U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst had a message Wednesday for the Democrats lining up to challenge her in 2026: “Bring it on.”
Speaking to the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale, the two-term senator highlighted her relationship with President Donald Trump and called on Iowa Republicans to unite behind the party’s candidates in 2026, but she did not say if she's running for reelection.
Ernst said 2026 will be a big election year, and Democrats “don’t stand a chance.”
“Every day, we get a new Democratic member of the [Iowa] House or Senate that decides to run for this Senate seat,” she said. “Bring it on. Bring it on, folks, because I tell you, at the end of the day, Iowa is going to be red.”
Five Democrats have announced they are running to unseat her in 2026: Knoxville Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Nathan Sage, state Rep. J.D. Scholten of Sioux City, state Sen. Zach Wahls of Coralville, Des Moines School Board Chair Jackie Norris and state Rep. Josh Turek of Council Bluffs.
Ernst is also facing a Republican primary challenge from former state Sen. Jim Carlin and Joshua Smith, a veteran from Indianola.
She urged members of the conservative club to vote in the Republican primary, and then come together and support GOP candidates next November.
“I got a lot of years under my belt, and I’ve got a lot of confidence — not just in me, but all of our candidates up and down the ticket,” Ernst said. “Here in Iowa, we have fabulous representation. We have people that get things done.”
Ernst highlights her relationship with Trump and his cabinet
Ernst said her relationships with Trump and high-ranking cabinet officials have allowed her to get things done for Iowans.
“I want to point out to you, too, how important relationships are in this administration,” she said. “I work very well with President Trump. All of those cabinet members know it. And when they need something, or I need something, we are constantly collaborating and working together.”
Ernst said the first bill Trump signed into law this year — the Laken Riley Act — included a policy she proposed and named Sarah’s Law.
The law was named after Sarah Root, a Council Bluffs resident who died in a car crash in Omaha in 2016. Police arrested Eswin Mejia, who did not have legal status, for allegedly driving drunk and killing Root. After he got out of jail on bail, police couldn’t find him.
Ernst said earlier this year, she asked U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to find Mejia, and the Trump administration found him four days later in Honduras. She said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio worked with Honduras to have Mejia extradited to the U.S.
“I was able to be at the airport in Omaha when they hauled that sorry you-know-what off of that plane to face justice for the Root family,” Ernst said to applause. “I’ve been on this for nine years. I’m like a dog on a bone.”
Mejia is now in jail in Nebraska awaiting trial.
Ernst also highlighted her work on the major tax and spending law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. She said she convinced Trump in a late-night phone call to update reference prices and increase the safety net for commodity farmers.
“He was like, ‘Oh Joni, alright, I’ll talk to my team about your farmer stuff,’” Ernst said. "So yes, we were able to get that included in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill.’ And I’m glad that I have the trust of my colleagues and the administration officials to be the one out there attempting to convince the president to include our farmers in some of these items.”
Ernst said the bill that rescinded $9 billion for international aid and public broadcasting was built on her work as founder of the Senate Department of Government Efficiency Caucus. She said she presented Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with $2 trillion in suggested government budget cuts after Trump won the election.
“Now trying to get to that $2 trillion mark is pretty darn hard,” Ernst said. “We’ve got a lot of pushback coming from the Democrats and the unions that exist within federal government. So we’re running into a number of roadblocks, but we will continue to build upon that success.”
She said passing a “slimmed down” Farm Bill is her next goal.
