71 Facts About Joni Ernst

Joni Kay Ernst is an American politician and retired military officer serving since 2015 as the junior United States senator from Iowa.

Joni Ernst served in the Iowa Army National Guard from 1993 to 2015, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

Joni Ernst was thought to be a possible running mate for Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign.

Joni Ernst opposes legalizing abortion, and has supported a fetal personhood amendment and introduced legislation to defund Planned Parenthood.

Joni Ernst opposes the Affordable Care Act and has called for reforms to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Joni Ernst was valedictorian of her class at Stanton Community School District High School.

Joni Ernst earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Iowa State University in 1992, and a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbus State University in 1995.

Joni Ernst joined Iowa State University's Reserve Officers' Training Corps program when she was 20, and the United States Army Reserve after graduating.

Joni Ernst served as a logistics officer and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard.

Joni Ernst's awards included the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Joni Ernst was elected Montgomery County Auditor in 2004 and reelected in 2008.

Joni Ernst was elected to the Iowa State Senate in a special election in 2011 and reelected in 2012.

In July 2013, Joni Ernst announced that she would seek the Senate seat held by retiring Democratic Senator Tom Harkin.

In March 2014, Joni Ernst was endorsed by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, to whom she has drawn comparisons.

Joni Ernst privately credited the Kochs and their allies for having "really started my trajectory" after her primary victory.

Joni Ernst received widespread attention for a campaign advertisement she released in March 2014, in which she made a tongue-in-cheek comparison between her experience castrating pigs and her ability to "cut pork" in Congress.

Previously, in The Gazette, Joni Ernst cited her National Guard duty to rebuff criticism about her missing votes, but The Gazette found that only 12 of the 117 missed votes came on days when she was on duty.

The editorial board ultimately endorsed Braley, citing Joni Ernst's calls to abolish the EPA, the Department of Education, and the federal minimum wage, as well as her support for partially privatizing Social Security and overturning the Affordable Care Act.

Joni Ernst is the first woman elected to represent Iowa in either house of Congress.

Joni Ernst was unopposed in the Republican primary and faced Democratic nominee Theresa Greenfield, a businesswoman and former congressional candidate, in the general election.

Joni Ernst was seen as the strong favorite and eventually defeated her opponent, by 110,138 votes.

In December 2019, the Associated Press reported that Joni Ernst's campaign had closely coordinated with a political nonprofit founded by a longtime consultant; such groups are tax-exempt and not required to disclose donors, but cannot make political campaigning their primary purpose and must separate their activities from candidates they support.

Joni Ernst was sworn into the United States Senate on January 3,2015, and thus became Iowa's first new US senator since Tom Harkin in 1985.

Joni Ernst was elected vice chair of the Senate Republican Conference in November 2018.

In March 2019, after the Special Counsel Investigation concluded and Attorney General William Barr released an abridged summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, Joni Ernst called for a release of the report's full findings, saying, "as much of the report that can be made public should be".

Eight months before the 2016 presidential election, Joni Ernst opposed Senate consideration of Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, saying "the American people deserve to have a say" on a decision that would "impact the course of our country for years to come".

Joni Ernst was participating in the certification of the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count when Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.

In March 2024, Joni Ernst announced that she would run for Senate Republican Conference chair in 2025, a position that Senator Tom Cotton is seeking.

In 2017, Joni Ernst introduced legislation allowing states to block Planned Parenthood from receiving Title X grants or reimbursements for treating Medicaid patients, although Planned Parenthood clinics provide multiple family planning services and the funding does not go to abortions except in rare circumstances.

Joni Ernst voted against capping the price of insulin at $35; she has said that she has two family members who are diabetic.

In February 2020, Joni Ernst voted to acquit Trump on both articles of impeachment.

Joni Ernst argued that Trump had learned his lesson, and that he would not ask a foreign leader to investigate his rivals again without going through the proper channels.

In May 2020, Joni Ernst praised Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, "he was right on it from day one".

On May 28,2021, Joni Ernst voted against creating an independent commission to investigate the 2021 United States Capitol attack.

Joni Ernst opposes a federal minimum wage and has said that states should have sole authority to set their minimum wages.

Joni Ernst voted against a minimum wage increase in the state Senate.

Joni Ernst has expressed support for the partial privatization of Social Security accounts for young workers while making clear that "we have to keep our promises to seniors".

In May 2018, Joni Ernst was one of nine Republican senators to introduce a rescission package meant to fulfill Trump's wish to curb previously approved spending by $15.4 billion as part of an attempt to roll out the legislation to ensure it reached the Senate floor within a 45-day window.

In February 2017, Joni Ernst voted to confirm Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, saying they shared a belief that those "closest" to students know what is best for them.

Joni Ernst supported Trump's 2017 decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords.

In February 2019, Joni Ernst voted to confirm Trump's new nominee for EPA administrator, Andrew Wheeler.

