Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column.

A share of Iowa’s Republican electorate appears ready to abandon Senator Joni Ernst in favor of a more Trumpian replacement in the 2026 Iowa Republican primary election. It’s yet another sign of what today’s Republican Party has become: Donald Trump’s captive. Independent judgment within the GOP is now almost extinct.

Ernst’s current situation arose because she didn’t promptly announce her support for Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense. Hegseth’s past provides plenty of reasons why Republican Senators should take a hard look at his nomination. For starters, he’s accused of sexual abuse (he paid a financial settlement to an accuser), a strong penchant for alcohol, and poor leadership of veterans’ advocacy organizations.

MAGA activists are increasingly unhappy with U.S. Senator Joni Ernst and looking for someone to run against her in Iowa’s 2026 Senate primary.

If conservatives aren’t able to stop Ernst from winning the nomination, they may have a place to park their protest votes in the general election. Libertarian Thomas Laehn again confirmed to Bleeding Heartland he’s seriously considering a Senate bid.

Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column.

President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for key positions in government suggest that he envisions his cabinet playing a very different role from past administrations.

Most of Trump’s nominees have relatively little administrative experience or familiarity with the duties and obligations of the departments they will lead, if confirmed. Instead, their chief and uniting characteristic appears to be unshakeable loyalty to Mr. Trump.

For the first time in six years, Iowa’s junior Senator Joni Ernst will not have a position on the leadership team of U.S. Senate Republicans.

On November 13, members of the GOP caucus chose Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas over Ernst for Senate Republican Conference chair, the third-ranking leadership position. According to Andrew Desiderio of Punchbowl News, the vote was 35 to 18.

ERNST HAD JOINED LEADERSHIP IN HER FIRST TERM

First elected in 2014, Ernst joined GOP leadership shortly after the 2018 elections, when she competed against Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska for the fifth-ranking leadership position. She moved up to the fourth-ranking role after the 2022 elections.

Cotton was considered the favorite for conference chair going into the November 13 leadership vote, in part because he has a better relationship with President-elect Donald Trump. Cotton was on Trump’s short list for vice president earlier this year and was one of just seven people to get a speaking slot at all of the last three Republican National Conventions. Ernst spoke during prime time at the RNC in 2016 and 2020 but was snubbed this year—possibly because even though she did not endorse a presidential candidate before the Iowa caucuses, she was widely perceived to favor Nikki Haley. Ernst didn’t endorse Trump until March 6—the same day Haley ended her presidential campaign.