U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) eating at Cattlemen's Beef Quarters at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa. (Image: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons)
Politico reports Iowa State Rep. J.D. Scholten is taking on U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) after what critics describe as the senator's flippant-sounding “We’re all going to die,” response to constituents’ concerns over Medicaid cuts. Ernst made the remark while fielding catcalls at a Butler, Iowa, town hall event.
“I just felt, you know, I have to do this,” Scholten told POLITICO on Monday. “Now’s the time, and rather than being perfect with everything, I just feel like you got to do it.”
Scholten is a 45-year-old pitcher for the Sioux City Explorers who Politico reports came within a few points of defeating former Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) in 2018. Still, Scholten knows the race against Ernst will be difficult. Politico reports Democrats have not represented Iowa in the upper chamber since 2008, and President Donald Trump won the state by 13 points in November.
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But Scholten smells weakness regarding Republicans’ war on Medicaid with this year’s budget bill and it’s proposed Medicaid cuts, and said her recent comments "disrespected" Hawkeye State residents who rely on the health insurance program.
“We’re taking [people] off [Medicaid], so billionaires can have a second yacht, so they can have a bigger tax break,” Scholten told Politico. “We have a system that’s geared towards and favors billionaires and huge multinational corporations, and that’s not working for most of Iowa.”
The New York Times ran a fact check on President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill and found the most recent House version will reduce federal spending on Medicaid by at least $600 billion over a decade and cut enrollment by about 10.3 million people. They also discovered the bill would balloon federal deficits by well over $1 trillion, even while factoring in presumed economic growth.
Despite critics’ complaints against the bill, Scholten acknowledged courting Trump voters will be difficult. But he told Politico he is accustomed to speaking with a wide spectrum of Iowa voters.
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“I firmly believe that when you get out there to the people, prove you’re trustworthy, you’re gonna earn votes no matter who the folks are,” he said.