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Joni Ernst

 
Joni Ernst Image
Title
Senator
Iowa
Party Affiliation
Republican
2021
2026
Social Media Accounts
Twitter
: @
SenJoniErnst
Instagram
: @
senjoniernst
Facebook
: @
senjoniernst
Donate Against (Primary Election)
Donate Against (General Election)
Top Contributors
(2022 - current)
103,200
Votesane PAC
Votesane PAC
$103,200
Blackstone Group
$54,700
Raytheon Technologies
$50,960
National Republican Senatorial Cmte
$44,638
Duty Free Americas
$38,000
Top Industries
(2022 - current)
7,827,328
Retired
Retired
$7,827,328
Republican/Conservative
$2,507,239
Securities & Investment
$1,580,722
Real Estate
$1,151,799
Health Professionals
$654,664
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Data supplied by OpenSecrets.org
Representative Offices
Address
111 Seventh Ave. SE
Suite
Suite 480
City/State/Zip
Cedar Rapids IA, 52401
Phone
319-365-4504
Fax
319-365-4683
Hours
8am-5pm CT
Address
2146 27 th Avenue
Building
Suite 500
Suite
Suite 500
City/State/Zip
Council Bluffs IA, 51501
Phone
712-352-1167
Fax
712-352-0087
Address
201 W. Second St.
Suite
Suite 806
City/State/Zip
Davenport IA, 52801
Phone
563-322-0677
Fax
563-322-0854
Hours
8am-5pm CT
Address
210 Walnut Street
Building
733 Federal Building
Suite
Suite 733
City/State/Zip
Des Moines IA, 50309
Phone
515-284-4574
Fax
515-284-4937
Address
320 Sixth Street
Building
194 Federal Building
Suite
Suite 194
City/State/Zip
Sioux City IA, 51101
Phone
712-252-1550
Fax
712-252-1638
News
02/04/2025 --theepochtimes
Kennedy, who has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans for his stance on vaccines and comments on abortion, needs a simple majority to gain confirmation.
02/04/2025 --courant
WASHINGTON — House lawmakers return to Washington this week, where the primary question will be whether Budget Committee Republicans can come to an agreement to mark up a budget resolution that gets the ball rolling on the budget reconciliation process needed to advance President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda. Given the pace of Congress, it could be hard for them to keep up with the speed ...
02/03/2025 --huffpost
"If it's not possible now, it'll never be possible," Musk said of his proposal to simply ignore all federal regulation as a baseline.
02/03/2025 --rollcall
New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, seen at a hearing last month, ended the fourth quarter with $1.5 million in her campaign coffers.
01/31/2025 --foxnews
Two dozen federal agencies reported a collective $1 billion in savings from the elimination of DEIA/DEI offices and roles within their bureaucracies.
01/31/2025 --foxnews
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the lead DOGE senator, claimed victory as the Trump administration's USDA instituted a work from home restriction first availed to her by a whistleblower
01/30/2025 --dailycaller
"It was the batshit craziest email I’ve ever read."
01/30/2025 --columbian
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, defended her past controversial views and told lawmakers during Thursday’s confirmation hearing that big changes are needed to address years of failures of America’s intelligence service.
01/30/2025 --kron4
Hearing-mania is set to consume Capitol Hill on Thursday as a trio of President Trump's top allies appear for high-stakes confirmation showdowns with senators that could make or break their chances of getting across the finish line. Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Kash Patel will simultaneously appear for confirmation hearings Thursday morning, setting [...]
01/27/2025 --rollcall
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, announced an Inspector Generals Caucus less than two weeks ago.
01/23/2025 --nbcnews
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
01/23/2025 --register_herald
The Senate has advanced the nomination of Pete Hegseth as President Donald Trump’s defense secretary. Thursday's vote pushed Hegseth toward confirmation, despite grave objections from Democrats and stirring unease among Republicans over his behavior and qualifications to lead the U.S....
01/23/2025 --stltoday
At his confirmation hearing last week, the former combat veteran and Fox News host said he was “falsely accused” in the 2017 incident.
01/15/2025 --clickondetroit
One by one, President-elect Donald Trump's hoped-for Cabinet is falling into place.
01/15/2025 --nypost
"More than half of federal employees were either teleworking regularly or fully remote" by May 2024, the report notes.
01/15/2025 --foxnews
Paperwork delays have forced some Trump confirmation hearings to be postponed, with Republicans blaming bureacracy.
