Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst plans to announce that she is not going to run for reelection in 2026, a senior Republican official accustomed to her determination instructed ABC Information.
Ernst was first elected to the Senate in 2014, changing into the primary girl from Iowa to serve within the Senate and the chamber’s first feminine fight veteran. She gained a second time period in 2020 by 6 share factors.
Ernst’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark from ABC Information.
Her determination to not search a 3rd time period was first reported by CBS News.
Ernst’s determination might immediate a fierce Senate race — although no less than one candidate is already eyeing Ernst’s spot.
Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) is planning to announce a run for the soon-to-be-open Senate seat, in response to the identical senior GOP supply.
Ernst has served as Iowa’s junior senator since 2015. In her time within the Senate she served in management positions, together with because the chair of the Senate Republican Coverage Committee and vice convention chair.
Ernst was a spotlight of main consideration in the course of the protracted dialogue over Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth’s affirmation. She in the end cast a vote for him regardless of her report as a navy sexual assault prevention advocate. Hegseth denied the sexual assault allegations and was by no means charged.
She additionally chairs the Senate DOGE caucus and has been outspoken in favor of constructing cuts to the federal authorities’s price range.
She garnered consideration throughout a city corridor in late Might when, in an try and defend cuts to Medicaid to a crowd of agitated constituents, she responded “Properly, we are all going to die.”
A number of Democrats have introduced plans to run for the Senate in 2026, together with Des Moines Faculty Board chair Jackie Norris, state Rep. Josh Turek, state Sen. Zach Wahls and enterprise chief Nathan Sage.
Nationwide Democrats recently celebrated a special election win in Iowa, after a Democrat flipped a state Senate seat in a district Trump gained by double digits within the November election.
However Democrats have not gained a U.S. Senate race within the state since 2008. Trump gained Iowa overwhelmingly in 2024, ending 14 factors forward of then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
ABC Information’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
