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Tag: Joni Ernst

  • Joni Ernst Pulls Ahead Of Bruce Braley In Latest Quinnipiac Iowa Senate Poll

    Quinnipiac University has released a poll that places Republican candidate Joni Ernst six points ahead of her Democratic challenger, Bruce Braley, to replace Tom Harkin as the U.S. Senator from Iowa.

    Why would Iowans be favoring Ernst? Assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll, Peter A. Brown, gave his opinion on the matter:

    “The tale of independent voters tells you all you need to know about the Iowa Senate race. These independents are perhaps the most important voter bloc in the electorate and State Sen. Joni Ernst is ahead 7 percentage points among them, just about her overall lead. The key to any comeback by U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley will be chipping away at her lead among independents. Sen. Ernst’s television commercials and campaign have presented her as a born and bred Iowan, who never lost her farm girl values. She should pay her strategists and media folks quite well because up until now they have sold that message effectively. The fact that more voters think she cares about their needs than does Braley is telling. That is a measurement that many Republicans, even winning GOPers, lose. Some pundits back east may have made fun of her shooting hog ads, but they send an effective message to Iowans that she is one of them. There is also a message to President Barack Obama in these numbers. Almost three in 10 voters say theirs is mainly a vote against the president, a troubling number for Democrats. Only 12 percent say they are voting to back the president. If these results show up in other states, it could produce the kind of wave for which Republicans are hoping.”

    According to Real Clear Politics, this poll is the first lead Ernst has had in months. Since August, polls have been either tied or showing Braley in a slight lead.

    The campaign has been a harsh one, back in March, Ernst received national attention with her ad promising to use her background castrating pigs in Washington if she’s elected:

    Her opponent then responded with an ad of his own:

    Even though the attack ads are flying, Ernst and Braley have one thing in common; they’ve received an endorsement from the national non-profit, No Labels. “We always hear candidates talking about the need to unite the country, but no one ever tells us how. The National Strategic Agenda is the how. And the more people like Joni and Bruce that we can get to support the agenda, the better chance we’ll have of success,” No Labels Executive Director Margaret Kimbrell said.

  • Joni Ernst Wins GOP Primary in Iowa for US Senate

    In order to achieve a majority in the United States Senate after the next election cycle, the Republican Party must win six additional seats. Fortunately for conservatives, fate seemed to be smiling on the GOP Tuesday as Republican candidate Joni Ernst dominated her competition in the Iowa state primary in order to become the Republican nominee in the highly-anticipated Senatorial race this fall.

    Ernst’s victory makes her the first female to ever be nominated for the Republican Senate from Iowa. The 43-year-old state Senator and military commander faced stiff competition in her primary race from multiple sources: former energy executive and multi-millionaire Mark Jacobs, Rick Perry-backed attorney Matt Whitaker, radio host and Santorum-supported Sam Clovis, and car-salesman Scott Schaben.

    While most political pundits expected Jacobs to present the greatest challenge to Ernst (mainly due to his record-setting self-financed campaign expenditures of over $1.65 million), but it was Clovis who finished second to Ernst with 18 percent of the vote. Ernst more than doubled her competition, finishing with 56.2 percent of the votes.

    Ernst was able to run such a successful campaign mainly through the use of contextually-strategic television ads. Her first ad was entitled “Squeal” and featured Ernst discussing the hog castration skills she obtained growing up on an Iowa farm. In the video, Ernst states that she will use her castration skills in Washington to help “cut the pork.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Y24MFOfFU

    The video became so popular that it was even featured on late-night talk shows across the country, bringing in much needed outside support for Ernst’s campaign and leading to another viral ad.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3mG9fNOZp4

    Perhaps the most important outside support Ernst received was from former presidential nominee and Republican Mitt Romney. While Romney has directly helped Ernst by appearing in a television ad aired by the Chamber of Commerce and by making an appearance for Ernst on the campaign trail, his more important contributions have come indirectly.

    Both Ernst’s campaign manager and treasurer are former Romney staffers. The consulting group Ernst hired is headed by a former Romney adviser. And Ernst has also received much support from the PAC America Rising, headed by former Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades.

    The greatest assistance from America Rising came with its release of a video showing Ernst’s Democratic opposition for the Senate seat in the fall, Bruce Braley, potentially alienating Iowa voters by insulting the most popular politician in Iowa, Charles Grassley, by calling him “a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school.”

    Coincidentally (or not), Ernst released her “Squeal” video, which spoke to her farming roots, the same day as America Rising released the Braley video, rocketing Ernst’s popularity amongst Iowa voters almost overnight.

    If Ernst wants to become Iowa’s first female Republican Senator, however, she is going to have to hope for much more outside help to come. As it currently stands, Braley has a five-point advantage in the early polls. That, coupled with the fact that he was unopposed in the primary and has a $2.3 million fund to pull from, puts Ernst at a disadvantage going into the fall campaign.

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