In October 2015, Joni Ernst said that Obama lacked "a clear coherent strategy in Afghanistan" amid the rise of Taliban forces and ISIS.

Joni Ernst opposed the Iran deal negotiated by the Obama administration.

In October 2023, days after the beginning of the Gaza war, Joni Ernst led a congressional delegation to meetings with Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, other Israeli leaders, and American civilians in Israel.

Joni Ernst said the meetings were meant to "reassure the leadership in Israel as well as a number of American families that were there that we stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel".

In July 2024, before Netanyahu gave a speech to Congress, Joni Ernst led a Republican press conference "demanding action from this waffling White House" and called for US sanctions and weapons to help Israel defeat Hamas.

In June 2018, Joni Ernst questioned Trump's decision to suspend joint military exercises with South Korea.

In 2017, Joni Ernst called Russia's behavior, including its annexation of Crimea and interference in US elections, "totally unacceptable" and said Trump should "show strength against Vladimir Putin".

In 2015, Joni Ernst said the US should halt the admission of Syrian refugees, saying the United States needs a "thorough vetting process".

In 2018, after missile strikes against Syria, Joni Ernst said that she would be "uncomfortable" if Trump wanted to commit more American troops there, saying it was secondary to fighting ISIS.

In 2019, Joni Ernst was one of six senators to sign a bipartisan letter to Trump calling on him to "urge Turkey to end their offensive and find a way to a peaceful resolution while supporting our Kurdish partners to ensure regional stability" and arguing that leaving Syria without installing protections for American allies endangered both them and the US.

In March 2018, Joni Ernst voted to table a resolution spearheaded by Bernie Sanders, Chris Murphy, and Mike Lee that would have required Trump to withdraw American troops either in or influencing Yemen within the next 30 days unless they were combating Al-Qaeda.

In November 2018, following the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Joni Ernst said that Saudi Arabia was a "great strategic partner" but that Congress should consider a legislative response due to the United States' commitment to human rights and the rule of law.

Joni Ernst added that Trump should become involved "if there are indicators coming from those intelligence agencies".

Joni Ernst later cosponsored a bill to require federal authorities to inform states within a day if a person failing a background check attempted to buy a firearm.

In 2017, amid bipartisan momentum for bump stock restrictions, Joni Ernst was one of 10 Republican senators to sign a letter requesting that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives review a decision that bump stocks fall outside the purview of existing gun regulations.

In 2018, Joni Ernst was one of 10 Republican senators to cosponsor a bill intended to guarantee coverage for people with preexisting conditions, though it would have allowed insurers to exclude coverage for the conditions themselves.

Joni Ernst has expressed support for reforming Medicare and Medicaid and endorsed a partial privatization of both programs in a 2011 Iowa Senate vote.

Joni Ernst has questioned the legitimacy of how hospitals are reporting COVID-19 deaths.

In June 2018, Joni Ernst and Democratic senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Patrick Leahy wrote Defense Secretary James Mattis a letter saying they were "deeply troubled" by the decision to send 21 Judge Advocate General's Corps to prosecute immigration cases on the southern border, calling it an "inappropriate misapplication of military personnel" and urging Mattis to retain the military lawyers within the military justice system.

In July 2018, Joni Ernst was one of 31 Republican senators to submit a resolution endorsing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying its abolition would allow "dangerous criminal aliens" and members of the MS-13 gang to remain in the US.

Joni Ernst opposes net neutrality, which prevents internet service providers from blocking or slowing down certain content, and voted against reinstating it after an FCC ruling in 2018.

In May 2020, Joni Ernst voted for an amendment co-sponsored by Senators Steve Daines and Ron Wyden that would have required federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies to obtain federal court warrants when collecting web search engine data from American citizens, nationals, or residents under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Joni Ernst was one of 12 Republican senators to vote for the Respect for Marriage Act, which passed the Senate on November 29,2022.

In 2017, The Des Moines Register wrote a scathing editorial against King, which criticized Joni Ernst for endorsing him in the past and not condemning him.

In 2018, Joni Ernst appeared with King at a rally in his district after King had endorsed a Canadian politician with neo-Nazi ties.

Joni Ernst did not make an endorsement in King's 2020 Republican primary race, which he lost.

In January 2018, Joni Ernst was one of 36 Republican senators to sign a letter to Trump requesting he preserve and modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In 2019, Joni Ernst accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of "slow-walking" the passage of the USMCA trade agreement but believed there was enough support to ratify it.

Joni Ernst is a lifetime member of the Montgomery County Republican Women, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2265, Montgomery County Court of Honor, Altrusa, PEO Chapter HB, the National Rifle Association of America, and the Montgomery County Farm Bureau.

Joni Ernst's church is Mamrelund Lutheran Church in Stanton, Iowa, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America denomination.