Summary
Joni Ernst — a combat veteran and the first woman Iowa has sent to Congress — is up for her first reelection. Republicans see her in a good position, but Democrats are also pouring money into Iowa as they hope to flip it. While Iowa is still seen as a fairly conservative state, Democrats were able to win a couple of key congressional districts in 2018, and Ernst’s approval rating fell 10 points in the past year, according to a recent poll from respected Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer.
The DSCC-backed Greenfield won her June 2 primary, beating out a field of challengers. Theresa Greenfield is a real estate developer in Des Moines and has Iowa roots; she grew up on a farm as the daughter of a crop duster. Greenfield has emphasized issues including health care and strengthening social safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security.
What are the odds? Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball both rate this Lean Republican.
Vox by Ella Nilsen on June 11, 2020
OnAir Post: Iowa – US Senate 2020 Election
News
Joni Ernst
Current Position: US Senator since 2015
Affiliation: Republican
Candidate: 2020 US Senator
In November 2014, Joni was elected as the first woman to serve in federal elected office from the State of Iowa and also became the first female combat veteran elected to serve in the United States Senate. In Washington, Joni serves on five Senate committees of major importance to Iowans: Armed Services; Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; Environment and Public Works; Judiciary; and Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Joni is focused on growing a vibrant economy and ensuring the government runs effectively and efficiently which means cutting out-of-control spending, reducing taxes, eliminating harmful regulations and balancing the budget.
For more information, see Joni Ernst’s post.
Theresa Greenfield
Current Position: Urban planner
Affiliation: Democrat
Candidate: 2020 US Senator
Theresa Greenfield is a farm kid with farm kid values. She’s running for Senate because it’s time Iowans had a Senator who put us first – not the special interests. Growing up on a farm instilled in her a get-it-done attitude she will bring to the Senate to solve problems for our working families.
For more information, see Theresa Greenfield’s post.
Issues
Governance
Joni Ernst
N/A
Theresa Greeenfield
Politicians in Washington have created a corrupt system – relying on big money from corporate special interests and then making sure that government works for them – not us. So it’s no surprise that Washington passed “tax reform” that was a massive giveaway to huge corporations while saddling us with higher debt, and refuses to take action to reduce the sky high costs of prescription drugs. That’s why Theresa is committed to building a grassroots campaign by Iowans, for Iowans and won’t take a dime from corporate PACs. Theresa has received grassroots contributions from all 99 counties in Iowa, and has been endorsed by dozens of leaders from around the state.
She is also proudly endorsed by End Citizens United, and will fight for reform that makes our government and elections more transparent. That starts with supporting legislation that will root out corruption and make sure our representatives are actually working for us, not the corporate special interests — like banning corporate PAC money, passing lobbying reforms, overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, and getting rid of the secret, unlimited cash flooding our elections through dark money groups.
Civil Rights
Joni Ernst
N/A
Theresa Greenfield
Theresa is proud to stand with her LGBTQ+ family and friends, and she will work toward equal rights for all Iowans.
She has spent much of her professional life working in small businesses, and has seen firsthand the strength that comes from a diverse and inclusive workplace. In the Senate, Theresa would proudly support legislation like the Equality Act that would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.
Economy
Joni Ernst
In 2008, our country faced a financial crisis that was second only to the Great Depression. Many Americans saw their hours and wages cut back, or worse lost their jobs.
Ever since the events of that time, our economy and the jobs our country depends on, have been slow to recover. We must do more to encourage our small and large businesses alike to grow and thrive. By selling more of what we make and grow in America around the globe, we can boost manufacturing, wages, and jobs, here at home.
Agriculture
Growing up walking beans and feeding hogs on our family farm in southwest Iowa, I experienced firsthand the hard work that goes into production agriculture. Agriculture has long been the bedrock of our national economy and Iowa plays a critical part in ensuring folks in the U.S. and around the world have access to a safe and affordable food supply. In fact, Iowans are a leading producer of corn, soybeans, pork, eggs, and renewable fuels.
Theresa Greenfield
After years of politicians from both parties allowing giant corporations and special interests to influence Washington and tilt the playing field against hardworking families, we must send leaders to the U.S. Senate who will stand up for those they were elected to represent.
Unions built the middle class, and we should be working to strengthen their standing in our communities. When Theresa’s first husband, a union electrical lineman, died in a workplace accident, his union helped Theresa and her kids land on their feet. Theresa is standing up for union rights and has been endorsed by local labor unions across Iowa representing thousands of workers.
Theresa supports a living wage, investing in our workforce, fighting for women to have equal opportunities and equal pay for equal work, and making sure people have the skills and tools they need to succeed in the 21st century workplace. She understands the importance of trade in Iowa’s economy, and supports the USMCA and the benefits it brings Iowa farmers and businesses.
With her small business experience, she is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and startups with issues like increasing access to capital, expanding export opportunities, and cutting through burdensome red tape. Theresa is also committed to investing in our infrastructure to create good-paying jobs and help Iowa’s economy thrive.
