Joni Ernst: Washington Democrats are gaslighting the American people.

Just last year, Washington insiders colluded to try to overturn the will of the people of Iowa in a fair and free election.

 

The Speaker of the House of Representatives attempted to steal a House seat. Iowa’s Second District congresswoman, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, won her election in 2020 and was certified by Iowa’s Secretary of State, 24 County Auditors from both parties, and the bipartisan State Board of Canvass. But in a total political power grab, the Speaker of the House spent over $600,000 of taxpayer money in an attempt to unseat Congresswoman Miller-Meeks.

 

Little did we know that this was an opening salvo in the Left’s ongoing rush to take over our elections.

 

Right now, using fake hysteria, my Democratic colleagues are trying to blow up the Senate and federalize our elections. Their proposals seek to limit voter ID, legalize ballot harvesting, provide taxpayer money to campaigns, and weaponize the Federal Election Commission. And if you don’t support their radical agenda, the leader of their party, President Biden—the same man who promised to unify the country—considers you of the likes of segregationists George Wallace and Jefferson Davis.

 

Folks, Washington Democrats are gaslighting the American people.

 

In 2017, when the Iowa legislature modernized our state’s election laws—which included requiring voter ID—many Democrats warned the law was ‘dangerous,’ an ‘unnecessary hurdle,’ and a ‘significant barrier’ for anyone who is not a white male. They could not have been further from the truth. Three times since the new Iowa voter law was implemented, the state has seen record high turnout for elections. This includes record high absentee voting during the 2020 presidential election, and record off-year turnout in 2021.

 

While Democrats and the liberal media continue their inflammatory rhetoric and accusing “red states” across the country of voter suppression, the reality is that New York, home of Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, and Delaware, home of President Biden, have some of the most restrictive voting laws in the entire country.

 

The Left has manufactured a voting crisis in this country in a blatant attempt to destroy the Senate and take control of America’s elections. This isn’t about voter access; it’s about power. It’s the same power grab that liberal elites in Washington made in their rush to steal Iowa’s Second Congressional District—now held by Congresswoman Miller-Meeks—and silence Iowans’ voices. Voters in Iowa should decide who we choose to represent us, not politicians in Washington.

 

Joni Ernst, a native of Red Oak and a combat veteran, represents Iowa in the United States Senate.