Lincoln Project launches ad targeting Republican Joni Ernst in Iowa

The anti-Trump GOP group the Lincoln Project launched an ad Tuesday targeting Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) as her battle to keep her Senate seat ramps up.

The group framed Ernst as a “yes woman” for President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in the ad and a press release, which come before the senator’s Thursday debate with Democratic candidate Theresa Greenfield.

The ad, titled “Real,” condemns Ernst for supporting Trump’s trade plan, which it says is “driving too many Iowa farms to bankruptcy” and for not confronting the White House over its response to the coronavirus pandemic “that cost so many Iowa lives.”

“When times are this tough for Iowa families and farmers, you’d think Joni Ernst would stand up, speak up, fight for us, but Iowa’s figured out Joni never had it in her to do the right thing,” the ad says. 

“Since Joni got to Washington, she spends her time kissing up to Mitch McConnell, voting with him and against Iowa, time and again,” a narrator continues. 

The ad then shifts to shots of Greenfield as the narrator says, “a real Iowa leader would do everything she can to protect us. A real Iowa leader would stand for what’s right, not for what’s easy.”

Ernst’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Aaron Britt, a spokesperson for the Republican Party of Iowa, accused Greenfield and The Lincoln Project of “lying.”

“Once again, Theresa Greenfield and the liberal special interest groups are lying, desperate to distract from their radical agenda that will hurt Iowa farms, raise taxes and kill jobs,” Britt said. 

“The reality is that Joni Ernst was named one of the most bipartisan senators of the last 25 years by Georgetown University and she will always stand up and fight for Iowans and our way of life,” he added.

Reed Galen, the co-founder of the Lincoln Project, said in a statement that “Ernst has failed Iowa time and again.”

“She’s yet another Republican who’s put party over country and her constituents have suffered as a result,” he said. “Luckily, Iowans have the power to fight back.”

A CBS News/YouGov poll from this week said that Greenfield holds the lead among likely voters at 47 percent compared with Ernst’s 43 percent. But a Monmouth University poll from last month showed a tied race among registered voters with both candidates at 47 percent. 

The Cook Political Report ranks the Iowa Senate rate as a toss up. 

Greenfield collected $28.7 million in the third quarter of 2020, the highest amount of money in any quarter for an Iowa Senate candidate.

The Lincoln Project has released several ads in recent months against Trump and his allies leading up to the election.