Trump approves Ashley Hinson for the headquarters of the Iowa Senate while Joni Ernst retires

On Friday, President Donald Trump approved Republican representative Ashley Hinson as she runs to succeed the retirement of Gop Joni Ernst in Iowa.

HINSON – A former presenter of New TVs who is in her third term representing the 2nd district of the Iowa congress, which covers the northeast part of the State – presented his support for Trump when she launched her Senate campaign on Tuesday.

“I run to be President Trump’s best ally in the American Senate,” she said. And in a digital interview with Fox News this week, Hinson stressed that she was “proud to stand” with Trump.

Trump, in an article on social networks, said: “I know Ashley well, and she is a winner!”

Hinson launches the Senate offer in the Ernst success race for Iowa

The republican representative Ashley Hinson of Iowa, who presents himself in the 2026 race to succeed in retirement of the Senator of Gop Joni Ernst, is seated for a digital interview Fox News on September 4, 2025 in Washington DC (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

“I know Ashley well, and she is a winner! A loving and proud mother of two sons, Ashley is a wonderful person, has always delivered for Iowa and will continue to do so in the American Senate,” said the president.

“Ashley Hinson will be an exceptional senator and with my complete and total approval – she will not let you down!”

Trump’s support followed the previous approvals of the leader in the majority of the Senate, Senator John Thune, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which is the campaign arm of the GOP of the Senate.

“We need conservative combatants in the Senate – and that’s exactly what we will get with Ashley Hinson,” wrote Thune early Friday by approving Hinson.

And the president of the NRSC, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, said: “Having traveled the Iowa with Ashley, I know that she is the fighter whose Hawkeye state needs to deliver the agenda of President Trump in 2026 and beyond.”

Hinson does not have the primary field of the GOP for itself. Former senator from the State Jim Carlin and the veteran Joshua Smith had already entered the principal before Ernst’s announcement.

But the support of Trump, Thune and the NRSC will stimulate Hinson more, who was already considered the favorite of the appointment, and will probably dissuade others from entering primary. The president’s influence on the GOP is immense, and his approval in a republican primary is extremely influential.

The launch of Hinson’s campaign occurred a few hours after ERNST, in a video on social networks, officially announced that it would not ask for its re -election in the middle of next year.

“After a huge prayer and a reflection, I will not ask for a 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 networks.

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

Ernst, an army reserve to retirement and an Iowa National Guard officer who served during the war in Iraq, had fought for months to present herself to re -election in 2026. And in her video, she said: “It was not an easy decision.”

Ernst drew national attention for the first time 11 years ago with her advertisements “Make ‘Em Squeal” while she won the high level elections of the Senate in Iowa in the race to succeed in removing the longtime Democratic Senator Tom Harkin.

And Ernst underlined in his video that “11 years ago, Iowans elected me as 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.”

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)

Hinson, in a Social media messagethanked Ernst for his “incredible service to our state and our nation” as well as for his friendship. “Iowa is better thanks to your altruistic service,” she said.

In an Iowa radio interview on Tuesday, she said that among her priorities when she presents herself in the Senate, there are “secure borders, keeping men away from girls sports, reducing taxes for our worker families, defending agriculture from Iowa and helping our young Iowans who try to buy a home and start a family.”

Hinson also undertook to campaign in the 99 counties of Iowa, starting with a launch event on Friday.

And as she entered the race, Hinson was approved by the Republican senses. Jim Banks of Indiana, Katie Britt from Alabama and Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma.

The leader of the majority of the room, representative Steve Scalie, the representative of the majority of whips Tom Emmer, the president of the republican management of the Chamber, Elise Stefanik and the chief of the majority of the Iowa, Bobby Kaufmann, also argued Hinson.

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Communications Director Maeve Coyle, Following Hinson’s Announcement, Argued That “Republicans Failed to Convince Joni Ernst to Run for Reelection, and now they may be Stuck with Ashley Hinson, Who Has Repeatedly vote Life Harder for Iowans by Voting to Slash Medicaid, Cheering on the Chaotic Tariffs that Threaten Iowa’s Economy, Voting Against Measures to reduce the cost of insulin and threaten Social Security.

Responding, Hinson told Fox News Digital: “I think they are at best informed.”

And she accused that “when I hear the lies and the effects that come out of the left, it is only to dissipate for the fact that they have no message and no real chef other than Bernie and AOC and now Mamdani in New York”, as she referred to Senator Bernie Sanders de Vermont, the representative of the namenage Alexandria of New York.

“If it is the direction they want to take our country, I think the iowans will reject it with all my heart,” she predicted.

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 nine points in 2016, eight points in 2020 and 13 points last November.

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

The delegation of the Iowa congress is delegation teams of the congress during the annual fundraising of the roast funds and the conduct of Senator Joni Ernst at monks, Iowa, June 3, 2023. From left to right, Governor Marianne Milian, Reensing, Ashley Hinson, Rep. (Rachel Mummey / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Five Democrats are already presented 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

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.

But the ruling party – the Republicans – traditionally faced with 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 targeting Battleground Michigan, where Democratic Senator Gary Peters retires at the end of next year, and Swing State New Hampshire, where longtime Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen has 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.