A Democrat from northwest Iowa who’s been a member of the Iowa House since 2023 is running for the U.S. Senate.
State Representative J.D. Scholten of Sioux City said he decided to run Friday after he heard Iowa Senator Joni Ernst’s response when a woman suggested people would die if Republicans follow through on proposed cuts to Medicaid. “(Ernst) said: ‘We’re all going to die,'” Scholten said. “Well, my version of that is we all don’t have to die so that billionaires can have a bigger tax break.”
Scholten was on his way to a funeral when Ernst’s remark at a town hall meeting in Parkersburg hit the airwaves. “Sitting at that funeral, listening to everything, I was just like, ‘I can’t sit on the sidelines.’ I think most folks know me by now as being pretty competitive,” Scholten said. “…Then the next day when (Ernst) doubled down and I felt had a very cruel and sarcastic response, I knew I had to do this.”
Scholten ran for the United States House of Representatives twice and, in 2018, came within three points of defeating longtime GOP Congressman Steve King. Scholten, who has played pro baseball for teams in seven countries, got a last minute call before a game last July to pitch for Sioux City’s minor league team and wound up pitching the rest of the season. Scholten, who is 45, was just re-activated Sunday by the Sioux City Explorers and he plans to pitch for the team this summer.
“One thing that I learned last summer was that opportunity doesn’t come at convenient times and so, for me, I just was like, you know, I’ve got to do it,” Scholten said. “And the team was great and they were very supportive and had my back and so I felt like I just had to do it.”
Scholten enters a potentially crowded contest among Democrats for the party’s 2026 U.S. Senate nomination. Nathan Sage, the head of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, has been campaigning for several weeks and two other Democrats who are currently serving in the Iowa legislature have indicated they may jump in the race. Scholten said he’s prepared for a primary after running for congress twice.
“You know in my 2018 campaign in a district Trump won by 27, we moved the needle 24 points and nearly pulled it off,” Scholten said. “When it comes to a Democratic Primary, I’m the only one with federal experience. I’m the only one who’s won in a Trump district, which I did last fall. I’ve overformed in every single race I’ve been in.”
In 2024, Scholten won his race for a seat in the Iowa legislature by seven points. Scholten said once the baseball season ends, he’ll visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties.
In other campaign news, a Republican who’s been serving in the Iowa House since 2021 has filed the paperwork for a campaign for governor in 2026. Representative Eddie Andrews of Johnston has sent his supporters an email saying he’ll make a major announcement about his political future on Wedneday.
(By Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City/O. Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa also contributed to this story.)