'You're hearing people call her Joni Hearse' Ernst challenger on backlash to Medicaid comment

ABC News1

Democratic Iowa state Representative J.D. Scholten joins Nicolle Wallace to discuss his decision to challenge Senator Joni Ernst after she told a town hall that “we all are going to die” in response to concerns over Medicaid cuts.

Transcript

00:00They will be coming off. So we, people are not, well, we all are going to die. So for heaven's sakes.

00:15I can't stop thinking about who plays her in the movie. Those comments have reverberated all across

00:20our nation's politics, seeping into culture, but nowhere more so than in Iowa, where they've now

00:27earned Senator Joni Ernst a Democratic challenger for her Senate seat next November. Yesterday,

00:33Iowa State Representative J.D. Scholten, who also is currently a minor league baseball pitcher,

00:39announced his candidacy, which he called a spur-of-the-moment decision after hearing

00:43Ernst's comments. Take a look. I wasn't planning on doing this right now, but I just can't sit on

00:49the sidelines after Joni's recent town hall justifying gutting Medicaid because we're all

00:56going to die. I'm a baseball-playing, monopoly-busting, beer-drinking, Bible-reading,

01:00working-class, proud prairie populist who is a sixth-generation Iowan from right here in Sioux

01:05City. Ultimately, this race is not about Joni Ernst, and it's not about me. It's about the

01:09people in Iowa who deserve better. Joining us now is Democratic Iowa State Representative J.D.

01:16Scholten. Also joining me and Alex at the table, host of the Independent Americans podcast, founder

01:21and CEO of Independent Veterans of America. Paul Rykoff is here. I want to talk to you about

01:27baseball, but I won't. Let me ask you about jumping into this race against Joni Ernst.

01:33Yeah. You know, how do you make God laugh? Have a plan. And so on Friday, when all the comments were

01:41going social media and going viral, I was actually on my way to a funeral of a family friend and activist

01:47in Sioux City, and Senator Harkin, whose seat used to be that one, was attending that funeral. And so

01:53at that funeral, that's when I just felt that call to do more. And I was thinking about this race, but then

01:59just as the weekend progressed, that horrible and disrespectful apology, that's when I was like,

02:08game on. Let's do this. I mean, Iowa used to be a little bit more of a swing state than it is now,

02:14and so I spent a good deal of time there. And what I wouldn't seem to value, and I want you to

02:19correct me if I'm wrong at all, is I don't have to agree with everything that you're saying to me,

02:25but don't mock me and don't make a mockery of your seat. And it seems like the first thing was

02:30callous and dumb thing to say, everyone's going to die, but she was being confronted by an angry

02:35constituent. It seems like what might have fallen more flat in Iowa is the walk through the cemetery,

02:41basically trolling everyone who thinks it's a joke to take people off Medicaid.

02:46That's exactly right. And, you know, we've been having town halls all across the state right now

02:50on this particular issue. And even on the ground, you're hearing people call her Joni Hurst.

02:56It just, it's not Iowa. It's pretty disrespectful. And, you know, that's, we're seeing the outcry from

03:03just the level of support has been absolutely amazing all across Iowa. And so that's why we're really

03:09excited. And I mean, I've been in the race just a couple of days and we've already seen a rating

03:14change. And we've seen a poll that came out earlier today that showed a generic Democrats within two.

03:19Well, I've outperformed the top of the ticket in every single race I've been in, including in 2018,

03:24when we moved, we took a Trump plus 27 district and got within three points of Steve King.

03:30Okay. So you're also a baseball player. You describe yourself as a Bible reading,

03:34beer drinking, all sorts of other things that I feel are brand enhancing. Talk about your

03:41biography, what you bring.

03:43You know, I'm not, I'm definitely not a traditional politician by any means. I got into politics

03:49because my grandmother on her deathbed said, you got to take care of the farm. And within a year,

03:53I was running for Congress against Steve King. And my one goal was to get a used Winnebago RV and just

03:59go nonstop. We named it Sioux City Sioux, and we hope to bring that back. Sioux City Sioux,

04:042.0. So we can really get out there to all 99 counties. You know, life's coming at me a little

04:10bit fast right now. It's a little bit different because I'm playing professional baseball. I got

04:15activated on Sunday. I threw last night for the first time in relief and first batter I faced with

04:21two outs and a guy on first and second. And I got a strikeout and just felt the world just come off

04:26my shoulders. And so my teammates are supportive. The folks across Iowa have all been supportive.

04:33This has just been an amazing week. I mean, that's a high stakes position at any level and

04:41certainly at that high of a level. Tell me what lessons from being a reliever in that situation

04:46you can bring to your Senate run. Oh, I mean, it's clear that the Democrats have had a struggle

04:52attracting younger voters, especially younger men. And so I talk to my teammates every day. I want to

04:58know what they care about. But I also want to know how the things that I'm passionate about,

05:02how to talk it, talk about it in a way that they are interested in it. And so they've been so

05:08supportive. The whole explorers have been so supportive. And so it's just one of those things

05:14where in order to win this race, just a Democratic wave is probably not going to do it. We have to be

05:19more than that. And how do we bring people into our coalition? I feel that's one of the strengths

05:24of my campaign. And I have a track record to prove that. What is your strategy and how will

05:29you juggle the baseball season and your campaign? Well, first, the primary is over a year away. So

05:37like we got a long time and campaigns are far too long. So right now, every federal race out there is

05:44trying to grab people's attention. This is just another way that we're trying to draw people's

05:49attention while I continue to do something I'm extremely passionate about. It's going to help

05:53the race because the first few months I get to focus on fundraising, play baseball at night. And

05:59then on our off days, we're going to go all across the state. And then we're going to raise enough money

06:03to get Sioux City Sioux 2.0, our campaign Winnebago, and just go nonstop. And we're going to have a

06:08massive 99-county tour in the fall. And that's what I'm most excited about, when you just get out there

06:13and talk to people. When you talk to people in either of your capacities, you know, on the field

06:20as a minor league player or as a state representative and now as a candidate, what are you hearing from

06:27people in Iowa? I mean, people are frustrated with the status quo. And that's clearly like most of

06:33Iowa has not bounced back since the 2008 economic crisis. You know, there's our pockets that are doing

06:38really well, but the majority of the state, we're losing population. We have an extractive economy.

06:45You know, we have farming and agriculture is top dog in Iowa. And you have these huge multinational

06:52corporations squeezing farmers, both on the input side and on the market side. And it's really

06:58hollowing out a lot of our rural communities. And so we talk about like this Medicaid bill or the cuts

07:04that might happen. That's going to devastate. I mean, not only kicking people off their health

07:08insurance, it's going to crush rural hospitals. It's going to crush rural nursing homes. And so

07:14that's one thing that's at the forefront of everybody.

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