Republican Sen. Joni Ernst is facing some intraparty unrest in her home state of Iowa as she weighs whether to support President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. re-election in 2026.
Ernst’s allies are not concerned about a potential primary challenge, noting that she remains popular among Republicans in the state and that she has strong conservative credentials. But conversations with a dozen Republican leaders and strategists from Iowa revealed anger toward Ernst among grassroots conservatives who want Republicans to back Trump’s Cabinet picks — and an eye roll from some other Republicans who say the ordinary Republicans don’t care about Ernst to the extent some activists say.
The episode illustrates the pressure Republican members of Congress have faced over the Trump years — pressure that is doubling as Trump prepares to retake office with the Republican Party in a tighter grip than ever before . Elected officials are fully aware of Trump’s tendency to retaliate for perceived disloyalty, and so are activists who can use high-profile situations as pressure points against those politicians.
And all this is happening in an era when voter anger and anti-establishment sentiments have made primaries much more dangerous for the incumbent.
“Here’s my problem: She’s not fully behind President Trump and his agenda and the selection of his team,” said Bob Vander Plaats, an evangelical power broker in Iowa.
“The people of Iowa, like the people of this country, feel like they have sent a message to the country with a resounding victory for President Trump,” said Vander Plaats, who endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and not Trump, ahead of the Iowa elections. GOP caucuses. “When you elect a president, you basically assume that he will be able to put together his team to implement his agenda.”
But Mayor Brett Barker, chairman of the GOP of Story County, in Nevada, Iowa, said he believes anger toward Ernst is “flared up.”
“After speaking to many voters in person, most are not following the rage of the day on Twitter,” said Barker, who endorsed Nikki Haley ahead of the Republican caucuses.
Still, Vander Plaats said the future Senate vote on Hegseth’s nomination as defense secretary could fuel a primary challenge against Ernst. No prominent Republicans have stepped forward to oppose Ernst, who is in her second term, but conservative radio host Steve Deace recently suggested he could enter the race.
However, Deace said he would need Trump’s support.
“Donald Trump is king of the Republican Party; he conquered it, and he earned it,” Deace told NBC News. “If he no longer wants Joni Ernst to become a senator, she won’t be one.”
Trump has not suggested he would support a challenger to Ernst if she opposes his choice. And a person familiar with the Trump transition team’s view of Ernst’s role in the confirmation process said any threats or discussions about mounting a primary challenge against her in 2026 are premature.
But some of his allies, such as Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk, have said senators like Ernst will face primary challengers if they don’t support Trump’s nominees.
These threats have sparked resistance from Ernst supporters.
“A lot of this is caused by gaslighting and attention seeking. What can we say today to get more clicks? Let’s attack a U.S. Senator for not doing what we demand at this exact moment,” said former Polk County GOP Chairman Will Rogers.
“Charlie Kirk did not elect Joni Ernst to this position,” Rogers added. “The people of Iowa did that.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Ernst said: “Joni is honored to serve Iowans and remains focused on why they sent her to the Senate in the first place – to make the big spenders in Washington scream.”
In the spotlight
Iowa Republicans are divided over whether Ernst will ultimately face a primary challenge. But she remains scrutinized as she remains in the spotlight during Hegseth’s confirmation process.
Ernst has not said how she will vote on Hegseth, although she has raised questions about a sexual assault allegation against him in 2017. (Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing.)
After meeting Monday with Hegseth, a former Army National Guard officer and Fox News personality, Ernst said in a statement that she appreciated his “responsiveness and respect for the process.” She said Hegseth had committed to a Defense Department audit and to hiring a senior official who would prioritize preventing sexual violence.
“While I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on the truth, not anonymous sources,” Ernst said.
But that wasn’t enough to allay some of the public’s anxiety in a state that Trump won by 13 points in November.
“I didn’t see any of the energy against her on the ground here dissipate after her statement seemed to soften her stance on Pete’s fight,” Deace said.
Gerald Retzlaff, the chairman of the Jones County Republican Party, said the annoyance with Ernst emerged at a recent meeting of three dozen central committee members.
“There was some discussion about the frustration that was going on,” Retzlaff said. “We’re talking about a few counties that are frustrated. … She needs to remember what her constituents want here.”
