Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst characterized the administration of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as the most "hostile to farmers" in history on Wednesday and warned Biden and running Kamala Harris would be worse if elected.
"The Democratic Party of Joe Biden is pushing this so-called Green New Deal," Ernst said speaking on the third night of the Republican National Convention. "If given power, they would essentially ban animal agriculture and eliminate gas-power cars.
"It would destroy the agriculture industry, not just here in Iowa but throughout the country."
Ernst, 50, first gained widespread fame for her 2014 campaign ad that touted her experience castrating pigs as giving her credibility in cutting wasteful government spending or "pork." In her convention speech, she singled out the Obama administration's "Waters of the United States rule" as a policy change under President Donald Trump that was greatly welcomed in her state.
"We scrapped Obama and Biden's punishing ‘Waters of the United States rule,' which would have regulated about 97% of land in Iowa, in some cases even puddles," she said. "It would have been a nightmare for farmers."
Ernst called President Donald Trump a friend to farmers and rural communities.
"Knowing we have an ally in the White House is important," Ernst said. "Folks, this election is a choice between two very different paths: freedom, prosperity and economic growth under a Trump-Pence administration; or the Biden-Harris path, paved by liberal coastal elites and radical environmentalists, an America where farmers are punished, jobs are destroyed, and taxes crush the middle class.
"That is our choice. And it is a clear one."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.