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Linn County voters ask Democrat J.D. Scholten if he’ll ‘throw heat’ at Joni Ernst in U.S. Senate race
Iowa City voter tells Scholten: ‘I want you to fight. I don’t want you to be nice to Joni Ernst’
Jul. 23, 2025 12:30 pm, Updated: Jul. 24, 2025 9:29 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks posed a hypothetical to minor league pitcher and Democratic state Rep. J.D. Scholten of Sioux City.
It’s a critical moment in the game. You’re on the mound, pitching to Republican Iowa U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (who scored a run to fuel Republicans' 13-2 victory in the annual Congressional Baseball Game in June). It’s the bottom of the ninth inning. Ernst is at bat and the count is 0-2. One more strike and Ernst is out and the game’s over.
“What’s your strategy?” Maybanks, a Democrat, asked Scholten, who stopped at Lion Bridge Brewing in Cedar Rapids Tuesday for a meet-and-greet event to talk to voters as he campaigns for Iowa's U.S. Senate seat.
“You throw the heat?” Maybanks asked. “You come at her? You come right at her? You try to catch her off guard with a curve ball? You embarrass her with the change up? I just want to know how you're going to go after Joni Ernst, because she's about the worst.”
Scholten pitches for the Sioux City Explorers. His return to baseball at age 44 garnered national attention and ultimately led to his jersey being added to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
Scholten said he’d probably throw a two-seam fastball.
“But here's the reality, as of right now, we don't know if it's her,” he said of Ernst.
Rumors have swirled about Ernst's future, with some GOP insiders doubting she will run for re-election in 2026. Although she declared intentions to run last year and has hired a campaign manager, she has not officially launched a campaign to seek a third, six-year term. If she does, she sits on a campaign war chest of more than $3.4 million as of the end of June.
Republicans who do believe she’ll run again anticipate she’ll officially announce this fall, noting her past campaign launches have coincided with her annual “Roast and Ride” fundraiser, which is set for October.
If Ernst steps aside, potential successors include Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson of Marion and former Iowa Hawkeye football player and current NATO Ambassador Matthew Whitaker.
“So I'll run against her. I'll run against anybody,” Scholten said, adding he prefers to focus on attracting new supporters rather than just targeting opponents, highlighting that many people in the state feel politically and economically frustrated.
“I would rather spend most of my energy welcoming people into our coalition, and how I'm going to close the ninth inning? That's my own secret,” he said.
Scholten said he was motivated to launch his run for the U.S. Senate after Ernst received national backlash over a controversial comment during a town hall meeting about proposed changes to Medicaid included in Republicans’ recently passed sweeping tax and spending bill.
Ernst — who voted for the bill — responded, “Well, we all are going to die,” after an audience member expressed concern over potential loss of coverage. Ernst quickly followed up saying Medicaid spending will focus on the most vulnerable who meet the program's eligibility requirements.
The remark grabbed national headlines and provided Democrats with material for attack ads. Ernst attempted to address the situation with a follow-up video filmed at a cemetery, where she sarcastically "apologized" and downplayed her previous comment, which many Republicans found to be a misstep.
Scholten said he learned of Ernst’s “disrespectful” comments while coincidentally on his way to a funeral and thought “I need to do this.’”
Most national elections forecasters see Iowa’s 2026 U.S. Senate election as likely to remain in Republican hands: Inside Elections, Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal classify the election outcome as “likely Republican,” although that’s downgraded from “safe Republican” earlier this year.
Ernst, an Iraq veteran and sexual assault survivor, won re-election in 2020 by almost seven points over Democrat Theresa Greenfield.
Other Democrats who have announced their candidacy and are vying for the party’s nomination to challenge Ernst next year are state legislators Zach Wahls of Coralville and Nathan Sage, former executive director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce.
Wahls attracted national attention for his defense of same-sex marriage as a teenager raised by lesbian moms. Sage, a Marine Corps and Army veteran who grew up in a trailer park in Mason City, has garnered national attention for his use of profanity and tapping into working Iowans’ anger and as a new anti-Trump voice for the Democratic Party.
Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, in a statement responding to Scholten announcing his U.S. Senate campaign, called him “a do-nothing, career politician” who is “once again trying to climb the political ladder.”
“Iowans have already rejected him twice for Congress, and nothing has changed,” Kaufmann said. “… Iowa deserves common sense, results-driven leadership — not another far-left opportunist trying to turn the Heartland blue. Iowans stand firmly behind Joni Ernst, a proven leader who consistently delivers for families, farmers and small businesses.”