See post for more info.
Education
Joni Ernst
As a mother, I believe education should be handled at the state and local level, by Iowans, not Washington bureaucrats.
I supported the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which rolls back many of the failed policies established under No Child Left Behind. This legislation ends the Common Core mandate and other federally prescribed academic standards imposed on our states. In addition, ESSA moves our education system away from a Washington top down, one size fits all system based on test results. These long overdue reforms give our individual states greater flexibility to design and implement their education and accountability standards as they see fit. Although the final bill did not accomplish all of our goals in supporting and empowering local leaders, it took major steps in the right direction.
Additionally, in preparing young people to enter the workforce, it is important that we bridge the gap between employers and students to make sure we are properly preparing students according to the needs of the local job market. In this age of ever changing and advancing technologies, it is vital that we provide opportunities for students to pursue trades and promote career and technical education.
Furthermore, as the cost of higher education continues to rise, we must ensure that students and families are aware of the tools and resources available to help budget and plan accordingly. We also have to make sure student loans are accessible to students and families that finance their secondary education and that the interest rates are reasonable and affordable.
Theresa Greenfield
Theresa is a proud product of public schools and spent time working as a college student to advance her education. When we invest in our kids, our teachers, and our public schools, we all do better. Theresa will always put teachers and students first, not profits.
That starts with everything from expanding public pre-kindergarten to making sure Iowa’s workforce has the right skills for the 21st century, and includes investing in higher education and job training, like apprenticeships where Iowans can earn while they learn. We need to make sure that obtaining an education — often a ticket to a better life for so many Iowans — is affordable.
Theresa is committed to fully funding Pell grants, and ensuring our educators have the compensation, resources, and respect they deserve — including the ability to organize and collectively bargain.
Environment
Joni Ernst
I support an all-of-the-above energy approach that increases America’s domestic production and promotes energy independence. Using our plentiful fossil fuel reserves, increasing utilization of renewables and building on advances in energy efficiency, we have the ability to pursue an energy strategy that creates jobs and provides reliable, sustainable and affordable energy to American families and businesses.
Theresa Greenfield
Climate change is getting worse. We’ve seen it in extensive floods that destroy our fields and wash away parts of our cities.
We can’t afford to have Senators who question and deny the science, who refuse to act when the future of our kids and grandkids are on the line, and who consistently put the needs of Big Oil over Iowans suffering. Theresa is proudly endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, and understands the gravity of our climate crisis requires smart, principled leadership.
In the Senate, Theresa will fight for good-paying clean energy jobs and defend and strengthen our environmental laws that are under attack from the corporate special interests in Washington. She will also be focused on solutions that protect Iowans from the effects of climate change, including securing infrastructure funding to strengthen our defenses against flooding to save communities across Iowa.
Health Care
Joni Ernst
Years ago, President Obama promised health insurance premiums would go down under ObamaCare. They haven’t. Across the country, folks have endured significant health insurance premium increases, as well as increases in out of pocket costs like deductibles and copays. In fact, Iowans looking for health care plans in the exchange saw increases of up to 43 percent in 2017.
Iowans sent me to Congress to focus on patient-centered, affordable health care reforms that enhance competition, increase flexibility, constrain rising costs and ensure folks have a voice over their own health care decisions.
Too many Iowa families and businesses have been hurt by the painful effects of ObamaCare – from rising costs, to losing access to doctors, to hampering businesses’ ability to hire new employees.
Health care reform should be focused on choice, not mandates. Patients, families, and doctors know what best meets their needs, and they are the ones who should be in control of health care decisions, not Washington, D.C. Instead of this Washington-centered approach, we need to look for patient-centered alternatives that increase access to quality health care services at an affordable price.
In addition, I am also working with my colleagues to ensure that rural Iowans continue to have access to the services they need. Much of Iowa is considered medically underserved, and we need to look for new and innovative ways to make certain folks in these areas have access to treatment.
That’s why I have championed the Telemedicine for Medicare (TELE-MED) Act and the Veterans E-Health and Telemedicine Support (VETS) Act to help advance telehealth as an option to serve rural America.
Theresa Greenfield
Health care is a right, not a privilege — but sadly, for too many Iowans, health care is too expensive and not accessible. No Iowan should lose their health care coverage because of a pre-existing health condition, and we should be working to expand access and make health care more affordable across the state and the country. Theresa supports access to quality, affordable health care — no matter who you are or where you live.
That means strengthening our existing laws like the Affordable Care Act, creating a public health insurance option for Iowans to buy into, and working to bring down the cost of co-pays, prescription drugs, and health care as a whole. But in Washington, big money from insurance and pharmaceutical corporate PACs influence policy — meaning common sense solutions, like reducing the cost of prescription drug prices, are stalling in Congress.
Theresa is committed to strengthening and protecting rural hospitals and health care options in underserved rural areas. Theresa isn’t taking money from corporate PACs like those in the health care or pharmaceutical industry, so she is ready to fight for what’s best for Iowans.
