Joni Ernst to Give State of the Union Response
Iowa Republican State Senator and U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst speaks during a rally with former Massachusetts Gov. and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on October 11, 2014 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Photographer: David Greedy/Getty ImagesHERSHEY, Pa.—The Republican congressional leadership tried to keep the secret for a few more minutes. At the first joint GOP retreat in years, as reporters buzzed about who might give the response to next week's State of the Union address, staffers asked reporters to leave the Hershey Lodge lobby and gather for a John Boehner/Mitch McConnell press conference. They asked one station to move a camera so the leaders could emerge from a back room. Shortly after 2:30, they emerged, with newly elected Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa.
"It is a long way from Red Oak, Iowa to Washington, D.C.!" said Ernst. "Growing up on a southwest Iowa farm years and years ago, I never dreamed I would have this opportunity."