Morning Digest: Joni Ernst draws major challenger after town hall outburst

J.D. Scholten says the senator's "we all are going to die" taunt pushed him to run

Iowa state Rep. J.D. Scholten (D) (credit: J.D. Scholten Facebook)

Leading Off

IA-Sen

Democratic state Rep. J.D. Scholten unexpectedly kicked off a bid against Republican Sen. Joni Ernst on Monday, saying the incumbent's derisive remarks about Medicaid cuts had spurred him to join the race.

This announcement from Scholten, who is currently a minor league baseball pitcher for the Sioux City Explorers, gives Democrats their first prominent contender for a seat they'd very much love to put in play, though his decision to run was something of a surprise: Just two months ago, he told the Des Moines Register that he was inclined to remain in the legislature.

Soon after, he upgraded his chances to 50-50, but it was Ernst's performance at a town hall on Friday and her follow-up the next day that, he told the Register, were "pretty instrumental for me."

At that gathering, Ernst was at one point interrupted by an attendee who shouted, "People will die!" as a result of the GOP's planned cuts to Medicaid.

"Well, we all are going to die," the senator retorted. "So, for heaven's sakes. For heaven's sake, folks."

Ernst's disdainful response earned her an instant national backlash, which she compounded the following day by releasing a contemptuous and condescending mock apology filmed in a graveyard.

"I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this earth," Ernst said in the video. "So I apologize, and I'm really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy as well."

"For those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life," she concluded, "I encourage you to embrace my Lord and savior Jesus Christ."

Scholten said that he first learned of Ernst's town hall comments on the way to a funeral.

"And just sitting there, contemplating life like you do at a funeral, I just thought I need to do this," he told the Register. "And so then when she doubled down on Saturday with her, I felt, very disrespectful comments, I was like, 'OK, game on.'"

Scholten, whose first stint with the Explorers ended in 2007, burst onto the political scene in 2018, when he came shockingly close to unseating far-right Rep. Steve King in the deeply conservative 4th District. Two years after that 50-47 squeaker, though, Republicans who'd grown tired of King managed to oust him in the primary, opening the door for state Sen. Randy Feenstra to defeat Scholten in a 62-38 landslide.

That same year, Ernst faced a heated challenge from Democrat Theresa Greenfield and prevailed by a 52-45 spread—slightly narrower than her initial margin of victory in 2014.

Scholten, meanwhile, bounced back by winning a seat in the state House without opposition in 2022, then secured reelection over a Republican opponent 53-46 two years later.

Scholten also made a different sort of comeback in 2023 when he played baseball oversees for the Oosterhout Twins in the Dutch League. He went on to earn headlines last year by returning to pitch for the Explorers during the summer when the legislature was not in session.

The team said Sunday it was adding him back to the active roster after previously placing him on the injured list—an announcement that came one day before he launched his Senate campaign. Scholten says he’ll continue playing until the current season ends in early September.

One other Democrat, Iraq veteran Nathan Sage, is already running for the Senate, while two other state lawmakers have also expressed interest: state Rep. Josh Turek and state Sen. Zach Wahls.

Even though Iowa has moved decidedly to the right in recent years, Democrats have reason to believe next year's Senate race could be competitive. Not only are Democratic candidates turning in strong showings in special elections across the country, their top three overperformances—each by more than 20 points—have all come in Iowa.

As for Ernst, MAGAworld threatened her with a primary challenge late last year when she went wobbly on Pete Hegseth's nomination for defense secretary, but that chatter died down after she quickly fell in line. But while Ernst might now be safe on her right flank, the general election could be quite a different story—thanks in no small part to Ernst herself.

Election Night

Special Elections

South Carolina will hold a special election on Tuesday for a seat in the state House that moved sharply to the right in the last presidential election even as it went uncontested at the legislative level.

The 50th District, a majority-Black seat based in the Midlands in the central part of the state, became vacant in January when Democratic Rep. Will Wheeler unexpectedly resigned just two months after winning a fifth term without opposition.