‘A blueberry in a bowl of tomato soup’
Standing in front of about 70 people seated under patio umbrellas in 84-degree heat with sweltering humidity, a slight breeze and some cloud cover, Scholten described himself as a “baseball-playing, monopoly-busting, beer-drinking, Bible-reading, working-class proud prairie populist from Sioux City, Iowa, and a sixth-generation Iowan.”
He nearly unseated Republican former Iowa U.S. Rep. Steve King in 2018 in deeply conservative Western Iowa, and in a district that Donald Trump had won by 27 percentage points in the previous election cycle. Scholten lost to King in 2018 by just 3.3 percentage points, or 10,430 votes.
The Sioux City Democrat significantly over-performed the top of the ticket in a challenging district, which he attributes this to a grassroots campaign strategy focused on listening to voters.
In 2018, Scholten drove around in an RV wrapped with his name and visited each of the district's 39 counties, stopping at gas stations where he talked with cashiers about raising the minimum wage and universal health care. He chatted with campers at the campgrounds where he stayed.
In 2020, Scholten ran again for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District seat, but lost to current Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra by a wider margin of about 24 percentage points.
He ran unopposed in the 2022 general election for Iowa House District 1. His 2024 election run against Josh Steinhoff saw him win by 6.9 points.
Scholten said those two congressional runs helped him understand how important it is to build relationships with Iowans, regardless of their party affiliations.
“I'm the only Democrat in 42 counties in northwest and north central Iowa at the state Capitol,” Scholten said. “I consider myself a blueberry in a bowl of tomato soup. But what that all taught me is how to welcome people into our coalition and how to go there and not compromise on what you stand for. Because every single day we talk about fight, fix and secure — fight for universal health care, fix the economy so it works for everyone, not just the multinational corporations and the billionaires, and secure our democracy from the special interests that dictate it.”
He said Americans face a choice: either allow wealth to concentrate among a few, or maintain a democracy.
“And what's happening in this nation right now is leading us into that we do not have a democracy, and that scares me,” Scholten said.
He highlighted concerns of family farmers over tariff fights and trade wars from Trump's trade policy. The U.S.-China trade war during Trump’s first term significantly altered the global soybean market, with Brazil displacing the United States as China's primary supplier.
“That No. 1 market for Iowa soybean farmers was China. It is now down in Brazil, and we're not getting it back, and that is going to hurt a lot of our rural communities,” Scholten said.
‘I want you to fight. I don’t want you to be nice to Joni Ernst’
To have a shot at winning back the Senate majority, Scholten said Democrats must put red states like Iowa in play by shrinking margins in conservative counties.
The key, Scholten said, is being genuine, showing up consistently, focusing on people's real economic concerns, and making politics feel relevant, accessible and personally meaningful, rather than distant or intimidating.
It means not running as a "Republican light," but standing firm on principles while being authentic, he said. It also means talking to people in local gathering spots like gas stations and coffee shops — connecting with bartenders, baristas, servers and stylists who can influence their social networks — and engaging with people who are not planning to vote; not just trying to convert Republicans.
Dawn Doering-Suter, a 68-year-old lifelong Democrat and self-described “socialist” from Iowa City, expressed frustration with the Democratic Party's tendency to favor cookie-cutter candidates over authentic ones, which she believes has led to voter disengagement.
Doering-Suter said she admires candidates like Democratic governors JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gavin Newsom of California for their integrity and willingness to fight for their values. She said she feels the Democratic Party is compromising too much and needs to stand firm on its values, confront issues directly, and change its narrative to highlight equality and accessibility.
“Democrats need to stop apologizing for being Democrats and for being decent human beings,” Doering-Suter told Scholten. “We’ve reached across the aisle so far that there is no center anymore. And I think it’s time that Democrats stood up and said, ‘No!’”
The remark drew applause and a “hell, yeah!” from the crowd.
“I want you to fight. I don’t want you to be nice to Joni Ernst,” Doering-Suter said. “I don’t want to be nice to Chuck Grassley.”
Scholten responded by saying Democrats need do better standing up to bullies.
“The government is trying to bully your (transgender) daughter. Multinational corporations are bullying our farmers, bullying our rural communities,” he said. “Democrats need to stand up to bullies — whether it's Trump, whether it's Republicans — that's why I'm a Democrat. Fighting for working-class people, fighting for everyday people, that's the end of the day.”
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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