Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) plans to announce that she will not run for re-election next year, according to CBS News.
Ernst will reportedly announce next Thursday that she will be leaving the Senate after two terms.
Ernst was first elected to the Senate in 2014, defeating Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley. She won re-election in 2020 by more than six points.
The senator made national headlines earlier this year with her response to a constituent who expressed concerns that the Republicans’ cuts to Medicaid under their major legislative effort to advance Donald Trump’s agenda would cause people to die.
After the questioner asserted that people would die because of the legislation, Ernst replied: “People are not — well, we all are going to die, so, for heaven’s sakes.”
Ernst has also been facing pressure from the far-right wing of the Republican party over whether to back some of Trump’s more controversial cabinet picks, especially former Fox News host Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth has been accused of sexual assault and alcohol abuse. Despite vowing to combat sexual assault in the military, Ernst voted to confirm Hegseth as Defense Secretary.
Iowa has been moving further and further red since President Barack Obama won it in 2008. But there are signs that in the Trump 2.0 era the state is becoming purple. Democrats have overperformed in all four of the state’s special legislative elections this year.
In January, Democrats flipped a state senate seat in a district Trump had won by more than 20 points. This week, Republicans just lost their supermajority in the Iowa state senate, following an upset victory by a Democrat in a district Trump won by more than 11 points.
Several Democrats have already announced they’re running for Ernst seat even before the news of her departure broke, including state Rep. Josh Turek, state Sen. Zach Wahls, Des Moines School Board Chairwoman Jackie Norris and Nathan Sage, a Marine and Army veteran.
NBC News reported that some Republicans have suggested Rep. Ashley Hinson could be well-positioned to run if Ernst decided not to. A source familiar with her thinking told the outlet on Friday she would consider running if Ernst does drop out.
More Republicans are expected to join the field as an open Senate seat in Iowa will also draw interest among members of the GOP in the state.
