JUST IN: Key GOP Senator Won’t Seek Re-Election

After much deliberation, another Republican in the U.S. Senate announced on Friday that she does not intend to seek reelection in 2026.

The decision by Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) puts to rest any rumors that Ernst would campaign for a third six-year term. It also offers the GOP a modestly safe opportunity to hold the seat, given Iowa’s shift to the right over the past decade.

Ernst, 55, did not publicly reveal a reason for her retirement, according to those who spoke on condition of anonymity. A spokesperson for Ernst could not be reached for comment by CBS News.

Multiple Democrats have already jumped into the contest — including state Sen. Zach Wahls, state Rep. Josh Turek, and Des Moines School Board chairwoman Jackie Norris — ensuring Ernst would have faced a tough battle to retain her seat.

Just this week, polling showed that the Republican senator was trailing one of her Democratic rivals, a sign of the wear and tear incumbents in Washington, D.C. can suffer back home.

The poll, conducted by Wahls’ campaign, showed Ernst finishing 1 point ahead of Wahls, 43-42. A second set of responses gave Wahls a 2-point lead, Little Village reported. Ernst managed to retain leads against the other Democrats in the race.

Ernst has been coy in public remarks about her future, but she has insisted that Republicans will maintain control of the Senate regardless of her decision.

“Every day we get a new Democratic member of the House or Senate that decides to run for this Senate seat — bring it on,” she said at a meeting of the Westside Conservative Club. “Bring it on, folks. Because I tell you, at the end of the day, Iowa is going to be red.”

The White House had been encouraging Ernst to run again. Instead, she joins North Carolina’s Thom Tillis (R-NC), Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in heading for the exit.

Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) announced she will be running for governor of Tennessee next year, but her term does not expire until 2030, CBS reported.

Ernst has reportedly told her allies that she intended to serve only two terms, that she has accomplished what she set out to do, and that she intends to head to the private sector.

She served in local government before running for Senate in 2014. Ernst rose to the No. 3 position in Senate leadership by the end of her tenure. President Donald Trump interviewed her as a possible running mate in 2016, but she ultimately declined to join the ticket.