Ernst to deliver GOP’s SOTU response

HERSHEY, Pa. — Freshman Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa) will deliver the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address next week.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced the news at a joint press conference with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) during the GOP retreat at the Hershey Lodge.

“I am truly humbled and honored to have this opportunity to deliver the Republican address. It is a long way from Red Oak to Washington, DC,” she said. “Growing up on a southwest Iowa farm years ago I never, never would have imagined that I would have this opportunity.”

She said voters sent her to the nation’s capital with a mission to “craft and implement good policies, good solutions which will enable to get America on a better path.”

{mosads}Senate Republicans made a concerted effort to reach out to female voters in the 2014 midterm elections after performing poorly with that demographic in the 2012 presidential campaign. 

She is also the first woman ever elected to Congress from Iowa. 

Ernst rose to national fame last year by running an ad touting her experience castrating hogs while growing up on an Iowa farm.

She defeated then-Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) to capture the seat long held by former Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

“She is a perfect choice. Americans voted for change and Sen. Ernst will explain what the new Congress plans to do and what it is already doing to return Washington’s focus to the concerns of the middle class and away from the demands of the political class,” McConnell said.