The MeidasTouch Podcast - Iowa State Senator Zach Wahls Announces US Senate Run

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the growing backlash against Trump’s policies in Iowa and Meiselas interviews Iowa State Senator Zachary Wahls who announces he will be running for the United States Senate in Iowa against Iowa’s MAGA Senator Joni Ernst who has grown deeply unpopular in the state. Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Yes, Iowa. I think Iowa, as it's been in elections, there's a reason why it's at the start, you know, could be a bellwether, I think, to determine if there's going to be a blue wave, if we're going to be able to hold Donald Trump accountable. If democracy is going to prevail in Iowa, we've been seeing some interesting signs there as well, like their MAGA Republican Senator. Of course you've all seen this one. Uh, Joni Ernst getting a boot when she was basically saying to everybody, whatever, who cares if this budget bill is going to take away healthcare

from 15 million people and take away food stamps and take away rental assistance and attack women's reproductive rights, whatever. We're all going to die anyway. You all remember this clip. Let's play it. People are not well, we all are going to die. You know, when the people in Iowa are pissed, I mean, you're hearing reactions like this, there's this, a lot of people are saying, look, it was incredibly rude and disrespectful that she would say that, but then she goes to a cemetery and then just mocks us all and then says, well, you better believe in Jesus Christ because that's the only way you're

going to get salvation because you're going to die in a cemetery. People like, what the hell is this? Here's an example of some of the voters in Iowa. Let's play this first voter. It was rude and it was very uncouth and there was no compassion in her statement whatsoever. But when she saw what Ernst called a sincere apology on Saturday, I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this earth. So I apologize.

Pierce was irate. We should call her out and maybe refer to her as Joni Hearst from here on out instead of Joni Ernst. Calling the apology insulting. She's videotaping herself walking through a cemetery. And if you have lost anybody you cared about that fought a courageous battle against any kind of health issue, that's not the kind of place to make your point. What about what VA nurse Pat Kearns has to say?

Play this clip. Angry doesn't begin to like describe what I feel about it. Patrick Kearns is a father of two adults on Medicaid. And he says the comments from Senator Ernst felt like an attack on his kids. She was saying to me, she doesn't care if my kids die. You know, that's how I heard that. And I think that that's how a lot of Iowans hear it. That it's not that we'll all die.

It's just that nobody that she cares about is going to die because of it. And I think that that was very telling. You combine that with what happened when MAGA Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson from Iowa's second held a town hall back on May 28th. Remember this moment? I was also proud to vote for President Trump's one big, beautiful bill last week. This is a generational investment. This is a general investment. This is a generational investment. This is a general investment. This is your time.

Okay. And then back on January 29th, Democrat Mike Zimmer flipped Iowa's Senate District 35, a district that was a Trump plus 21 in 2024. This op-ed in the Des Moines Register, uh, Joni Ernst has lost my vote. And yet we're hearing stories from lots of people in Iowa who voted for Magga Republican Senator Joni Ernst before. And they're saying no more, no way. This has become a death cult. And you see, uh, right there, uh, state Senator Zach Walz saying Steve is right I'm hearing from Iowans all across the state that they are ready to move on from Joni Ernst. Let's bring in Zach Walz right now and Zach you're hearing from people in Iowa and I know

that you have a big announcement as well. I sure do Ben it's great to be with you, and I'm thrilled to share with your audience that I'm running for the United States Senate because Iowans are working hard, but aren't getting ahead. And I wanna do something to help solve the problems that hardworking families are facing, and that Joni Ernst, who's apparently her plan,

is just waiting for all of us to die. She's not solving those problems, and we need someone who will. You're making that announcement right here exclusively on the Midas Touch YouTube channel. We got the YouTube exclusive. Tell us what you're hearing though from the voters in Iowa as you've been touring the state. What are you hearing?

Well, we've been all over, and I think that what they're seeing is the failed leadership of Joni Ernst in Washington and an establishment that isn't focused on actually solving the problems that people are facing. And we all see it every day, whether it's at the grocery store with high prices that haven't come down, my wife and I have a 14 month old and we're paying almost as much for daycare

as we are for our mortgage, or the fact that, like we heard from Joni Ernst, the potential cuts to Medicaid would threaten the health care that 700,000 Iowans count on. Things in Washington aren't working for them and it's time to make a change. We heard the nicknames from some of those voters, Joni Hearst. I actually like Joni Washington, Joni Trump, but it seems that basically, you know, the only agenda that someone like a Joni Ernst is focused on is what's Donald Trump going to do?

What's Donald Trump going to do? And you know, when I speak to, you know, whether it's leaders in a place like Iowa or just across the country, I just find that voters right now are basically saying, can we just get back to like, not the like weird politicals, like strange stuff that like Trump is doing and this, you know, just what are you gonna do to fix my roads? What are you gonna do to make things cheaper?

