New Ad Attacks Joni Ernst on Education

Joni Ernst is running for Senate. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Posted October 28, 2014 at 5:00am

The National Education Association will start airing a new ad Tuesday attacking Joni Ernst on education.

The ad, provided first to CQ Roll Call, features voters speaking directly to camera as a narrator attacks Ernst’s record on education.

“Joni Ernst is leading the fight to take funding from public school students and give it to wealthy private schools instead,” a male narrator says. “Ernst would eliminate the Department of Education, cutting almost a billion dollars from Iowa schools and putting college out of reach,” he ads.

“Joni Ernst just isn’t someone we can trust,” a woman says at the close of the ad.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKgPo9NQRA4&feature=youtu.be

The ad will run through Nov. 3 in the Davenport and Des Moines media markets, according to an NEA spokesman. The buy is just more than $500,000. Ernst faces Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, in the nail-biter race for the open seat currently held by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who is retiring.

Polls show a tight race, and the result could decide which party controls the Senate. Republicans need to gain a net of six seats to wrest control of the chamber from Democrats.

The race is rated Tossup by the Rothenberg Political Report/Roll Call.