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Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst hires campaign manager to oversee 2026 re-election bid
Ernst has not formally announced, but hire signals she’s building a campaign to run for a third term
Jun. 4, 2025 4:32 pm
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Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst has hired Iowan Bryan Kraber to manage her re-election campaign.
Ernst is serving her second, six-year term representing Iowa in the U.S. Senate and is up for re-election in 2026. She told reporters in 2024 that she intended to seek a third term, but has not formally launched a re-election campaign.
Wednesday’s announcement, though, sends a clear signal that the Republican incumbent is building an operation to run for a third term.
Kraber previously worked on Ernst's successful 2020 re-election campaign and has more than a decade of experience in Iowa politics, according to a news release from Ernst’s campaign.
"I'm thrilled to have Bryan Kraber leading my re-election campaign," Ernst said in a statement. "A native Iowan, Bryan knows our state, he knows how to win, and he's ready to hit the ground running. His experience, energy, and grit will be an incredible asset as we fight for Iowans in the U.S. Senate."
In a statement, Kraber called Ernst "a tireless advocate for Iowans and a leader I deeply respect."
Wednesday’s announcement comes less than a week after Ernst received national backlash over comments made at a Friday town hall in Parkersburg about reductions to Medicaid spending, and as the Senate race begins to heat up.
While Ernst answered a question about proposed Medicaid spending reductions, a town hall attendee shouted over her that “people will die” as a result. Ernst dismissively responded: "People are not — well, we all are going to die. For heaven’s sakes, folks."
Ernst quickly followed up saying Medicaid spending will focus on the most vulnerable who meet the program's eligibility requirements.
The comment went viral and drew national attention and widespread condemnation from Democrats who have criticized the impact the potential cuts will have on Iowa’s and the nation’s health care landscape.
At an event in Cedar Rapids Friday afternoon, Ernst called the response to her comment “hysteria.”
On Saturday, Ernst leaned into her comments by posting a sarcastic apology video, where she appears to be walking through a cemetery, mocking those upset over her flippant reply to constituents' worries about health care and food assistance cuts.
On Monday, Ernst told CBS News: "I'm very compassionate, and you need to listen to the entire conversation.“
Senator has drawn multiple challengers
Ernst has already drawn Democratic and Republican challengers.
State Rep. J.D. Scholten, D-Sioux City, announced Monday a run for the seat Ernst has held since 2015. Fellow Democrat and Knoxville Chamber of Commerce director Nathan Sage, an Iowa Army and Marine Corps veteran, also is seeking the party’s nomination to challenge Ernst for her U.S. Senate seat.
State Sen. Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, and state Rep. Josh Turek, D-Council Bluffs, have said they are considering running.
Republican Joshua Smith, a Navy Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, has announced a campaign against Ernst for the GOP nomination.
Others exploring a bid for the U.S. Senate seat include Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn, the first Libertarian to serve in partisan elected office in Iowa.
Republican former state Sen. Jim Carlin of Sioux City has also field paperwork with the Federal Election Commission establishing a campaign committee to run for the seat. Carlin, though, has not officially announced his candidacy.
Carlin, a staunch pro-Trump conservative who campaigned on his belief that the 2020 election was stolen, unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley for the Iowa GOP nomination in 2022. Grassley won with 73.3 percent of the primary vote and went on to win re-election to an eighth term, defeating Democratic challenger Mike Franken.
Carlin did not immediately return a message seeking comment Wednesday.
Ernst recently announced her annual Roast and Ride fundraiser will be held Oct. 11. She officially announced her 2020 re-election campaign at her 2019 Roast and Ride fundraiser.
National elections forecaster Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a project of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, recently changed its rating for Iowa’s 2026 U.S. Senate election from “safe Republican” to “likely Republican” in the wake of Ernst’s town hall comment and Scholten’s campaign announcement.
The piece noted that Scholten nearly upset former Congressman Steve King in 2018 and has consistently outperformed the Democratic presidential candidate in his multiple western Iowa campaigns.
“Aside from having a credible opponent, Ernst could face a more challenging environment than she faced in either of her previous two elections,” J. Miles Coleman and Kyle Kondik wrote of the Crystal Ball’s rating shift. “It’s possible that 2026 could be like 2018: Iowa did not have a Senate election that year, but Democrats did end up winning three of the state’s four U.S. House seats that year, and we suspect that if Iowa had had a Senate election, it likely at least would have been close.”
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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