Running to succeed Wheeler are Democrat Keishan Scott, a 24-year-old minister and councilmember in the small town of Bishopville, and Republican Bill Oden, an Air Force veteran who recently stepped down as chair of the Sumter County GOP.

In 2020, Joe Biden carried the district by a 57-42 margin, but that advantage collapsed last year: According to calculations by The Downballot, Kamala Harris won the 50th by just a 51-46 spread.

You can stay on top of every special election by bookmarking our continually updated tracker.

Senate

GA-Sen, GA-LG

State Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy, who had been mentioned as a possible GOP contender to take on Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, announced on Monday that he'd run for lieutenant governor instead.

Kennedy (whose middle name is Flanders) is the top-ranking member in the Senate; in next year's primary, he'll face the No. 2 Republican in the chamber, Majority Leader Steve Gooch. The power post of lieutenant governor is currently held by Republican Burt Jones, who is likely to seek the state's open governorship.

Several other Republicans could also potentially run, while state Sen. Josh McLaurin is the only prominent Democrat to join the race.

Governors

NY-Gov

Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado kicked off a long-awaited primary challenge on Monday against the woman who named him to his current post three years ago, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

"People are hurting and New York deserves better leadership," Delgado told the New York Times. "There's an absence of bold, decisive, transformational leadership."

The development represents a major turnabout from just three years ago, when Hochul tapped Delgado, then in his second term representing New York's 19th District, as her new lieutenant governor. (The first person she named to the job, Brian Benjamin, resigned less than a year into the job following his indictment on federal fraud charges, which were dismissed in January.)

Four years earlier, Delgado, who is both Black and Latino, had ousted Republican Rep. John Faso in a majority-white district Donald Trump had carried 51-44. During that campaign, Delgado faced down racist GOP attacks that highlighted the brief career he pursued as a rapper before becoming an attorney, scoring a difficult victory that marked him as a rising star.

But following Hochul's too-close-for-comfort win in the 2022 midterms, Delgado began carving out an independent identity by building out his own political operation. As Delgado increasingly pursued a separate path, he and the governor grew increasingly alienated—a split that culminated in February, when the lieutenant governor said he would not seek reelection with Hochul.

In a launch video released on Monday, Delgado didn't identify Hochul by name but threw shade nonetheless.

"Listen—the powerful and well-connected have their champions," he says at the end. "I'm running for governor to be yours."

Delgado, however, has a steep hill to climb. A Siena College poll last month showed Hochul with a wide 46-12 advantage, while another potential candidate, Rep. Ritchie Torres, took 10%. Torres has yet to say whether he'll join the race.

Republicans, meanwhile, have yet to land a notable candidate, though two members of the House, Elise Stefanik and Michael Lawler, are both considering.

PA-Gov

Donald Trump offered an advance endorsement of Rep. Dan Meuser at a rally in Pittsburgh on Friday should the congressman challenge Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro next year.

"He's been a great congressman," Trump said. "And if you run, you have my support." Meuser has been considering a bid and previously said an announcement would come "maybe Aug. 1, or something like that."

Shapiro still doesn't have any notable GOP opposition, but Meuser might nonetheless want to update his timetable: As one fellow Republican recently learned the hard way, a Trump pre-endorsement is only valuable if you capitalize right away.

Arizona businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson received a similar blessing from Trump late last year, but she dithered in launching her campaign, allowing a more MAGAfied candidate, Rep. Andy Biggs, to jump in first.

By the time Robson began running ads touting Trump's support, Trump had already changed course and decided to endorse both candidates. Robson's hesitancy led top Republican operatives to abandon her campaign, prompting one unnamed strategist to tell Axios she had blundered into "basically the greatest self-own in GOP political history."

SC-Gov

Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson says he's created an exploratory committee as he weighs a bid for South Carolina's open governorship next year.

