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Lake Clear As they prepare for the primary next year, Iowa’s crowded field of Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate in 2026 made a case to party members about themselves and their campaigns.
Each of the five Democrats running for the seat now by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst gave a brief overview of their backgrounds, platforms, and personal attacks on Ernst during the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual fundraiser, known as the Wing Ding, held at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake.
Even though the group represents a variety of ideological backgrounds and geographical locations, they all decided that Ernst must quit Congress.
These Medicaid cuts will result in the closure of rural clinics and hospitals throughout our state. The cost of utilities is rising. During his address, Coralville, Iowa, state senator Zach Wahls stated that while the wealthy are getting richer, we are falling behind. According to Joni Ernst, she would visit Washington and make them squeal, but Washington changed her, not the other way around. Joni Ernst is all screech and no bacon, in my opinion.
A chain reaction of Iowa Democrats entering the race was triggered by Ernst’s contentious remarks during a town hall in May. When a member of the audience expressed concern about work requirements and Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program expenditure cuts in the GOP-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was signed into law in July, she responded, “Well, we all are going to die.”
Ernst and other Republicans claim that Medicaid will now prioritize the most vulnerable individuals who fulfill the program’s qualifying conditions.
Ernst hasn’t made a formal announcement about running for reelection, but she had a campaign war chest of over $3.4 million as of the end of June and hired a campaign manager.
Iowa’s 2026 U.S. Senate race is predicted by the majority of national political analysts to stay in Republican control. Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Sabato’s Crystal Ball have lowered the election outcome from safe Republican earlier this year to likely Republican.
Nathan Sage, a former executive director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Iowa Army and Marine Corps, launched a campaign against Ernst in April, sparking a series of Democratic campaign announcements.
Sage highlighted his experience as a mechanic and other service industry positions, describing himself as “not your typical politician.”
In his statement on Thursday night, Sage remarked, “Perhaps I need to be a little fat, hairy, and swearing ex-Marine to be able to get the attention.” We must realize that the world we live in is over and that we will do something better. In this planet, we will fight for people.
Soon after Ernst’s May town hall, state lawmakers, notably Sioux City state representative J.D. Scholten and state representative Wahls, entered the race, partly due to her remarks.
The only way one of them will be elected to the Senate, Scholten said, is if the other candidates concentrate on sections of Iowa outside of metro areas where Democrats have a difficult time winning over voters.
“There will be a lot of focus in places like Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City, so I really want to challenge the candidates to get out there,” Scholten said of our primary. We need to visit all 99 counties in 2026 to win. Since that’s how you outperform, we need to engage with non-Democrats as well as Democrats and invite them to join our coalition.
Scholten was a candidate in 2020 and 2018 for Iowa’s most Republican Congressional District, the Fourth Congressional District. In 2020, he lost by almost 24 points to current Republican Representative Randy Feenstra. Scholten had fallen 3.3 points short of then-Rep. Steve King two years prior.
In a district that President Donald Trump carries, Scholten defeated Republican Josh Steinhoff by 6.9 points in the 2024 state House election.
Rep. Josh Turek of Council Bluffs, who began his campaign on Tuesday, also demonstrated his capacity to prevail in areas of the state that tilt Republican. He was elected to the state legislature in 2022 by a margin of six votes.
Turek won the same district by five points in 2024, but Trump won the entire Pottawattamie County by twenty points. Turek went on to say that recent Medicaid cuts were particularly personal to him because, as a child, he was dependent on social services due to his spina bifida and the 21 surgeries he had before turning 12.
We all heard Joni Ernst say, “Well, we’re all going to die,” which is why I’m running for the U.S. Senate. “I have firsthand knowledge of this,” Turek stated. Working with people in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors and witnessing their hardships, I have surmounted a great deal of financial hardship in the health care industry.
“As a teacher, I have witnessed families in the state struggle to get food and housing,” said Jackie Norris, chair of the Des Moines School Board, who started her campaign in early August. According to her, changing the existing quo and gaining new congressional representation is the greatest approach to assist Iowans.
According to Norris, red vs blue is not the answer to issues. The shouting, the confusion, the fatigue. We’re all worn out. No one is being held responsible, and it’s not working.
The main speaker at the event was Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol Police officer who reacted to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. In 2024, he ran for the 3rd Congressional District of Maryland, but lost the Democratic primary. Dunn discussed his personal experience reacting to the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and reminded politicians to keep in mind that they work for the people as they continue on the campaign path.
Iowa’s primary election is set for June 2, 2026.
Contributing to this report was Jared McNett of the Sioux City Journal and Gazette Deputy Des Moines Bureau Chief Tom Barton.
