Joni Ernst
Republican · IA · U.S. Senate
Bio
Joni Kay Ernst is an American politician and retired military officer serving since 2015 as the junior United States senator from Iowa. She is a member of the Republican Party.
Full bio on Wikipedia →Record of service
- In office
- 11.6 years
- First took office
- 2015 (2 terms)
- Seniority
- 63 of 100 by time served
- Age
- 56
- Senate class
- 2 · junior senator
- Senate Republican Conference Vice Chair · 2019–2023
- Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair · 2023–2025
- Cedar Rapids, IA · 319-365-4504
- Davenport, IA · 563-322-0677
- Des Moines, IA · 515-284-4574
- Sioux City, IA · 712-252-1550
- Council Bluffs, IA · 712-352-1167
Service history, offices and identifiers from unitedstates/congress-legislators (public domain). Years served sum each term rather than subtracting the first start date, so a break in service is not counted as time in office.
Reported net worth
- Assets
- $355k – $1.4M
- Liabilities
- $50k – $100k
- Net worth
- $255k – $1.3M
- Since 2018
- +$1.3M
From annual financial disclosures, which report every asset and debt as a bracket — so these are ranges, and the figure shown is their midpoint. A primary residence is not a reportable asset while its mortgage is a reportable debt, which pushes some members negative. How this is calculated →
Overall lean (DW-NOMINATE)
Issue profile
Each issue runs left ↔ right, scored from how the member voted on bills tagged to that issue (−1…+1). Issues with too few votes are blank. Overall lean uses DW-NOMINATE.
How they score against the parties
Joni Ernst's voting record compared with each party's national platform, issue by issue — the same similarity score used across the site.
On the political map
Joni Ernst (the large ringed dot) among every current member of Congress and the party platforms.
Each small dot is a current member (Dem · Rep); the larger dots are party platforms — click one for its closest members. Economic axis: taxes, healthcare, labor, energy. Social axis: abortion, guns, immigration, civil rights, crime.
Do you vote like Ernst?
Answer a few questions on the issues and see which members of Congress — and which party — actually line up with you.
Caucuses & committees
Where Ernstsits in Congress's own organization — each group's lean is computed from its members' voting records. Explore them all on the caucuses and committees pages.
Committees
- Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestrycenter · 23 members
- Senate Committee on Armed Servicescenter · 27 members
- Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairscenter · 15 members
Most and least aligned members
Treating Ernst's 14 issue scores as a vector, cosine similarity measures whether two voting records point the same way (+100%) or in opposite directions (−100%) — the colleagues whose records align most and least with theirs.
Recent notable votes
Latest news
- California clan that swindled $18M from COVID cash inspires Senate bill to crack down on ‘fraudster families’
WASHINGTON — They’re a shady bunch. A California family that swindled $18 million in COVID-19 relief cash to splurge on various trappings — including a Harley-Davidson, diamonds and luxury homes — inspired a Senate crackdown on so-called “fraudster families.”…
Freerepublic.com · August 20, 2026 
‘Grifting Grandmothers,’ COVID Scammers Among Families That Cost Taxpayers $50 MillionAbout $50 million in federal fraud could have been avoided if grants were blocked for people living with convicted fraudsters, according to a new Senate report. The office of Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chairwoman of the Senate Small Business Committee as well a…
Daily Signal · August 20, 2026
California clan that swindled $18M from COVID cash inspires Senate bill to crack down on ‘fraudster families’"Their next scam-ily reunion will be in the slammer," Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said.
New York Post · August 20, 2026
The Big Question in Iowa’s Senate RaceYou’re reading The TNR Blue Book. Get daily scoops, strategy, and developments inside the liberal ideas factory delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for free. Inside WashingtonThe big question in Iowa’s Senate raceIs Iowa still a swing state? That’s what De…
The New Republic · August 11, 2026
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