senate seat

DES MOINES, Iowa — U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst said Tuesday that she will not seek reelection next year, confirming in a video post on social media that she will retire after months of speculation about her plans.

Ernst’s departure opens up a Senate seat in the state known for its long-serving incumbents. Ernst was first elected in 2014 to the open seat previously held by Tom Harkin, a Democrat who served for 30 years. Republican Chuck Grassley, Iowa’s senior U.S. senator, was first elected to the Senate in 1980.

Her announcement Tuesday followed reports last week that she was expected to announce her retirement in September.

It is the second unexpected retirement for Senate Republicans as they work to maintain their majority in the chamber, with Ernst joining Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who turned down a reelection bid after clashing with President Trump.

It also could have ripple effects down the ballot if third-term Rep. Ashley Hinson from the Cedar Rapids area in eastern Iowa jumps into the race, as is widely expected. Hinson’s decision could also complicate House Republicans’ efforts to keep control as Democrats look for opportunities to flip seats in once-competitive Iowa, where two of Iowa’s four congressional districts have been among the country’s most competitive in recent elections.

Several Democrats are seeking the party’s nomination for the seat, including state Sen. Zach Wahls; state Rep. Josh Turek; Jackie Norris, chair of the Des Moines School Board; and Nathan Sage, a former chamber of commerce president.

Two Republicans — former state Sen. Jim Carlin and veteran Joshua Smith — had already entered the primary to challenge Ernst.

Ernst, Iowa’s first woman elected to Congress, is an Iraq War combat veteran and retired from the Army National Guard as a lieutenant colonel. She served for several years in Senate GOP leadership and was considered a vice presidential contender for Trump’s first White House run.

But Ernst has faced pressure from all sides in the last year. She took heat after signaling a hesitance to support one of Trump’s Cabinet picks. She’s also been one of the faces of Democrats’ campaign against the sprawling tax and spending package after she made a retort about Medicaid cuts at a town hall.

Fingerhut writes for the Associated Press.

SACRAMENTO — U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) on Wednesday brushed aside questions about whether he might jump into California’s 2026 governor’s race, but declined to rule out the idea.

Padilla instead said he was wholly focused on promoting the special election in November when voters will be asked to redraw California’s congressional districts to counter efforts by President Trump and other GOP leaders to keep Republicans in control of Congress.

“I’m focused and I’d encourage everybody to focus on this Nov. 4 special election,” Padilla said during an interview at a political summit in Sacramento sponsored by Politico.

The 52-year-old added that the effort to redraw congressional districts, championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in response to similar efforts in GOP-led states, is not solely about the arcane process known as redistricting.

“My Republican colleagues and especially the White House know how unpopular and damaging what they’re doing is, from gutting Medicare, nutrition assistance programs, really all these other areas of budget cuts to underwrite tax breaks for billionaires,” Padilla said. “So their only hope of staying in power beyond next November is to rig the system.”

In recent days, Padilla’s name has emerged as a possible candidate to replace Newsom, who cannot run for another term. The field is unsettled, with independent polling conducted after former Vice President Kamala Harris opted not to run for governor showing large numbers of voters are undecided and with no clear front-runner.

Padilla pointed to his more than quarter-century history of serving Californians at every level of government when asked what might be appealing about the job.

“I love California, right?” he said. “And I’ve had the privilege and the honor of serving in so many different capacities.”

In 1999, the then-26-year-old was elected to Los Angeles City Council. At the time, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology grad still lived with his parents — a Mexican-born housekeeper and a short-order cook — in Pacoima.

Padilla continued his steady climb through the state’s political ranks in the decades that followed, serving in the state Senate and as California secretary of state. Newsom appointed him to fill Harris’ Senate seat in 2020, making him the first Latino to represent California in the Senate, and Padilla was elected to fill a full term in 2022. His current Senate term doesn’t end until 2029, meaning he wouldn’t have to risk his seat to run for governor.

DENVER — U.S. Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet is running for Colorado governor next year, saying in an interview with the Associated Press that he could better oppose President Trump from the governor’s office.

