In November 2016, Iowa Republicans erased a slim Democratic majority in that state’s Senate, giving the party “trifecta” control of both houses of the legislature and the governor’s office. The moment the gavel struck to start the new legislative session in January 2017, they were ready with a raft of anti-worker bills, the centerpiece of which was House File 291, signed by Iowa’s then Republican governor (now Trump’s ambassador to China) Terry Branstad.