Book Review:

Joni Ernst

Daughter of the Heartland: My Ode to the Country that Raised Me

New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020; 220 pages

by Jo Freeman　

Joni Ernst describes herself as a "farmer, soldier, mother, Senator." Born in 1970, Ernst greatly benefitted from the doors opened by the 1960s women’s liberation movement, becoming the first woman to be elected to Congress from Iowa. Girls born in 1970 were still expected to be wives and mothers and not much more. However, Ernst attributes much of her "grit" to growing up on a farm where she drove a tractor and castrated hogs.

Military Service is a major part of her identity. She joined ROTC in college, and the Army Reserve after graduating in 1993. She shifted to the Iowa National Guard where she remained until 2015. During the Iraq War she was sent to Kuwait where she experienced combat first hand. All these experiences put serving veterans high on her personal priority list. Ernst doesn’t recognize that had the feminist movement not broken a few glass ceilings none of these doors would have opened. She does acknowledge the importance of military discipline in shaping her life.　

As a determined woman, she has many Iowa ancestors, including Carrie Chapman Catt, whose "winning plan" brought us the 19th Amendment, Arabella Mansfield, the first woman in the country to join a state bar (in 1869), and Mary Louise Smith, the first woman to chair the Republican National Committee (in 1974).

Her route into politics was a traditional one. She was asked by the local Republican Party to run for auditor in her home county — a traditional woman’s office. In a county so small that everyone knew everyone else her credentials as a female combat veteran from an established farm family made her an easy choice. She was also a logical choice to replace the woman state Senator when she resigned to run for Lt. Governor.

It was Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds who pushed her to run for the US Senate when the incumbent Democrat announced he would not run for re-election. She knew that the National Senatorial Republican Committee was looking for women. Ernst was elected to the Senate in 2014 and Reynolds moved up to become Iowa’s first woman Governor when the incumbent resigned in 2017.　

In the Senate, Ernst was given red carpet treatment from the leadership. The new Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, asked her to give the Republican response to Obama’s 2015 State of the Union address after she had barely been sworn in. She spoke at the 2020 virtual Republican Convention on Wednesday (along with Gov. Reynolds).　

Ernst primarily sees herself as an Iowan, a "daughter of the heartland." She would never call herself a feminist because that is a dirty word in the Republican Party. She’d rather see the world through the eyes of a mother. But she’s a very non-traditional mother, not only having worked at "men’s jobs" most of her life, but in her pride that her daughter went to West Point, aspiring to a career in the military. She had many of the experiences that turn women into feminists, including a rape and spousal abuse. Her’s and her mother’s divorces taught her how important it is for women to not be dependent on men.

While not a feminist, among Ernst’ priorities is being "a voice for women." She advises young women on how to handle "male-dominated atmospheres." On issues other than "sex" (e.g. abortion, gay rights) she has feminist views (e.g. federal support for child care). She devotes an entire chapter to how Congresswomen look out for each other, "collaborate on legislation and often overcome divisive partisanship." She thinks more like the few Republican women Senators of the 1950s-70s than the Republican men of today.

Ernst is running for re-election, so in many ways this is a political memoir. Since her Democratic opponent is also a woman, this should be an election to watch.

Copyright © 2020 by Jo Freeman for SeniorWomen.com

Jo has been watching the Republican Convention in Brooklyn. She hopes virtual conventions don’t become the norm.