When it was all over, Iowa's Sen. Joni Ernst — by far one of the Democrats' biggest targets among Senate Republicans — won rather easily.
With final results in, The Associated Press reported that Ernst defeated Democrat opponent Theresa Greenfield by a margin of 52% to 45%.
This outcome was surprising, since Des Moines businesswoman Greenfield led in virtually all polls right up to the final week of the campaign.
Two key factors in Ernst's stunning reelection, Hawkeye State sources told Newsmax, were President Donald Trump and Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
"The Supreme Court confirmation [of Barrett] made Joni, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, look much stronger to conservatives and more like the senator who had previously won by promising to 'make Washington squeal,'" former Polk County Republican Chairman Kim Schmett told us. "And a strong turnout of Trump supporters helped carry her over the finish line."
Ernst proudly defended her support of the president and appeared with him when he stumped in the state.
Schmett also emphasized that "Joni finally begin to effectively match negative TV ads Greenfield had been running against her with attacks questioning Greenfield"s reputation as 'a nice farm girl' and 'poor widow.' Greenfield had previously been getting a free ride. Earlier ads done by Ernst supporters were poor and very generic: 'Greenfield is bad because she is an evil liberal,' 'she will be a [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi tool,' and the like."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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