Like what are you actually gonna do as a politician that's your job and not this like weirdo cosplay routine that you're doing out there in Washington? Well, Ben, one of the very first things I did after launching this campaign was meet with labor leaders over in the Quad Cities, which is a really important part of Iowa. And one of the things that I heard from them

was the fact that we're literally seeing our roads and our bridges crumble, right? And these are the guys who are out there working hard to make sure that we have infrastructure that we can all use. And I think that one of the biggest challenges that we're seeing in Iowa is that Joni Ernst has become so consumed by internal party politics, she's totally lost touch. I don't think that you can make the comments that she did or that bizarre double down video

if you were actually in touch with what was happening here in Iowa. And that's a big part of why we need a change. That's a big part of why I'm running. video if you were actually in touch with what was happening here in Iowa. That's a big part of why we need to change. That's a big part of why I'm running. Tell me about these town halls that you're seeing. It seems that there's a lot of just organic, just people coming together in Iowa. Then you see people like Joni Ernst and others, you know calling them Oh, these people are just paid and they're they're funded by you know, left-wing organizations and as people just like now We're scared like we're legitimately scared and you keep on lying to us. Just stop it

Well, I actually had the chance to speak with one of the people who asked a question at that Hinson town hall Nick Larson He had this really I thought powerful who asked a question at that Hinson town hall, Nick Larson. He had this really, I thought powerful question that he asked Representative Hinson. And when I called Nick to talk with him, what I heard from him was just deep frustration with what's happening in DC and feeling like Iowa has been left behind. And if you look at the numbers,

we're 48th in personal income, we're 49th in state GDP, and a report was out just last week that had us dead last in terms of our overall economy. I think the problem is that Joni has been completely consumed by Republican politics. I'm sure all of your viewers remember that earlier this year they had the nomination fight with Pete Hagsath and she expressed some reservations that were clearly very well founded as Jeffrey Goldberg found out and then shared with the rest of the world a few short months later,

but Joni didn't do the right thing. She didn't stand up for what she knew was right. And that's the fundamental problem with Joni. You know, she said that in 2014, she'd go to Washington and make them squeal. She promised to only serve two terms, but now for a third term and she's breaking her promise to us and so I'd say that Joni Ernst is all squeal

No bacon, you know what I noticed with the with people like a Jodi Ernst is once they make that move You know whether it is, you know, like a Hegseth or whatever it is and they and they shed their entire dignity Then the next move is kind of like to go all me, then the next move is kind of like to go all like, like they have no place other than to go full cult and to go all in because they've already, they've already dropped it. So then they figure, well, now my, my only chance is to go as extreme as possible because at least there, you know, maybe I could divide the people, you know, amongst kind of tribes within a state and just hope that the, you know, right wing MAGA disinformation flooding the zone really defeats just the facts and the truth that's out there.

But what do you say to that? What do you say at the end of the day? You know, when, you know, politics has been, I always talk about it on the podcast that politics, you know, unfortunately, I think has been gamified in a way that, you know, you have this side and that side. And at the end of the day, what you're missing is, well, who's just objectively telling the truth and who's fighting for me and who's helping me. for me and who's helping me and you know and how do we connect that back with voters to get whether it's people in Iowa or elsewhere to stop voting against their own interests stop voting against getting rid of their health care stop voting to get rid of there of what makes Iowa a great place it will been look I would say that there are clearly plenty of Iowans in our state who appreciate or who like what President Trump has been saying out there.

That's why Iowa voted for Donald Trump in three consecutive presidential elections. But I think as people are looking around at what's happening right now, they're shocked at what they're seeing. Just the other day, I was on the phone with a friend of mine who runs a beer and wine importing business up in northeast Iowa. with a friend of mine who runs a beer and wine importing business up in Northeast Iowa. And he has no idea if he's going to make any money this year or lose his shirt because of the unpredictability of these tariffs. In my own district where I live in Southeast Iowa, I was contacted by a constituent of mine named Candy, who I've worked with for many years. She lives in a mobile home park not far from where I live.

And her community just got bought by another out of state company, and she's worried about her lot rent going up. I've got a buddy of mine who's a farmer just east of where I live over in Cedar County. He's a farmer and runs a custom spraying business. And the inputs that they use for what they do are more expensive than ever and in shorter supply because you've had so much corporate consolidation in that sector that they can't get what they need at a price that they can afford and so what they want is someone who's gonna stand up to the administration when what they're doing is wrong for Iowa who will be willing to work with them when there is an issue or two that is actually good for Iowa but who will always put Iowa first and just like you just said Joni Ernst is no longer that senator and that's why I'm running to get the job.

Where can people find out some more information about you? Absolutely. If they want to learn more, they can go to ZachWalls.com. That's Z-A-C-H-W-A-H-L-S.com. I'm Zach Walls on all the major social platforms and I hope that you'll consider sending a little bit of money our way and following along on the campaign. Zach Walls, the big announcement here on the Midas Touch YouTube channel. He's running United States Senate seat in Iowa.

Thanks Zach. Thanks Ben. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 5 million subscribers. at MidasPlus.com.