Democrat Jackie Norris launches US Senate bid against Joni Ernst

Norris launched her campaign, positioning herself as a problem-solver focused on “invisible burdens” like the mental health and childcare crises facing Iowa families.

Democrat Jackie Norris announced Tuesday she’s running to represent Iowa in the US Senate, becoming the third major Democratic candidate to challenge Republican incumbent Joni Ernst in what’s expected to be one of the most competitive races of 2026.

Norris currently chairs the Des Moines School Board. She’s pitching herself as a pragmatic problem-solver focused on what she calls the “invisible burdens” facing Iowa families — issues that go beyond basic economics to include mental health crises, childcare shortages, and eldercare challenges.

“The stress and pressure to raise a happy and healthy family is not just about money,” Norris told Iowa Starting Line. “Money is a big part of it, but we also have a mental health crisis right in front of our eyes. Our youth are suffering. We need more mental health counselors, more support.”

Norris, 55, does have some experience in the classroom, but she came to Iowa working in Democratic politics. She worked on Tom Vilsack’s successful 1998 gubernatorial campaign, as well as former President Barack Obama’s Iowa caucus campaigns. She served as chief of staff to former First Lady Michelle Obama before stepping down to become a senior advisor to the Corporation for National and Community Service. She later launched the Corporate Institute at President George H.W. Bush’s Points of Light organization, building volunteerism programs at companies.

“I’ve worked under both Democratic and Republican presidents,” Norris said, arguing this bipartisan experience will help her navigate a divided Senate.

Norris later became a high school government teacher in Perry, Johnston, and Ames before eventually leading Goodwill of Central Iowa, where her campaign announcement claimed she raised wages to $15 per hour for hundreds of employees.

Her most visible recent accomplishment was leading the charge to limit cell phone use in Des Moines classrooms, an initiative many schools adopted and that eventually went statewide under Gov. Kim Reynolds.

On policy, Norris directly criticized Ernst’s recent support for Medicaid and other healthcare cuts, calling them “devastating” and saying they prioritized “the wealthy” over “roughly 110,000 people in Iowa that are gonna feel those cuts for a really long time.”

When asked about Iowa’s ongoing population loss, particularly among young people, Norris connected economic factors to social issues: “We’ve got to make sure that people feel welcome here, that they don’t feel like, based on whether it’s their sexual orientation or their gender…that they feel welcome here in this state.”

The mother of three, including twins currently attending West Point and the US Air Force Academy, faces a challenging path in a state that has trended increasingly Republican in recent cycles. Ernst won her 2020 re-election by 6.6 percentage points, though Democrats argue changing demographics and voter frustration with partisan gridlock could create an opening.

Norris joins State Sen. Zach Wahls, state Rep. JD Scholten, and Nathan Sage in what’s expected to be a competitive primary before taking on Ernst, who has already begun building a substantial war chest for her re-election campaign.