Three days after Sen. Joni Ernst responded to a constituent’s concerns about potential Medicaid cuts by saying, “We’re all going to die,” the Iowa Republican drew a high-profile Democratic opponent.
State Rep. J.D. Scholten, a two-time congressional candidate, announced his campaign Monday, saying Ernst’s comments prompted him to jump into the race sooner than he had anticipated.
“I wasn’t planning on doing this right now, but I just can’t sit on the sidelines after Joni’s recent town hall justifying gutting Medicaid because ‘we’re all gonna die,’” he says in his launch video.
Ernst, an Iraq War veteran serving her second term, drew quick condemnation from Democrats for her town hall remarks Friday about the impact of Medicaid cuts. After an attendee interrupted her by shouting that people were going to die, Ernst responded, “Well, we’re all going to die.” Over the weekend, she posted a video that appeared to be recorded in a cemetery and made light of the matter.
Scholten joins military veteran Nathan Sage in the Democratic primary to face Ernst, with several others said to be weighing bids. Democrats have not won a Senate election in Iowa since 2008, when Sen. Tom Harkin won a fifth term. In recent cycles, Iowa has transformed from a swing state to a reliably Republican one.
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the Senate race in Iowa as Solid Republican.
In his launch video, Scholten refers to himself as a “a baseball-playing, monopoly-busting, beer-drinking, Bible-reading, working class, proud prairie populist” and notes his family’s Hawkeye State roots go back six generations.
Scholten has twice run for a previous version of Iowa’s deep-red 4th District, which stretches along the state’s western border and includes Sioux City and Council Bluffs. In 2018, he came within about 3 points of unseating Republican Steve King, who had a history of making racist remarks.
Scholten sought the seat a second time in 2020. King was defeated in the primary by fellow Republican Randy Feenstra, who then bested Scholten by 24 points in the general election.
“I’ve run hard races before,” Scholten says in his campaign launch video. “I’m the only Democrat serving in the state legislature from a Republican stronghold across 42 counties in northwest and north-central Iowa. I over-performed the top of the ticket every single time I’ve ran.”
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