The Senate Conservatives Fund will endorse Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst in her campaign for Iowa's open U.S. Senate seat, saying she will fight to cut wasteful spending, repeal Obamacare, and balance the budget.
"As a state senator, Joni Ernst has worked to limit government and promote economic growth," SCF Executive Director Matt Hoskins said in an email to
The Weekly Standard.
"She helped pass the largest tax cut in the history of the state, which will return more than $4.4 billion in property tax relief to Iowa taxpayers over the next decade."
Ernst, a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard, commanded the largest battalion in Iowa and served as a company commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom, where her unit ran conveys through Kuwait and into southern Iraq. She is also married and has three daughters and six grandchildren.
"Ernst believes that Washington politicians have ignored the Constitution and abandoned the principles that make America great," Hoskins said.
Ernst and competitor Mark Jacobs, a former energy executive and Goldman Sachs employee, are running neck-and-neck in the weeks before the primary election, set for June 3.
RealClearPolitics reports a
Suffolk poll has Ernst leading Jacobs by a slim margin of 25 percent to 23 percent, while a
Washington Free Beacon poll puts Ernst ahead of Jacobs by 22.4 percent to 20.5 percent.
Ernst has also been endorsed by former vice presidential nominee
Sarah Palin and former Republican presidential nominee
Mitt Romney.
Ernst became a national name earlier this year after she released an ad comparing fiscal conservatism to
hog castration, saying that she is not afraid to castrate hogs, so she is the perfect conservative from Iowa to cut pork.
The SCF backing may help Ernst with her fundraising struggles as well. While she is the popular pick for Republicans, her finances are lagging,
Politico reports.
In the last quarter of 2013, she raised just $203,000 and has just $290,000 in hand.
In comparison, Rep. Bruce Braley, the sole Democratic challenger in the race, brought in more than $1 million in the same time period, reporting $2.6 million cash on hand at the end of 2013.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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