KDSN RADIO News
Immigration a top topic at Ernst’s final Roast and Ride
The 600 people who gathered for Iowa Senator Joni Ernst’s final “Roast and Ride” event earlier today applauded her career as well as recent Trump Administration moves.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the afternoon’s keynote speaker, got a standing ovation when she mentioned the immigration arrest of now-former Des Moines superintendent Ian Roberts. “Now he’s away from your children, and he’s being brought to justice as well,” Noem said.
Fourth district Congressman Randy Feenstra, expected to announce soon that he’s running for governor, said Roberts fit a “liberal, progressive agenda” and that’s why the Des Moines School Board hired him. “It just tells us if we don’t have good…rock-ribbed conservative leaders in this state, this is what happens,” Feenstra said.
And Senator Chuck Grassley, the first federal office-holder to speak today, drew the crowd to its feet by praising Noem. “I want to thank you for making sure that people who illegally entered our country leave this country,” Grassley said, to extended applause and cheers.
The federal government shutdown was another theme of the day. First district Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks told the crowd she grew up in a family that knew what it was like to wait for a monthly paycheck and worry it wouldn’t cover all the bills. “You tell those Democrats and fake news to get off their high horse, get off their lofty platform and vote to fund our government and our military,” Miller-Meeks said, to cheers.
Second district Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, reading from one of Trump’s Truth Social posts, told the crowd President Trump had announced U.S. soldiers would be paid on October 15, despite the shutdown. “Clearly the leadership at the top understands how important this is,” Hinson said as the crowd applauded. “…I will tell you if Chuck Schumer wants a fight, he picked the wrong mama bear to fight with because we’re going to take it right to the table.”
Ernst announced early last month she wouldn’t seek reelection in 2026, and Hinson, who’s now running for the U.S. Senate, thanked Ernst for being a mentor. Others called Saturday’s gathering “bittersweet.” Governor Kim Reynolds told the crowd that Ernst became “a sister” as they both advanced from county-level politics to become Iowa’s first female U.S. Senator and first female governor.
“Not too bad for a pair of Iowa rural girls!” Reynolds said, to applause. “…(Ernst) has shown young women, including my daughters and granddaughters, that leadership doesn’t require compromising who you are.”
Ernst, who led a line of about 150 motorcyclists on a ride through the Polk County countryside before the rally on the state fairgrounds, spent some time reminiscing about her 2014 campaign. “As your senator, I promised I would save your hard-earned tax dollars and make ’em squeal. They’re squealing now,” Ernst said. “…I’ve been working hand in hand with President Trump’s DOGE to drain the swamp.”
Ernst got emotional near the end of the event as she thanked her mother and then recognized the mother and brother of Sarah Root of Council Bluffs in the crowd. A man from Honduras, accused of killing the 21-year-old Root in early 2016 while he was driving drunk in Omaha, vanished after posting bail.
“Thanks to President Trump and the tireless efforts of his administration, Sarah’s killer was located and brought back to the United States in March,” Ernst said, to cheers.
Six months after Root’s death, Root’s family attended the senator’s 2016 Roast and Ride and became advocates for a law that Trump signed this past January. It requires authorities to detain any non-citizen who is accused of killing or seriously injuring someone.
