IA Rep Jumps Into Senate Race Following Ernst Backlash

Iowa state Rep. J.D. Scholten has announced a run for U.S. Senate. The Democrat says he decided to join the race after U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst made a retort on Medicaid cuts that prompted a swift backlash. Ernst had been emphasizing the reasons for the $700 billion in reduced Medicaid spending at a town hall Friday when someone in the crowd yelled that people are going to die without coverage. Ernst said, “... Well, we all are going to die." Scholten is from northwest Iowa and was first elected to the statehouse in 2023. Previously, he twice lost congressional races in Iowa’s reliably conservative 4th Congressional District.