At Ernst fundraiser, GOP urges change in national leadership

DES MOINES — Donning a blue quarter-zip sweatshirt and an Iowa State University Army ROTC hat, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst throws a weighted backpack onto her back inside a large building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and heads outside with a gaggle of fellow politicians and supporters.

Before going on a ruck march through the fairgrounds to kick off her annual “Roast and Ride” fundraiser, Ernst highlighted the Cpl. Daegan Page Foundation, which received all the proceeds from the senator’s event.

Daegan Page was a Red Oak native and Marine Corps corporal who was one of 13 U.S. military members killed in a bombing at the Kabul airport during the evacuation of Afghanistan.

Page’s cause was personal to Ernst, she said, as she grew up playing in school sports against his mother, and is a close friend of his grandmother.

“His loss of life was tragic for southwest Iowa and southeast Nebraska,” Ernst said.

The Cpl. Daegan Page Foundation provides funding to nonprofit organizations, often focused on veterans issues. Recipients of grants include a Nebraska-based German shepherd rescue group and a Nebraska veterans hockey team.

The Roast and Ride was back Saturday for the first time in full since 2019 because of pandemic limitations.

The “roast” portion of the event was held at the fairgrounds and headlined by former President Donald Trump’s onetime press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Sanders and other Republicans painted a fraught picture of federal politics, deriding the Democratic majority in the U.S. House and Senate, as well as Democratic President Joe Biden.

The issues touted by candidates for both federal and state office were common themes among Republican campaigns this year: They warned of record-high inflation, a southern border that is not secure and high crime rates across the country.

Sanders, who is the Republican candidate for governor of Arkansas, said people accuse her of “nationalizing the race” in her campaign for governor.

“My answer to most people is, ‘you bet I am,’” she said. “Because if you are not paying attention to what is happening in Washington, you are missing what is happening in this country.”

Sanders painted the 2022 election in existential terms, suggesting the United States was at threat of fundamentally changing from Democratic policies.

“It is something that I know we have to take on,” she said of her political involvement. “Because if we don’t, the America that we love is not going to be the same one that our kids get to grow up in.”

Ernst won re-election to the Senate in 2020 and won’t be up for re-election for four years. But she urged the crowd of supporters gathered at the fairgrounds to vote for Republicans to flip control of Congress in this fall’s midterm elections.

“With GOP majorities in the House and the Senate we can stop Joe Biden’s reckless and radical agenda,” she said. “We must hold this administration accountable.”

Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is in what is likely his closest re-election campaign to date against Democrat and former Navy admiral Mike Franken. A recent Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll had Grassley leading Franken by just 3 percentage points, with 46 percent of support to Franken’s 43 percent.

Grassley warned at the event that Franken would be a “rubber stamp” on Democratic priorities.

“He wants to make Iowa more progressive than California,” Grassley said.

In a statement following the results of the Iowa Poll, Franken’s spokesperson C.J. Petersen was optimistic about Franken’s chances at flipping the seat.

“Chuck Grassley is desperate to cling to power and knows he is in the fight of his political life, which is why his campaign has spent so many of their resources lying and attacking the military service of a three star Admiral and combat veteran,” Petersen said.

Republicans Gov. Kim Reynolds and U.S. Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson, along with 3rd District Republican candidate Zach Nunn, also spoke at the event.

The Iowa Democratic Party declined to comment on the event.

At the “ride” portion of the day, over 100 motorcyclists were gathered at Big Barn Harley-Davidson in Des Moines to ride with Ernst to the fairgrounds.

Some bikers wore hats celebrating Trump; others had hats and jackets denoting military service. Supporters agreed with Ernst’s essential message — that the country was headed in the wrong direction, and they wanted to see Republicans in control of Congress.

Steve Thornton, 66, of Urbandale, agreed with Republicans’ issue focuses, saying the economy, the border and crime were among the issues most important to him in this election.

“Some of the ideas that are coming from the left are just not equal to what we’ve grown up with,” Thornton said before the ride. “They want to make too many radical changes that are going to alter our lifestyle.”

The election for state and federal offices is on Nov. 8, and early voting is underway.