Page County GOP Chairman Bryan Whipp said that if Ernst does not ultimately support Hegseth, “there will certainly be more people who oppose her, and there is no doubt about that.”
Key challenges are mounting across the board, with veteran Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, drawing his first GOP opponent in four decades in 2022. Grassley won that primary by a healthy 72% – an easy victory, but not the best either. coronation he had enjoyed throughout his Senate career during the primaries. Ernst was unopposed in her 2020 primary for a second term.
As fears about Ernst grow in Iowa’s most MAGA-affiliated counties, other GOP leaders in the state say the outrage is overblown.
David Kochel, a Republican strategist from Iowa who has been friends with Ernst since college and has advised her on previous campaigns, said he believes the Ernst backlash exists more online than in the rolling plains of Iowa.
“I think a lot of it is exaggerated, that people online are pushing an agenda,” he said. “She survived a sexual assault, and I think that means she has to ask questions.”
Primary lurking?
Some Trump allies have called on senators who oppose his nominees to confront primary challengers.
“We’re told Joni Ernst and Lindsay Graham are trying to end Pete Hegseth,” Turning Point USA’s Kirk posted on X this month without citing his sources. “Pete Hegseth is the red line. If you vote against him, there will be primaries.”
Billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk has also threatened those who reject Trump’s Cabinet nominees. While not specifically aimed at Ernst, Musk’s threat carries added weight given his wealth and proven heavy spending in support of Trump. Musk, the richest man in the world, has spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars this year on groups boosting Trump, according to recent campaign finance reports.
Ernst recently told NBC News that Trump has not threatened to support a primary challenge against her.
Ernst has indicated she plans to run for a third term, and so far Deace is the only prominent Republican who says he might challenge her in a primary.
Deace also suggested that former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker, whom Trump recently picked as U.S. ambassador to NATO, could be a strong challenger. But some Iowa Republicans were skeptical that Whitaker would run against Ernst.
Retzlaff, chairman of the Jones County Republican Party, said the Ernst rumor mill is already churning and there are “two or three names” floating around. He suggested a candidate could step in before Hegseth’s confirmation vote.
Ernst’s critics say her role in Hegseth’s nomination is their latest complaint against her.
“What this has provided is rocket fuel for the simmering frustration and fear that was already there,” Deace said.
Some critics pointed to Ernst’s 2022 vote to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, prompting several Iowa Republican county parties to censure or condemn her. Ernst said at the time that the bill “protects religious freedoms and will simply maintain the status quo in Iowa.”
Her votes on the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun safety bill, and her opposition to banning transgender Americans from serving in the military have also drawn the ire of some Iowans.
But Ernst’s allies say she is a staunch conservative, and they pointed to her work to cut government spending, starting with a high-profile 2014 campaign ad that highlighted her experience castrating pigs and vowed to recruit Washington politicians grab them and ‘make them scream’. .”
Ten years later, Ernst’s commitment to cutting government spending remains. She is the chair and founder of the new DOGE Caucus in the Senate, referring to the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’, which Trump has appointed Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as leaders. Ernst recently released a report suggesting that federal employees have abused work-from-home policies and describing new ways to cut federal government spending.
“No one should try to say she’s a RINO. That’s beyond all bounds,” said David Oman, a Republican strategist and former co-chair of the Iowa Republican Party who served as Ernst’s finance chairman in 2014, using the acronym for “Republican in Name Only.”
“Are there people who are disappointed because she doesn’t have the perfect MAGA scorecard? Yes,” Oman later added. “Does it rise to the level of a primary challenge that would cost tens of millions of dollars, pitting Republicans against Republicans? I doubt it.”
Kochel, Ernst’s friend and advisor, pointed to Grassley’s primary to argue that no candidate is immune to a challenge from the right.
“She will win a primary and a general election. She is an excellent candidate, but more importantly, she is a good person, a good leader for Iowa,” Kochel said confidently.
Gary Leffler, a Trump superfan who recently announced his candidacy for Polk County Republican Party chairman, urged patience, noting that Hegseth has yet to vote — nor does he have any other Trump priorities for his second term .
“We’re in the fifth inning of the game. … Let’s see what happens,” Leffler said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
