Virus Package Provides Lifeline for GOP Senators in Tough Races

Joni Ernst first grabbed voters’ attention six years ago by boasting about her hog-castrating skills and plans to make pork-hungry Washington “squeal” if she won her Senate bid.

As she faces a competitive re-election battle, the first-term Republican has mostly shelved the sharp anti-Washington rhetoric and instead has been handing out Huggies at the diaper drive-through and looking for billions in federal aid to help Iowans hit hard by the coronavirus.

With the pandemic foremost on voters’ minds, the latest virus aid package is a serving as a political lifeline for Ernst and other increasingly vulnerable GOP senators who are ...