Sen. Joni Ernst’s victory in Iowa is a positive sign for Republicans, who are fighting to hold on to every seat they have to keep their majority in the Senate.
WHO 13 of Iowa called the race for Ernst just past midnight Eastern time.
Ernst, 50, was first elected to office in 2015 and will now serve a second term after strong grassroots campaign efforts, which included her conducting a tour of all 99 counties in Iowa, affectionately known as a “full Grassley,” in reference to Iowa’s other senator, Republican Chuck Grassley, who was elected in 1980.
Ernst’s race was viewed as one of the most closely watched elections in the country as she faced a competitive challenge from Theresa Greenfield, a real estate executive from Des Moines. The race was categorized by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report as being a “Toss Up.”
Greenfield used elements of her campaign cycle to paint Ernst as weak on the coronavirus response and ambiguous on her positions on the Supreme Court.
Following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ernst was put even more to the test as Democrats and liberal groups quickly pointed to her 2018 comments in which she claimed that a sitting president shouldn’t nominate justices to the high court in an election year. She then changed her tune when Senate Republicans chose to move Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation process forward.
Ernst, an Iraq War veteran, made history in 2014 as she became the first woman from Iowa elected to either chamber of Congress. She will remain serving as one of a handful of Republican women serving in the legislative branch.
Her victory will be a good sign for Republicans as her seat remained one of the most vulnerable seats to be flipped by Democrats, who only need to net four wins total to retake the Senate majority. Currently, Republicans hold 53 seats, and 47 senators are members of the Democratic caucus, including two independents.
