New report says Ernst plans to not seek reelection in 2026
U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst addressed members of the Westside Conservative Club at the Machine Shed Restaurant in Urbandale Aug. 13, 2025. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch
August 29, 2025
Democratic candidates running for Iowa’s U.S. Senate seat said Friday that reports indicating U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst will not seek reelection in 2026 demonstrate the strength of their campaigns.
According to CBS News article published Friday, Ernst does not plan to seek reelection for a third term in the 2026 election. Ernst’s campaign did not reply to a request for comment Friday on the story. The article states multiple unnamed sources have said Ernst is scheduled to make an announcement on the issue Thursday.
Whether Ernst will run for reelection has been a subject of discussion for several months. The Iowa Republican, who was first elected in 2014 and reelected in 2020, has not publicly stated if she plans to run for a third term, though she said during the Iowa State Fair an announcement would be “coming soon.”
She told Democrats to “bring it on” in the U.S. Senate race at a Westside Conservative Club meeting with Republicans earlier in August. But some in Washington had speculated she would not run, with Politico reporting in July that Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he was “doing everything I can to encourage her to run for reelection” amid concerns from Senate Republicans that she planned retire from Congress after her current term.
Ernst also raised less in the most recent Federal Election Commission filings than she had during the same period in her 2020 reelection campaign, though she still raised more than her Democratic challengers.
Ernst had hired a campaign manager in June and is still set to hold her annual “Roast and Ride” fundraiser Oct. 11.
While Ernst has not officially said if she plans to run again, several other candidates have announced their 2026 campaigns for the Senate seat. Four Democrats, state Rep. Josh Turek, D-Council Bluffs, state Sen. Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, Des Moines School Board Chair Jackie Norris and former Knoxville Chamber of Commerce Director Nathan Sage are running for the Democratic nomination. Iowa Rep. J.D. Scholten, D-Sioux City, was also running for the seat, but dropped out to endorse Turek. Among Republicans, former state lawmaker Jim Carlin and Joshua Smith, a former Libertarian candidate for the state Senate, have also announced campaigns.
In the wake of the story stating Ernst will not run for reelection, other candidates for the U.S. Senate said the report reflects Iowa voters’ want for a change in representation. Wahls said in a statement a recent survey from Public Policy Polling found Wahls leading Ernst in the race.
“Joni Ernst is retiring because she knows our campaign is on track to win,” Wahls said in a statement. “Our campaign was the strongest to take on Ernst, and I will take on any other politician who embraces the same corrupt agenda of the Washington establishment that screws over Iowans in favor of big corporations, billionaires, and self-serving and cowardly politicians.”
Norris released a statement Friday saying she is “ready to defeat any Republican” in the 2026 election cycle.
“Joni Ernst is seeing the writing on the wall that Iowans are ready for change,” Norris said. “Republicans’ destructive and unpopular agenda has failed Iowans and we are paying the price for Joni Ernst’s votes to slash Medicaid and health care, raise housing and energy costs and explode the deficit, to pay for tax giveaways for billionaires.”
Ernst gained national attention after she said “well, we all are going to die,” when responding to a person criticizing Medicaid cuts included in Republicans’ budget reconciliation package at a May town hall.
Turek said in a social media post Friday that the Republican nominee will have to defend the Medicaid cuts to Iowans on the 2026 campaign trail.
“Whether it’s Joni Ernst or someone else, they’ll have to answer for supporting cutting Iowans’ healthcare in favor of a tax break for billionaires,” Turek wrote. “When I’m in the Senate, I’ll never forget about Iowa.”
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.
