Joni Kay Ernst (née Culver; born July 1, 1970) is an American politician and former military officer serving as the junior United States senator for Iowa, a seat she has held since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she served in the Iowa State Senate from 2011 to 2014 and as auditor of Montgomery County from 2004 to 2008.
After graduating from Iowa State University, Ernst joined the United States Army Reserve. She served in the Iowa Army National Guard from 1993 to 2015, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. During the Iraq War, she served as the commanding officer of the 185th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion at Camp Dodge, the Iowa Army National Guard's largest battalion. Ernst also holds a Master of Public Administration from Columbus State University.In 2004, Ernst was elected Montgomery County Auditor. She was reelected in 2008. In 2011, Ernst was elected to the Iowa State Senate in a special election and reelected in 2012. She represented District 12, in southwestern Iowa. Ernst ran for the United States Senate in 2014 and won, succeeding longtime Democratic Senator Tom Harkin and becoming the first Republican to win that seat since 1978. Having been strongly critical of President Barack Obama, she has been characterized as a reliable ally of President Donald Trump, and was thought to be a possible running mate in his 2016 campaign. Ernst was elected vice chair of the Senate Republican Conference in November 2018. She was reelected in 2020, defeating Democratic nominee Theresa Greenfield by 6.6 points.Ernst opposes legalized abortion, and has supported a fetal personhood amendment and introduced legislation to defund Planned Parenthood. She opposes the Affordable Care Act and has called for reforms to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. During the Trump administration, she expressed concern about, although not opposition to, Trump's trade war with China and criticized some aspects of his foreign policy. Ernst voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. While supporting both Trump's nominees for EPA administrator, she expressed concern over their commitment to the Renewable Fuel Standard. She rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. Ernst has opposed a federal minimum wage and advocated for the elimination of federal departments such as the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency.


== Early life and career ==
Ernst was born Joni Kay Culver in Montgomery County, Iowa, the daughter of Marilyn and Richard Culver. She was valedictorian of her class at Stanton Community School District High School. She 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. In college, she took part in an agricultural exchange to the Soviet Union.


=== Military career ===
Ernst joined Iowa State University's ROTC program at age 20 and the United States Army Reserve after graduating. She served as a logistics officer and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard. In 2003–2004, she spent 12 months in Kuwait as the company commander of the 1168th Transportation Company, during the Iraq War. Near the end of her career, she served as the commanding officer of the 185th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion at Camp Dodge, the Iowa Army National Guard's largest battalion. Upon her retirement from the military in 2015, Ernst had served 23 years in the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard.In an interview with Time Magazine in 2014, Ernst said that she was sexually harassed in the military, saying, "I had comments, passes, things like that" that she was able to stop, and said she would support removing sexual assault cases from the chain of command.


=== Iowa politics ===
Ernst was elected Montgomery County Auditor in 2004 and reelected in 2008. She was elected to the Iowa State Senate in a special election in 2011 and reelected in 2012. She represented District 12, in southwestern Iowa.Following her election to the U.S. Senate, Ernst resigned from the Iowa State Senate, effective November 28, 2014.


== U.S. Senate ==


=== Elections ===


==== 2014 ====

In July 2013, Ernst announced that she would seek the Senate seat held by retiring Democratic Senator Tom Harkin. Iowa Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds endorsed her in October 2013. In March 2014, Ernst was endorsed by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, to whom she has drawn comparisons. In May 2014, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a lobbying group, endorsed her.Little known at the start of her campaign, Ernst was boosted in the Republican primary by the Koch brothers with "hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of television ads [...] and tens of thousands of dollars in direct campaign contributions". A Koch-backed group launched an "advertising blitz", including a $257,000 campaign against Ernst's biggest Republican rival, Mark Jacobs,