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.
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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.