MAGA activists call for Kari Lake to primary Joni Ernst over Hegseth nomination

MAGA activists threaten to primary US Sen. Joni Ernst over her hesitation in backing controversial Trump pick Pete Hegseth. And they’re looking at the Iowa roots of a certain Arizona politician to make it happen.

Back in 2020, Republican US Sen. Joni Ernst celebrated a seven percentage point victory to the chant of “six more years.” But the MAGA movement may have soured on Ernst over the vetting of Fox News host Pete Hegseth for US Secretary of Defense. 

Conservative activist Rogan O’Handley said Iowa-native Kari Lake ought to consider a return to the state to take on Ernst in a primary. 

“Say what you will but Kari (Lake) is really good at winning GOP primaries. And that’s all it would take to win in dark red Iowa now,” O’Handley wrote, which drew significant attention across conservative circles on X.

“We are learning a lot about Joni Ernst and the Senate establishment right now,” Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk wrote on X. “Trump faithful are talking about finding a primary challenger. This is getting very serious.”

Since Trump announced Hegseth as his pick, stories have emerged about his past. These have ranged from allegations involving sexual assault, mismanaging money and drinking on the job. Additionally, Hegseth has maintained that women should not serve in combat roles in the military. He has explained this as “woke shit” that has made its way into the military. 

“But our institutions don’t have to incentivize that in places where, traditionally — not traditionally, over human history — men in those positions are more capable,” Hegseth said on The Shawn Ryan Show.

Ernst notably was the first woman combat veteran to serve in the US Senate.

“Here is the most frustrating thing,” wrote The Iowa Standard’s Jacob Hall on X. “@SenJoniErnst needed a primary BEFORE this Hegseth drama. And IF she gets Hegseth right, she still needs a primary.”

Hall followed up writing that Ernst is the only one of Iowa’s Congressional delegation to certify the 2020 Election who hasn’t had to face voters. Though, he didn’t expect the entrenched GOP to budge on their candidate Ernst. 

Trump won Iowa by a 13-point margin. Conservative lawyer and Des Moines-native Mike Davis told Steve Bannon on his talk show War Room that his landslide victory demands fealty from the Senate and confirmation of Trump’s cabinet picks.

“President Trump won in a landslide with 312 electoral votes, all seven swing states. He has a mandate for change,” Davis said. “… If you want to disqualify a cabinet nominee, you better do it through clear and convincing evidence. Otherwise, you vote to confirm the president’s cabinet picks—and frankly all of his top executive branch officials—because the president won. And he gets to pick his team.”

Davis argued that the only reason senators should hold up a nomination is for misconduct that disqualifies them for office. 

Recently, Ernst has affirmed a belief that confirmation is no rubber stamp. 

“There are a few that have been nominated and we would just like to sit down and visit with. They need to go through a proper vetting,” Ernst told KWWL. “But President Trump is nominating the people that he would like to see in his cabinet. And so again we have to sit down, vet them thoroughly and make sure they are prepared for those roles.”

Despite growing pressure and a Wednesday meeting with Hegseth, Ernst has not relented. And Kirk, Hall and a throng of voices on social media say there will be consequences for not okaying Hegseth.