Myron Gookin was appointed as an Iowa District Court judge by Governor Terry Branstad in August 2011. He served as Chief Judge of Judicial District 8A from January 2022 until his retirement, effective July 2025. He posted the thoughts enclosed below on Facebook on August 9. Facebook users had shared the post more than 8,000 times as of August 15.

Thank you for taking a few moments to read this. I’ve hesitated to post this. I don’t intend to offend anyone, but understand I may. I will not respond to comments but I believe in free speech and will not deny anyone the right to respond. It’s hard to believe we’ve reached this point. It saddens me. Yet, I believe there is hope.

I grew up an Iowa Republican. I worked to get Republicans elected. I hosted fundraisers in our home for Republican candidates. I gave money to Republican candidates. I voted for Republicans. I was appointed an Honorary Colonel in the Iowa Militia by a Republican Governor for my service to the State of Iowa, largely due to my Republican efforts. I considered running for public office someday as a Republican. I was part of the Republican team.

Then, things started to change. The party moved farther and farther right. It became radicalized by people who had lost sight of truth, justice, equality and (ironically) doing what is “right”. It lost sight of our country’s history and the necessary, continuing struggle to “form a more perfect union”. Most important to me, it lost sight of the essence of Christianity—it more and more loudly claimed to be Christian, yet more and more ignored Christ’s core teachings and example of pulling together for good and loving our neighbors as ourselves.