By any fair measure, the last year has been challenging for the Iowa Republican. Now, she's calling it quits.
Iowa’s Joni Ernst to retire from Congress, despite pressure from Republican leaders www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
— 🦋 Still Standing 🦋 (@imstillstanding.bsky.social) 2025-08-29T17:57:05.837Z
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/iowas-joni-ernst-retire-congress-pressure-republican-leaders-rcna228056
In early July, Politico reported that the two-term incumbent was considering retirement ahead of a possible 2026 re-election campaign, followed soon after by an intense intraparty effort to persuade her to run again. That lobbying apparently did not prove persuasive. NBC News reported:
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, plans to announce that she will not run for re-election next year, according to a person familiar with her decision. Her decision, first reported by CBS News, would open up another potentially competitive race in Iowa, months after GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she wouldn’t run for re-election either.
For those keeping score, there are now 10 incumbent senators who are preparing to give up their seats next year, including five Republicans: Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn (who’s running for governor), Ernst, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis and Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville (who’s also running for governor in that state).......
.As for Iowa’s political trajectory, Democrats face an uphill climb: While Barack Obama won the state twice, Donald Trump carried Iowa in each of the last three election cycles, including a 13-point victory last fall. A Democrat hasn’t won a Senate race in the state since Tom Harkin’s re-election bid in 2008.
Given the current GOP advantage, Democrats would need a net gain of four Senate seats in the 2026 midterms to reclaim a majority in the chamber. Watch this space.
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