FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) walks to a policy luncheon meeting on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 15, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo

By Richard Cowan and Bo Erickson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa on Tuesday announced that she will not run for re-election next year, potentially complicating her party's efforts to maintain control of the chamber.

"After a tremendous amount of prayer and reflection, I will not be seeking re-election in 2026," Ernst said in a video posted on X.

Ernst, 55, was first elected to the Senate in 2014, later rising to a Republican leadership position.

With her departure from Congress at the end of 2026, Ernst gives Democrats some added hopes of picking up a seat in next year's elections. The chamber is narrowly controlled by Republicans 53-47.

Over the past decade, however, Iowa has trended in the solidly conservative direction, with both U.S. Senate seats and all four House of Representatives seats currently held by Republicans.

One of those lawmakers, three-term Representative Ashley Hinson, who is well known from her time as an Iowa TV journalist, launched her campaign for Ernst's seat on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump easily beat his Democratic opponents in Iowa in each of the three times he ran for the White House.

But Trump will not be on the ballot next year and Democrats already are running on promises to restore federal healthcare insurance and other social safety-net programs for those who may be hit by Republican budget cuts that were enacted in July.

The last time Iowa elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate was in 2008, when Tom Harkin was elected to a fifth term. When Ernst won her first term in the Senate in the 2014 election, it was to fill the seat vacated by Harkin's retirement.

So far, there are four Democrats and three Republicans formally seeking Ernst's seat.

Ernst, an Iraq war veteran, was the first woman elected to Congress from Iowa. She was a supporter of Trump, but showed a willingness to defend Iowa interests, especially the state's farmers, when the Trump administration developed policies during its first term that she viewed as detrimental.

In her first run for the Senate, an Ernst campaign ad gained national attention.

"I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm so when I get to Washington I'll know how to cut pork," she said, referring to wasteful government spending, as she promised "to make Washington squeal."

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Susan Heavey, and Bo Erickson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Stephen Coates)