Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said Democrats gave the Midwestern U.S. the “middle finger” after the Democratic National Committee (DNC) rulemaking arm voted on Friday to move the first-in-the-nation caucus from Iowa to South Carolina.
Ernst told “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream that she was “sorely disappointed” when the DNC panel voted to remove Iowa as the party’s first caucus for the presidential nominating contest.
“We have seen a number of pushes in the past to change this,” the Iowa senator said. “I’m glad that Republicans are staying the course. I feel Democrats have really given Middle America the middle finger.”
The DNC’s vote last week shifted the first-in-the-nation caucus away from Iowa after the state has held the honorary right since 1972.
The move comes after President Biden on Thursday stunningly called on the DNC to change its rule, citing the need to put forward a state with more diversity in the party’s first nominating contest. Biden suggested South Carolina, a state that helped his own 2020 campaign turn around after a series of primary losses.
But the move also risks alienating Midwestern and working-class voters, toward whom Democrats have struggled to message.
Republicans have held their own first-in-the-nation presidential nominating caucus in Iowa since 1976.