01/15/2025 --dailykos
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa announced late Tuesday that she’d vote in favor of President-elect Donald Trump’s utterly unqualified pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth—a move that suggests the former Fox News host has a high chance of being confirmed. During an appearance on an Iowa radio show on Tuesday, Ernst said she believed that Hegseth adequately answered all her questions during his hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.“He pointed out the woke issues at the Pentagon, and I think we’re at a point where now we can start moving forward. People know where he stands on these issues,” Ernst said. “I will be supporting President Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth.”Ernst’s support is a huge boon for Hegseth’s odds, practically ensuring he’ll lead the Pentagon in Trump’s incoming administration. Assuming all Democrats oppose his nomination, Hegseth can afford to lose just three Republican senators. And while some in the GOP, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, still haven’t said how they’ll vote, Tuesday’s confirmation hearing demonstrated that many are on board with Hegseth and are willing to give his abhorrent alleged behavior a pass.Part of what makes Ernst’s raving endorsement notable is her history as a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor who previously raised concerns over Hegseth’s ability to lead the Pentagon. In December, she cited concerns over Hegseth’s past opposition to women serving in combat roles, though he walked this back during Tuesday’s hearing.It was also unclear how Ernst, who has crusaded for years to address sexual misconduct in the military, would respond to allegations that Hegseth raped a woman in 2017. (Hegseth maintains that the encounter was consensual.)Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's nominee to be defense secretaryPerhaps Ernst can stomach Hegseth’s nomination because she intentionally distanced herself from some of the worst charges against him. According to new reporting from The New Yorker, Ernst declined an invitation to meet with the woman whom Hegseth paid to settle that 2017 sexual assault claim.Or maybe Ernst simply bowed to outsized pressure from the GOP base. After meeting with Hegseth in December and voicing doubts about whether she’d vote in his favor, she was relentlessly bullied by hardcore MAGA adherents. Not only did some of Trump’s most ardent supporters run ads in Ernst’s home state of Iowa, but they also questioned her conservative bona fides on social media. Mega-billionaire Elon Musk also pledged to bankroll primary challenges to Republicans who went against the president-elect. It appears that threats to primary Ernst worked. Following another December meeting with Hegseth, Ernst signaled more openness to his nomination.This pressure very likely helped change Ernst’s tone on Hegseth. Notably, on Tuesday, as Democrats slammed the defense nominee over his alleged drinking problem and past comments toward women, Ernst tossed him softballs.“As secretary of defense, will you appoint a senior-level official dedicated to sexual assault prevention and response?” she asked.“Senator, as we have discussed, yes I will,” Hegseth responded. Ernst is up for reelection in 2026 in a state that went for Trump by more than 13 percentage points in November. Given that, it’s likely she would’ve been targeted by MAGA followers had she not kowtowed to the president-elect and refused to back Hegseth. That type of politicking might work for the likes of Collins or even Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who is also on the fence about confirming Hegseth, but not the bulk of Senate Republicans who need Trump’s base of loyal Republicans to retain their positions in Congress.Ernst’s onetime arms-length attitude toward Hegseth signaled that some Senate Republicans would attempt to maintain independence under a second Trump administration, but the Iowan’s changed tune suggests that for Republican lawmakers, Trump is still king.Campaign Action
01/15/2025 --theepochtimes
Sen. Joni Ernst previously expressed doubts about Pete Hegseth taking on the role of defense secretary.
01/15/2025 --nbcnews
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the Department of Defense, faced tough questions from Democratic senators about his qualifications to lead the Pentagon. Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a key Republican who was previously seen as a skeptic, announced Tuesday that she would support his nomination. NBC’s Garrett Haake reports for TODAY.
01/15/2025 --wgrz
Past controversies have hounded Hegseth, including allegations of sexual assault, excessive drinking and derisive views about women in military combat roles.
01/10/2025 --foxnews
DOGE representatives are reportedly holding meetings with federal staffers in an effort to cut government spending waste.
01/07/2025 --dailycaller
'It is vital the senate confirms President Elect Trump's national security nominees swiftly'
01/07/2025 --foxnews
Proponents of the Department of Government (DOGE) say that it will work with Congress to slash up to $2 trillion in government waste and spending bringing more transparency.
01/07/2025 --foxnews
Sen. Eric Schmitt is tackling the administrative state by debuting key legislation in the newly Republican-controlled Congress.
01/07/2025 --laconiadailysun
The cast of characters Donald Trump has chosen to populate his second term is a Star Wars cantina of fanatics, extremists, conspiracy theorists, sexual harassers and disreputable no-goods. They have little or no experience running government, let alone expertise in...
