Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst gets her first Democratic challenger for 2026
Democrats have their first candidate in the race to unseat Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, in 2026.
Democrats have their first candidate in the race to unseat Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, in what will be an uphill battle in an increasingly red state.
Nathan Sage hopes his background as a Marine and Army veteran, mechanic and local sports play-by-play announcer — as he touts in his launch video — will connect with working-class voters.
Sage, who is the executive director of the chamber of commerce in Knoxville, Iowa, highlighted his upbringing in his launch video.
“I never thought someone like me could run for Senate,” he says. “When I was 5, my dad got arrested for a bounced check. $50. He was trying to pay for new school clothes for my sister and I. We grew up poor, but I still believed in this country.”
In the video, Sage also describes places in his state as “being abandoned,” adding, “There’s a war at home, and we’re losing.” He describes a “rigged” economy in which “those in power don’t give a damn.”
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