse all the biases that women couldn't do these things," Murphy said Wednesday. "And she did it in a way, knowing her, never coming out of her own character. Soft-spoken in some ways but strong in knowing what she wanted to accomplish."

Serving as lieutenant governor was not Zimmerman's first foray into politics. She was elected to the Waukee school board in 1976 and to the Iowa House in 1982.

Zimmerman was a longtime advocate, helping Democratic women get elected to public office through DAWN, the Democratic Activist Women's Network, which she co-founded in 1992.

"I was so angry at some of the things that happened in the last election that I got together with some other angry women to see what we can do about it," Zimmerman told a Des Moines Register columnist in 1993.

Zimmerman was born Dec. 24, 1936, in Van Buren County. She attended and later taught at Broadlawns School of Nursing, and attended Drake University and Iowa State University, according to an obituary.

She worked at Broadlawns Hospital in different capacities, including as an assistant head nurse, head nurse of obstetrics and house supervisor. She also worked as the administrator for Medlink Services, a rehabilitation agency, and managed Iowa Nursing Services, a home health agency, the obituary said.

"She was mom and wife and nurse, and then political,” Giudici said. "She has a million accolades to her name, but I think she would want to be first and foremost remembered as a very strong family person."

A visitation will be held on Monday, Nov. 25 from 4 to 7 p.m. Funeral services will be the following morning, Nov. 26, at 11 a.m. Both services will be held at the First Christian Church on University Avenue in Des Moines.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

Your subscription makes our journalism possible. Subscribe today at DesMoinesRegister.com/Deal.