Category: IA-Senate

Michael Franken, a retired Navy admiral from Northwest Iowa, entered the U.S. Senate race today against Joni Ernst to “do what’s right for Iowa” and stand up to the Washington establishment. “Iowans need a senator who will go against the grain in Washington and do what’s right for Iowa,” said Franken, in an introductory campaign video released Monday morning. Raised in Sioux Center, deep in Rep. Steve King’s conservative 4th Congressional District, Franken’s 40-year career with the Navy took him around the world. Before moving back to Sioux City this year, he lived in Washington, D.C. Most recently, Franken served […]

President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have taken it upon themselves to stack the federal courts with conservative judges, an effort Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst has aided in lockstep. Ernst, Iowa’s junior U.S. senator, was appointed to the influential Judiciary Committee in January, tasked in part with vetting judicial nominees. “As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I’ve worked hard to get a record number of President Donald J. Trump’s judicial nominees on the bench,” Ernst said, in an Aug. 8 Facebook post. According to Ernst, since Trump took office in January 2017, 44 Circuit Court […]

Christie Vilsack, the former First Lady of Iowa, has weighed in on Democrats’ effort to win a seat in the U.S. Senate with her endorsement today of Theresa Greenfield. “With all the gridlock and mudslinging in Washington, Theresa Greenfield is exactly the kind of commonsense leader Iowans need fighting for our families in the Senate,” said Christie Vilsack, Tuesday in a statement. It’s one more high-profile endorsement for Greenfield, who has seen most of party leadership quickly coalesce around her candidacy to take on Joni Ernst. The Iowa contest should prove to be a top national target for Democrats as […]

All eyes will turn to the Senate in September when lawmakers return to the Capitol with a host of issues to tackle, chief among them gun safety legislation already approved by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. In the wake of two August mass shootings that killed 31 people in two states, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told a Louisville, Kentucky, radio station that discussions on background checks would be “front and center,” in addition to so-called red flag laws. Will the Republican-led Senate take up House Resolution 8, requiring background checks on all gun sales, or will it craft a […]

Questions on gun violence and the 2nd Amendment dominated a contentious town hall forum with Senator Joni Ernst in Johnston this morning. Over half the audience members who asked Ernst about various policies pressed her on her gun rights stance. Though Ernst scheduled her Polk County forum at 7:30 AM on a Saturday, a crowd of about 150 showed up to the suburban Wallace Elementary School auditorium. About two dozen Ernst supporters, decked out in campaign t-shirts, gathered in the parking lot beforehand and cheered and encouraged Ernst as she spoke. But they were considerably outnumbered by the many gun […]

For Iowans, politics at the State Fair is as inevitable as enjoying fried food on a stick. Like it or not, it’s there, and nearly inescapable. On Saturday, fairgoers won’t bump into many people running for president, but they might see Sen. Joni Ernst — on a billboard, that is. Along with a picture of Ernst, the mobile billboard will display her phone number in the Senate — (202) 915-9462 — and a message: “Tell Her To Stop Voting To Gut Our Health Care.” “We need Senator Ernst to stop supporting increases in our health care costs, especially on older […]