Iowa Democrat challenges Ernst after her controversial Medicaid remarks

Iowa state Sen. Zach Wahls (D) on Wednesday announced a challenge against Republican Sen. Joni Ernst in the Hawkeye State, as the incumbent deals with backlash over comments at a recent town hall. 

“Joni Ernst has gone full Washington. Supporting handouts for billionaires and cuts to the programs Iowans rely on. I say enough. Today, I’m launching my campaign for U.S. Senate to send her packing,” Wahls said in an announcement on the social platform X.

Wahls is the latest Iowa Democrat to jump into the race against Ernst after Iowa Democratic state Rep. J.D. Scholten launched his bad last week amid controversy around the Republican. 

Ernst drew Democrats’ ire when she responded to town hall concerns about potential Medicaid cuts by saying “we are all going to die.” She then doubled down on the remarks in a sarcastic video in which she appeared to be recording from a cemetery. 

Wahls included a clip of Ernst’s comments in his launch video. And Scholten said he hadn’t been planning on launching his campaign when he did, but he couldn’t “just can’t sit on the sidelines” after Ernst’s town hall. 

The election handicapper Sabato’s Crystal Ball has already shifted Ernst’s race slightly toward Democrats — from safe to likely Republican — citing Scholten’s challenge and the senator’s remarks. 

Democrat Nathan Sage is also in the running, as the party signals it sees a real chance at inroads in the state that President Trump won by 13 points in November. 

On the Republican side, former state legislator Jim Carlin announced last week that he’s running for the Senate seat, saying Ernst has not delivered on her commitment to cut federal spending. At least three other long shot primary challengers are also challenging from the right. 

It’s been more than a decade since a Democrat represented Iowa in the upper chamber, and Ernst is still seen as the favorite to win a third term next year even as she weathers criticism. She won reelection against a Democratic challenger by roughly 7 points in 2020.