Iowa’s Joni Ernst begins her U.S. Senate farewell lap, suggests she’ll endorse Ashley Hinson

DES MOINES — Joni Ernst began the process of saying goodbye to Iowa as a U.S. Senator while indicating she will endorse a colleague who hopes to succeed her.

Ernst, who earlier this year announced that she will not seek re-election, said her annual Roast and Ride fundraiser Saturday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds was her last. Her remarks during the event were full of thank yous to Iowans and people who have supported her.

After the event, Ernst indicated to reporters that she will endorse Eastern Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, who announced her campaign for the U.S. Senate immediately after Ernst announced she will not run for another term.

Hinson and former state lawmaker Jim Carlin are campaigning for the Republican Party’s nomination for the election.

“I will tell you that (Hinson) has my full support, and you may hear something more official a little bit later on,” Ernst said.

Hinson also has been endorsed by Republican President Donald Trump.

Ernst earlier this year announced she will not seek re-election after completing her second, six-year term next year. That created an open-seat election for a U.S. Senate seat in Iowa for the first time since 2014.

Five Democrats are seeking their party’s nomination: State lawmakers Zach Wahls and Josh Turek, Des Moines school board leader Jackie Norris, former chamber of commerce leader Nathan Sage, and former state lawmaker Bob Krause.

Thomas Laehn is running for the Senate as a Libertarian.

Hinson spoke at Saturday’s event, along with fellow Iowa Republican U.S. House members Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Randy Feenstra, the latter of whom is running for governor.

Ernst made history when she was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014, becoming Iowa’s first female member of Congress. Prior to her two terms in the Senate, Ernst was a state lawmaker, county auditor and U.S. Army Iowa National Guard officer.

Ernst became emotional early in her remarks Saturday when she thanked her mother for her support.

“Like so many here today, my life has been marked by service,” Ernst said. “Since the first time I put on our nation’s uniform, my state and my country have always come first. Whether it was leading convoys through Kuwait and Iraq with the Iowa National Guard soldiers or walking through the halls of Congress, serving you is the privilege of a lifetime for this Southwest Iowa farm girl.”

Final Roast and Ride on 10-year anniversary

Saturday’s event was held on the 10-year anniversary of Ernst’s first Roast and Ride fundraiser.

The first Roast and Ride was held in June of 2015 and featured seven Republicans who were running or mulling a run for president in the 2016 election cycle. Eventual party nominee and President Donald Trump was not at that inaugural event but did speak at Ernst’s 2016 Roast and Ride.

Ernst and her campaign have held the Roast and Ride annually, with two exceptions: the 2020 event — during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic — featured only the motorcycle ride and smaller rallies across the state, and no Roast and Ride was held in 2021.

The guest speaker for Ernst’s final Roast and Ride was Kristi Noem, the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary and former North Dakota governor.

During her remarks, Noem highlighted several immigration enforcement actions taken by the administration in Iowa in recent years, including the recent arrest of former Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts, who faces federal immigration and gun charges.

“Now he’s away from your children and he’s being brought to justice as well,” Noem said.

Noem drove with Ernst and the others for the roughly hourlong, 35-mile motorcycle ride that started at Big Barn Harley-Davidson and wound its way through the Des Moines metro area — 150 participated in this year’s ride, according to Ernst’s campaign staff.

Proceeds from the motorcycle ride annually benefit a veterans-theme charity. This year’s ride resulted in $10,000 benefiting the Blue Star Mothers of Iowa, a nonprofit that supports military families.

More than 600 people attended the hog roast portion of Saturday’s fundraiser, Ernst said.

The Republican speakers during the event thanked Ernst for her service. Gov. Kim Reynolds, who also earlier this year announced she will not run for re-election next year, said she has felt their political careers have been “intertwined.”

Reynolds also was a county official and state legislator before ascending to her current position. Reynolds, a former Clarke County Treasurer, recruited Ernst to run for Montgomery County Auditor in 2004, and Ernst succeeded Reynolds in the Iowa Senate when Reynolds left to run as Terry Branstad’s running mate in the 2010 election for governor.

Reynolds made history as well when she became Iowa’s first female governor in 2017 — three years after Ernst’s glass ceiling-shattering moment.

“Who would have guessed back in those local government days,” Reynolds said. “Not too bad for a pair of rural Iowans.”

Event plays out as shutdown drags on

Saturday’s event played out amid the ongoing federal government shutdown, which started Oct. 1 after Congressional leaders and the White House failed to reach an agreement on federal spending. Republican speakers relentlessly blamed Democrats for their role in the shutdown; federal Democrats have expressed an unwillingness to sign a funding bill without extending federal health care subsidies and reversing Medicaid spending cuts enacted earlier this year.

In a statement issued Friday, Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Rita Hart accused Iowa Congressional Republicans of “treating this shutdown like a vacation.”

“Why can’t Iowa’s representatives show some Iowa work ethic instead of spending the weekend at Joni Ernst’s Republican fundraiser? They should be working with their Republican colleagues to find a deal to open the government and prevent a spike in Iowans’ health care premiums,” Hart said in the statement. “Don’t they think Iowans are paying attention?”

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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