01/07/2025 --rollcall
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, here in the Senate subway in the U.S. Capitol in December, faces a competitive reelection next year. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
01/06/2025 --foxnews
The National Sheriffs' Association endorsed Kash Patel to be FBI director in the second Trump administration, a letter to Senate leaders obtained by Fox Digital shows.
12/29/2025 --buffalonews
With President Biden's term coming to an end, his foreign policy and political legacy will be tied to his support for Netanyahu's military campaign in Gaza.
12/25/2024 --abcnews
The fate of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet is still unclear after Republican senators spent much of December carefully dodging questions
12/25/2024 --eastbaytimes
The fate of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet is still unclear after Republican senators spent much of December carefully dodging questions about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ’s views on vaccines, accusations of sexual misconduct against Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard’s 2017 meeting with then-President Bashar Assad of Syria. While [...]
12/22/2024 --dailycamera
The polarization of our modern politics was confirmed further by President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of long-standing political loyalist Kash Patel to head the FBI.
12/21/2024 --columbian
WASHINGTON — The feud between Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell could soon spark anew in the next Congress with the Kentucky Republican poised to hold ample sway over the president-elect’s agenda and nominees.
12/18/2024 --rollcall
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, here at a news conference at the Capitol last week, is up for reelection in 2026. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
12/18/2024 --pressherald
I still remember the bad old days of J. Edgar Hoover, but Trump's nominee to head the FBI just might be worse.
12/14/2024 --foxnews
President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will attend the annual Army-Navy game in Landover, Maryland, on Saturday, and they are bringing some guests who are sure to stir debate.
12/14/2024 --washingtontimes
In recognition of National Monkey Day, Sen. Joni Ernst shines a light on how Uncle Sam spends taxpayer dollars on seemingly bizarre experiments on furry primates.
12/13/2024 --qctimes
More than a month after the November election, Iowa-based pollster Ann Selzer still is searching for answers.
12/13/2024 --nbcnews
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst is feeling from the right in Iowa over Pete Hegseth's defense secretary bid ahead of her 2026 re-election campaign.
12/13/2024 --nypost
I’ve had the privilege of working with Pete Hegseth at Fox News for seven years. The chance to have him lead the Pentagon is an opportunity this country cannot afford to miss.
12/13/2024 --dailykos
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s embattled nominee to lead the Department of Defense, is now flip-flopping on bigoted positions he has held.Politico reports that Hegseth told Republican senators on Thursday that he backs allowing gay people to serve in the military. This a stark change from the view he took in his 2024 book, “The War on Warriors,” where he claimed that the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy—which banned gay service members from serving openly—was a “gateway” to advancing a “Marxist” agenda.In his meetings with senators, Hegseth also reportedly praised women serving in the armed forces. But in a November podcast appearance, Hegseth said, “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated.”The shift in Hegseth’s rhetoric has come while he tries to win the votes of female Republican senators, most notably Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine. And it seems to be working, with Ernst signaling openness to voting to confirm him. But Hegseth’s comments undermine the bluster that brought him to Trump’s attention. As with many of his other Cabinet nominees, Trump came to know Hegseth from his frequent appearances on Fox News. In those appearances, Hegseth often wore his bigotry on his sleeve.Hegseth’s flip-flops have accompanied a slew of negative stories being unearthed about him, increasing pressure on Republican senators, who could face blowback for backing the pick.A recently released poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research underlines this. In the poll, fielded Dec. 5-9, only 2 in 10 Americans support Hegseth’s nomination, though 4 in 10 say they don’t know enough about him. However, Hegseth has support from roughly a third of Republicans, while 16% oppose his nomination.Those anemic numbers follow the disclosures that Hegseth has been accused of sexual assault, described as abusive by his own mother, and has faced allegations of public drunkenness and mismanagement of funds at a conservative veterans’ charity.Now, in addition to those damning charges, Hegseth appears unable to stand by his own words when it comes to currying favor with the powerful.Campaign Action
12/13/2024 --huffpost
Trump's pick to lead the Department of Defense has faced damaging allegations about his past behavior.
12/10/2024 --foxnews
The Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
12/10/2024 --columbian
DES MOINES, Iowa — A week after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, Elon Musk said his political action committee would “play a significant role in primaries.”
12/10/2024 --qctimes
Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst issued a more positive assessment on Monday after a second meeting with Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled pick for Defense Secretary.
 
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