Former state lawmaker announces campaign to challenge Joni Ernst in GOP primary for US Senate seat

Iowa Republican and former state lawmaker Jim Carlin announced Friday he is once again running for the U.S. Senate, this time seeking to challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst in the 2026 Iowa GOP primary.

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Carlin is a former state senator and attorney from Sergeant Bluff who served in the Iowa Legislature from 2017 to 2022. He is founder of the Iowa Liberty Network, a Christian, grassroots organization focused on electing “authentic, constitutional conservatives” to the Iowa Legislature and other public offices, according to its website.

Carlin previously ran unsuccessfully against Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley in 2022.

A staunch pro-Trump conservative who criticized Grassley for not pushing to investigate unsubstantiated allegations of widespread fraud in 2020 election, Carlin lost the primary with 26.5 percent of the vote. Grassley went on to win re-election to an eighth term, defeating Democratic challenger Mike Franken.

Carlin, speaking to The Gazette, said he felt a lot of the same reasons why he challenged Grassley in 2022 are valid today.

“The budget deficit is a huge issue,” he said. “... The fact the deficit went from $17 trillion to $36 trillion during her years of service when she promised to fight for a balanced budget, you know, there’s the rhetoric and then there’s the votes. And when you take a close look at the votes, Sen. Ernst is not following through on what she said she was going to do.”

According to his campaign website, Carlin is running for U.S. Senate “to represent everyday Iowans, not the D.C. Swamp.”

“Iowans deserve a Senator who will tell them the truth, work to improve their lives and put their interests first,” according to his campaign.

“That’s why I’m stepping up to run in the Republican primary against Senator Joni Ernst. Because I believe Iowa — and America — deserve a true conservative voice in the U.S. Senate,” Carlin said in a letter on his campaign website, calling himself a “proud” and “unapologetic supporter of President Donald Trump.”

“Right now, the government is harming more than helping us,” Carlin told The Gazette. “... And one of the big concerns I have is the government now is more defined by corporations than by the interests of people.”

Once promising to “make ’em squeal,” Carlin argues Ernst “instead made deals,” referring to a viral campaign ad highlighting Ernst’s upbringing castrating hogs on an Iowa farm preparing her well to cut “pork” or wasteful government spending.

In a news release, he said Ernst angered "America First conservatives" with her initial reluctance to support Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick as U.S. secretary of defense, over allegations of sexual impropriety, financial mismanagement, public drunkenness and other personal misconduct. Hegseth has denied the allegations, and Ernst ultimately voted to confirm him to the position.

A retired lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard, Ernst faced backlash from Trump supporters and MAGA activists for her initial hesitancy to back Hegseth amid a building pressure campaign.

Carlin also criticized Ernst over her support for providing military aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia and her 2022 vote in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act as examples of Ernst not voting in line with conservative values.

Ernst received censures from at least six county parties after her vote for the act. She has defended her vote, saying the law provides greater protections for religious liberty and maintains the status quo when it comes to marriage laws in Iowa.

Carlin also pledges to make border security and deportations his top priority; supports a balanced-budget amendment for Congress; and supports policies that ban taxpayer funding of abortion, promote adoption and support for crisis pregnancy centers, ensure health care workers aren't discriminated against for refusing to participate in abortion due to religious or moral objections, and oppose efforts to enshrine abortion access in federal law.

While in the Iowa Legislature, Carlin helped pass legislation banning abortion after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, and introduced legislation to require individuals use public school bathrooms based on their sex assigned at birth as opposed to those that aligns with their gender identity.

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Ernst is serving her second, six-year term representing Iowa in the U.S. Senate and is up for re-election in 2026. She has not formally launched a re-election campaign, but has hired a campaign manager, sending a clear signal she is building an operation to run for a third term.

She also 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.

Bryan Kraber, Ernst’s campaign manager, said the GOP incumbent and combat veteran will continue her work to deliver results and conservative leadership for Iowa's working families, farmers and veterans.

“Senator Ernst has a proven record of conservative leadership — cutting waste, securing the border, and making Washington squeal to keep Iowans’ hard-earned money in their own pockets,” Kraber said in a statement. “... Iowans already saw through Carlin’s last failed campaign, and they’ll reject his desperate attempt at relevance again in 2026.”

Others have announced campaigns to challenge Ernst

Joshua Smith, an Indianola Republican and a former vice chair of the Libertarian National Committee, also has announced a campaign against Ernst for the GOP nomination.

State Rep. J.D. Scholten, a Democrat from 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.

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.

Carlin has scheduled a formal campaign launch event for Thursday at Calvary Community Church in Cedar Rapids. Scheduled speakers include Sen. Kevin Alons, R-Salix; Sen. Doug Campbell, R-Mason City; Rep. Eddie Andrews, R-Johnston; and Rep. Samantha Fett, R-Carlisle.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com