Bennet, whose practical approach to Democratic politics has been punctuated more recently by fiery and viral moments, has spent over 16 years in the U.S. Senate. Now, he joins a growing field of candidates from both parties vying for Colorado’s executive seat.

Democrats, in the minority in Congress and searching for a way forward politically, have seen a line of lawmakers looking for an exit from Washington. At least three other Senate Democrats are not running for reelection next year, and a number of other House members are leaving Congress to run for gubernatorial offices.

In the Colorado gubernatorial contest, Bennet’s stiffest competition will likely come from Democratic Atty. Gen. Phil Weiser.

Weiser was already on the attack Thursday, insinuating in a statement that Bennet shouldn’t leave his Senate seat at a time of such political upheaval in the nation’s capital.

Bennet has a political pulpit in Washington

Bennet’s position in Congress has given him a political pulpit in Washington, D.C., as when he questioned Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during the secretary of Health and Human Services’ confirmation hearings. But in an interview with the AP, Bennet said his decision to join the governor’s race isn’t a retreat from political battles.

“There is not a person in the Senate who’s more worried about what Trump is doing to our democracy and our economy than I am,” Bennet said. “I have come to believe strongly that the best place to fight that fight is from the state of Colorado.”

Bennet is currently pressing to make permanent expansion of the child tax credit, and in the past has advocated for bipartisan legislation to address immigration and border security. A central part of his campaign is tackling the affordable housing crisis.

In his 16th year in the Senate, Bennet has been frustrated with Congress’ seeming inability to act decisively. He is the latest in a line of Democrats leaving Congress to seek governor’s offices.

As Congress struggled last year to agree on wartime aid for Ukraine, the senator tried nearly everything possible to prod his colleagues forward: legislative maneuvers, bipartisan agreements and sharing personal stories to move the needle, as when he recounted how his mother had fled Poland during the Holocaust.

Bennet has sought a prominent position in the Democratic Party

Bennet has long sought a prominent position in the Democratic Party, including unsuccessfully running in the presidential primary in 2020. Last year, he was among the first Senate Democrats to openly call for then-President Biden to withdraw from the election, and amid recent criticism of Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, suggested the party will be looking for new leaders.

“The Democratic Party has to figure out what it is we’re going to offer going forward,” Bennet said. “What we have to offer is a vision not into the past, but into the future, about how we are going to create an economy again in America that, when it grows, it grows for everybody.”

A former superintendent of Denver Public Schools, Bennet plans to focus his campaign not simply on opposing Trump, but on the cost of housing and healthcare and putting Colorado in a position to lead other states. He said he wants to make it “easier and faster to build housing” by removing red tape.

At a campaign launch event at Denver’s City Park on Friday morning, Bennet plans to announce endorsements from a number of Colorado Democrats.

The winning gubernatorial candidate will replace term-limited Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat whose name has been bandied about as a presidential contender, though the governor has demurred from questions about his political future.

Bennet represents a similar wing of the Democratic Party to Polis — fiscally moderate and socially liberal — without the current governor’s quirkiness.

Polis revels in nerd culture, quoting Yoda in speeches to the Legislature, and is more inclined to buck party orthodox than Bennet, a child of a prominent diplomat with a professorial demeanor who delights in asking people what books they’re reading.

A Bennet victory, however, could open up a Senate seat to a new generation. The state’s younger Democratic representatives in the U.S. House, such as Joe Neguse, Brittany Pettersen or Jason Crow, may seek the position in the future.

The Senate’s Democratic Caucus is already anticipating a generational change. Three other Democrats — Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Gary Peters of Michigan and Tina Smith of Minnesota — have already announced they will not seek reelection in 2026.

The Republican candidates in Colorado’s gubernatorial race include two state lawmakers, Sen. Mark Baisley and Rep. Scott Bottoms. They face an uphill battle with the states’ political shifts as GOP contenders have failed to secure statewide offices in recent elections.

Bedayn and Groves write for the Associated Press. Groves reported from Washington.