Infrastructure
Joni Ernst
The federal government has a significant role to play in developing and maintaining our country’s infrastructure, and along with national defense, it is one of its core functions. Having a robust and efficient transportation infrastructure is vital to the economy.
Our producers and manufacturers must be able to consistently and reliably transport their goods to domestic and international markets. A large number of industries, including our nation’s small businesses, rely on this movement of goods to help create jobs and expand market access, something particularly important for our rural communities.
I support transportation legislation that ensures Iowans are empowered to make decisions over where funding is needed most and which safeguards the flexibility of our states to determine how infrastructure dollars are best spent. That is why I voted for a bipartisan, long-term highway bill in 2015 that provides the kind of investment and consensus solutions for our state and local communities to move forward and implement transportation projects that enhance our nation’s roadways.
Theresa Greenfield
N/A
Immigration
Joni Ernst
N/A
Theresa Greenfield
Our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. Unfortunately, politicians in Washington have focused on stoking fears and dividing us instead of focusing on improving our borders, protecting our national security, or putting forward real solutions to fix our broken immigration system.
Theresa is committed to working with both parties on a plan that is true to our American values, fair to taxpayers, tough on workplace enforcement and border security, and rooted in practical solutions like reducing wait times for legal immigration and putting more technology and security on the border.
Theresa will stand up for what’s right, including supporting the DREAM Act, and will focus on keeping families together while implementing policies that grow Iowa’s economy, encourage innovation, and create jobs.
Safety
Joni Ernst
Protecting our homeland from threats, both foreign and domestic, should be the top priority of the federal government. As we learned on September 11th, 2001 and continue to be reminded of by ISIS-led or inspired terrorist attacks around the world, we must remain vigilant in defending our citizens and our way of life.
Accordingly, it is vital that we provide our military and law enforcement officials with the tools they need to protect Americans from potential threats. We must also secure our borders in order to ensure that anyone entering our country is doing so in accordance with the law. In addition to illegal immigration, the law enforcement personnel stationed on our borders must confront drug smuggling, human trafficking, and the threat of terrorism on a day-to-day basis. More must be done to fully secure our borders and ensure the integrity of our immigration system, prevent the exploitation of children, protect our nation against terrorism, and stop criminal drug rings.
America has been, and always will be, a nation of immigrants. However, we are also a nation of laws and it is essential that we enforce those laws, which is why I supported efforts to block overreaching executive amnesty. Additionally, I supported efforts to address the issue of “sanctuary cities” to make sure that local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration authorities when they discover people in our country illegally.
Finally, while ensuring our border is secure is critical, we must also work to modernize our broken immigration system by enacting reforms to promote improved legal avenues for workers and families.
Theresa Greenfield
From the gun violence crisis to the opioid epidemic, politicians have failed us. We can’t wait any longer to take action — when we say “enough is enough,” we mean it. Theresa won’t sit by or stay silent when it comes to saving lives, reducing crime and keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals.
In the Senate, Theresa will fight for legislation that keeps our kids and our communities safe. Whether it’s working to expand background checks, funding critical gun violence research, keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and other criminals, such as those on the No Fly list, she will bring people together to find commonsense solutions to ensure we address gun violence.
Our communities in Iowa are also suffering at the hands of the opioid epidemic, and have seen a failure to act from Washington. Theresa is committed to working with community leaders to ensure they have the support they need to compassionately treat those who need help overcoming addiction.
Social Security
Veterans
Joni Ernst
Here in the Senate, we have an incredible responsibility to not only make sure our country is protected, but to ensure we live up to the promises made to our veterans.
These men and women have selflessly sacrificed in defense of our freedoms, and our way of life. We must ensure that our veterans are prepared to transition back to civilian life. They deserve nothing less than the benefits they were promised and a quality of care we can all be proud of.
I am grateful for our veterans who defended our nation and protected our freedoms. Upon being elected to the Senate, the first bill I introduced was aimed at assisting veterans with mental health care. It continues to be one of my top priorities.
Some of my main priorities in improving services for our veterans include increasing access and choice for mental health care services at VA and at non-VA facilities, expanding telehealth services for veterans, and continuing to ensure the VA is held full accountable for their actions. We cannot turn our backs on those who served our country or accept failures from the department designed to care for them.
Theresa Greenfield
N/A
Joni Ernst
Seniors
Promises made must be promises kept when it comes to protecting Iowa seniors’ Medicare and Social Security. While maintaining that promise, we must also recognize that reforms are needed to ensure that these programs remain on viable footing for the future. I am committed to working with my Senate colleagues to find bipartisan solutions that will strengthen and secure Medicare and Social Security for seniors today and tomorrow.
Theresa Greenfield
Retirement Security
While politicians in Washington are talking about cutting Medicare and Social Security to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and special interests, Theresa believes that Social Security and Medicare are promises we must keep to our seniors. She opposes the privatization of both programs as they are crucial to the livelihoods of countless Iowans. Theresa will never let anyone lay a finger on them while she is in the Senate.