Senator Joni Ernst won’t be having the “roast” part of her yearly campaign fundraiser due to the pandemic, but she’s hosting a two day “ride” for motorcyclists next month.
“We are going to do a ‘Joni’s Ride Across Iowa,” she said in a video released this morning.
That’s J-RAI, a sort of hat tip to RAGBRAI, the Des Moines Register’s Annual Bike Ride Across Iowa. Money raised from motorcyclists’ registrations for the senator’s event will go toward a Cedar Rapids-based derecho relief fund and the Puppy Jake Foundation which trains service dogs for veterans.
Ernst is running for election to a second term in the U.S. Senate this year and, according to a campaign news release, there will be a short program and she’ll speak to reporters at stop along the way. The ride starts in Sioux City on October 10, with stops in Carroll, Des Moines that day. Riders will start out from Des Moines on October 11, with a stop in Cedar Rapids before it ends in Davenport.
Riders will not be in a tight formation, as in the previous “Roast and Ride” events Ernst has held, but are to make their way from city to city at their own pace. In 2016, Ernst’s “Roast and Ride” featured then-candidate Donald Trump. In 2017, Vice President Mike Pence rode into Ernst’s fundraiser on a motorcycle.