After growing up in poverty in Los Angeles, the 6'7" Johnson became a basketball standout at the College of Charleston and played professionally overseas for several years. He won a seat in the state legislature in 2020 by ousting a veteran lawmaker in the Democratic primary in a 76-24 landslide.

Johnson is the most prominent Democrat considering the race to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, and he may be the only one still thinking about it. Prominent local attorney Mullins McLeod had also been eyeing the contest, but he doesn't appear to have said anything since getting arrested in downtown Charleston last month "yelling at the top of his lungs without any clothes on."

Last year, another Democratic lawmaker, state Sen. Russell Ott, didn't quite rule out a run shortly after winning a difficult reelection campaign, but he also doesn't appear to have commented since then.

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House

GA-13

Georgia State Rep. Jasmine Clark announced a challenge to Rep. David Scott on Monday, making her the third notable Democrat seeking to oust the longtime congressman in next year's primary.

She joins a field that already includes Everton Blair, who is a former chair of the Gwinnett County Board of Education, and state Sen. Emanuel Jones.

Clark told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she doesn't intend to focus on the health of the 79-year-old incumbent, who has faced years of scrutiny over both his physical and mental well-being. Instead, she suggested that voters were already attuned to the issue while acknowledging the widespread concerns.

"What's our succession plan?" she asked. "The voters are asking the question, and I don't know that I have to expressly criticize him."

Scott has said he plans to seek a 13th term next year representing the safely blue 13th District in the Atlanta area. Under Georgia law, though, candidates must win a majority of the vote to avert a runoff, so Scott needs more than a plurality to survive the primary.

IL-09

Bushra Amiwala, a district school board member in Skokie who'd been considering a bid for Illinois' open 9th District, announced on Monday that she'd join the crowded Democratic primary to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky.

Already seeking the nod are Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, state Sen. Laura Fine, and political commentator Kat Abughazaleh, while several other Democrats are still eyeing the race. The Chicago-based 9th District voted for Kamala Harris by a 68-31 margin, so the winner of the Democratic nomination should have little trouble in the general election.

MI-04

Two new Democrats could soon join the race for Michigan's 4th Congressional District, which could come open if Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga tries to seek a promotion to the Senate.

Diop Harris, a onetime staffer for former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, is preparing a Juneteenth launch, reports Inside Elections' Jacob Rubashkin, and is already raising money. Meanwhile, state Sen. Sean McCann, who's been considering a bid, tells the Detroit News that he plans to decide "in the next few weeks."

Already running is attorney Jessica Swartz, who lost to Huizenga 55-43 last year. Donald Trump carried this southwestern Michigan district by a 52-46 margin in 2024, according to calculations by The Downballot.

Attorneys General

FL-AG

Former Florida state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Democratic rising star whose career was derailed by a notorious "ghost candidate" conspiracy fomented by Republicans, has launched a challenge to state Attorney General James Uthmeier.

Uthmeier was appointed to his post earlier this year by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom he'd previously served as chief of staff, after DeSantis tapped Attorney General Ashley Moody to replace Marco Rubio in the Senate.

The new attorney general quickly attracted unwanted headlines during his short tenure. In April, a fellow Republican, state Rep. Alex Andrade, accused Uthmeier of illegally steering $10 million in taxpayer funds toward a troubled nonprofit run by DeSantis' wife called Hope Florida last year. Uthmeier has denied the allegations, but prosecutors in the state capital have opened an investigation.

Rodriguez's comeback bid comes after he lost reelection in 2020 to Republican Ileana Garcia by just 34 votes. During that race, Republican state Sen. Frank Artiles paid $50,000 to an auto parts salesman with the same last name as the Democrat, Alex Rodriguez, to run as an independent.

Dubbed a "ghost candidate," Alex Rodriguez never campaigned but still won more than 6,300 votes. Artiles, who bragged about his meddling on election night, was later convicted on criminal charges and sentenced to two months in prison last year, though he's currently appealing.

Correction: We incorrectly identified the school attended by South Carolina state Rep. Jermaine Johnson. It was the College of Charleston, not the University of Charleston.