Joni Ernst
Republican · IA· In the Senate since 2015 (11 yrs)
Mostly independent of concentrated money.
Why this grade
Every score is built from money facts you can check. Here's what drove it.
26.8% of their money comes from small donors; 12.8% comes from PACs.
$2,375,100 in PAC money flows through their leadership PAC (JOBS OPPORTUNITY AND NEW IDEAS PAC).
Where the money comes from
$275KCareer donations from the seven industries that most often buy influence, and the biggest names in each.
Blackstone $57K · Am. Bankers Assn. $18K · Goldman Sachs $11K · JPMorgan $11K · Securities Industry $6K
Raytheon $39K · Boeing $3K · Northrop Grumman $2K · Lockheed Martin $2K · L3Harris $900
Google $23K · Microsoft $8K · Apple $7K · Amazon $4K · Oracle $429
Johnson & Johnson $12K · PhRMA $7K · Merck $5K · Amgen $5K · Eli Lilly $1K
Am. Petroleum Inst. $8K · Chevron $5K · ExxonMobil $4K · Koch Industries $3K · ConocoPhillips $2K
Natl Assn of Realtors $13K · CBRE $725
Comcast $2K · AT&T $2K · Verizon $650
Source: FEC career receipts. It's all legal. That's the point.
The money votes
On the Senate votes where concentrated money was on the line, here's which way they went. Sided with the money on 19 of 19.
H.R. 1 · 2025. Its largest benefits flow to corporations and top earners. A yes vote sided with the donor class.
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H.J.Res. 88 · 2025. Revoked California's EV-standards waiver. A yes vote sided with oil and legacy-auto interests against the EV transition.
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S.J.Res. 18 · 2025. Killed the CFPB cap on overdraft fees at the biggest banks. A yes vote sided with their fee income.
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S.J.Res. 28 · 2025. Killed CFPB supervision of big-tech payment apps (Apple/Google/PayPal-style). A yes vote sided with those firms.
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H.J.Res. 35 · 2025. Killed the EPA fee on oil-and-gas methane leaks. A yes vote sided with the fossil-fuel industry that would have paid it.
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H.J.Res. 109 · 2024. Killed the SEC rule making banks hold capital against customer crypto. A yes vote sided with crypto firms and banks.
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S.J.Res. 32 · 2023. Killed the CFPB rule making banks report small-business lending data (used to spot bias). A yes vote sided with the banks.
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H.J.Res. 30 · 2023. Killed the rule letting retirement plans weigh climate risk. A yes vote sided with fossil-fuel and asset-management interests.
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H.R. 5376 · 2022. Let Medicare negotiate drug prices for the first time. A no vote sided with the pharmaceutical industry.
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S. 2747 · 2021. Aimed to curb big money and tighten disclosure. Blocking it protected dark-money spending.
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S. 2093 · 2021. Carried donor-disclosure and anti-big-money rules. Blocking it sided with undisclosed money.
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S.J.Res. 52 · 2018. Reversed the FCC's repeal to restore net neutrality. A no vote sided with the broadband carriers.
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S. 2155 · 2018. Exempted midsize banks from Dodd-Frank oversight. A yes vote sided with the banking industry.
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H.R. 1 · 2017. Its biggest cuts went to corporations and top earners. A yes vote sided with the donor class.
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H.J.Res. 111 · 2017. Killed the rule letting customers sue banks in class actions. A yes vote restored forced arbitration.
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S.J.Res. 34 · 2017. Let internet providers sell your browsing history. A yes vote sided with the telecom carriers.
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H.J.Res. 41 · 2017. Killed the rule making oil and mining firms disclose payments to governments. A yes vote backed industry secrecy.
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S.Amdt. 178 · 2017. Would let Americans buy cheaper drugs from Canada. A no vote protected U.S. pharma pricing.
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S. 1 · 2015. Forced approval of the oil pipeline backed by the fossil-fuel industry, bypassing review.
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Source: Senate roll-call records. “With the money” means the vote favored the industry whose cash was at stake. It's not a judgment of right or wrong.
On the cards
How to read the grade
- AFunded by you, not by concentrated money
- BMostly independent of concentrated money
- CA mix — some independence, some big money
- DLeans on concentrated money
- FHeavily reliant on concentrated money
We grade money behavior, not party. Both parties run the full range. We show the averages in the open: the typical Democrat scores 68, the typical Republican 55. Source: FEC receipts (small-donor vs PAC) and leadership-PAC filings. Nothing here alleges a crime. The point is that it's all legal.