Senator Joni Ernst de l’Iowa announces that she will not ask for her re -election at Midterms 2026

The Republican Senator Joni Ernst Iowa officially announced on Monday that it would not present itself to re -election in the middle of next year.

“Having been raised in a family that gave me so much love and support, now as our family is growing and growing, I am my time for me to return to them. After a huge prayer and a reflection, I will not seek re -election in 2026,” said Ernst, 55, who was elected for the first time in the Senate in 2014, in a video published on social media.

Ernst, a retired army reserve and Iowa National Guard officer Who served in the war in Iraq, has been fighting for months on the opportunity to present themselves to re -election in 2026.

Trump not on the ballot but center-forward in the elections in 2025

The republican senator Joni Ernst of Iowa announced on Tuesday that she would not ask for his re-election in the mid-term of 2026. (Reuters)

“It was not an easy decision,” said the senator in her Video ad.

The senator’s decision to retire rather than requesting a third six -year term creates an open seat in Iowa.

The GOP representative, Ashley Hinson, a former presenter of new televisions who is in his third term representing the 2nd district of the Iowa congress, which covers the northeast part of the State, plans to run to succeed Ernst, several sources confirmed last week in Fox News.

Four seats in the Key Senate, the GOP aims to return to the mid-term elections next year

Iowa was once a top of the top of the high -level battle that the former president Barack Obama Carried in its Victoires de la Maison Blanche 2008 and 2012. But the state moved to the right during the recent electoral cycles, President Donald Trump bearing the state of eight points in 2020 and 13 points in November.

The republican representative Ashley Hinson of Iowa is expected to launch a Senate campaign in the race to succeed the retirement of GOP Senator Joni Ernst, according to sources. (Getty Images)

The Republicans currently hold the two seats in the American Senate of the State – Ernst and the longtime senator Chuck Grassley – and the four districts of the Congress of Iowa, as well as all the offices on the level of the State, with the exception of the State auditor, who is held by the Democrat Rob Sand, who presents himself for the governor next year.

But Democrats in Iowa are under tension after having reversed two seats of the Senate of the GOP state in special elections this year.

Four Democrats are already presenting themselves in the Senate in Iowa. The field includes the representative of the Josh Turek State, a paralympian basketball player in a wheelchair, the senator from the state Zach Wahls, the executive director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, Nathan Sage and the president of the School Board of Monks, Jackie Norris.

“An open seat in Iowa is only the last example of democrats expanding the senatorial map,” said Lauren French, spokesperson for the majority of the Senate aligned by PAC Democrats, in a statement.

But Senator Tim Scott of Southern Carolina, Chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC), said in a statement: “The NRSC is confident that Iowans elect a Republican to continue to fight for them and defend the order of President Trump in 2026.”

Senate Democrats recruiting the best candidates in Push to Ram Back

Ernst drew national attention for the first time 11 years ago with her advertisements “Make ‘Em Crieal” while she won the Senate’s leading elections in the race to succeed in retiring the Democratic Senator Tom Harkin.

The republican senator Joni Ernst of Iowa is for a digital interview Fox News, on June 2, 2023, at monks, Iowa. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

The senator, thanks to his military history, has often taken the Lead on defense problems. She is the first veteran woman in the fight to serve in the Senate and made the fight against sexual assault in the army, after being a survivor of sexual assault herself.

Since Trump’s victory in the White House in 2016, Ernst has tried to find a balance between his support for the President when she has broken a more traditional republican program.

But earlier this year, Ernst triggered controversy after saying: “We are all going to die”, during the response of a voter at a meeting of the town hall which raised concerns concerning the Medicaid cuts in the GOP National Policy Bill.

Ernst, in his video, stressed that “11 years ago, Iowans elected me like the first veteran combat woman in the American Senate and they did it with a mission in mind – to make Washington shout. And I am proud to say that we have delivered. We have reduced waste, fraud and abuses through the federal government”.

And looking towards the future, she promised “I don’t slow down anytime soon. There is still so much to do before the end of my mandate.”

Republican senator Joni Ernst de l’Iowa, seen on June 3, 2023, during his annual Roast and Ride fund collection event, decided not to request his re -election in 2026. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

Republicans are not only intended to defend themselves, but also to develop the current majority of the 53-47 Senate in the elections of next year.

Republicans of the Senate appreciated a favorable map in the 2024 cycle when they overthrow four seats from blue to red to win back the majority.

Key House Gop Moderate Don Bacon from Nebraska will not seek re -election

But the ruling party – the Republicans at the moment – faces political -opposite winds in mid -term elections. However, a current reading of the 2026 card indicates that the GOP may be able to take offense in certain key states.

In the battlefield, Georgia, which Trump narrowly carried in the race for the White House of last year, the Republicans consider the senator of the first mandate Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable democrat in re -election of next year.

They are also Target Battleground MichiganWhere Democratic Senator Gary Peters retires at the end of next year, and Swing State New Hampshire, where longtime Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen decided not to ask for a fourth six -year term in the Senate.

The Target List of the NRSC is also the Minnesota in Blue-Leaning, where Democratic Senator Tina Smith does not present herself to re-election.

Click here to obtain the Fox News app

But the GOP defends an open seat in the battlefield of North Carolina, where the Republican senator Thom Tills decided not to be re -elected. And the Republicans will probably be forced to spend resources to defend Senator Jon Husted from Ohio – who was appointed to succeed the former senator and president now Vice JD Vance – while he faces the former Democratic Sherrod Brown next year.

Meanwhile, the Democrats also aim for the moderate senator Susan Collins – who has not yet announced her expected re -election in 2026 – in Maine à Moyen Bleu.