Jackie Norris, onetime chief of staff to former first lady Michelle Obama, launched a bid for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, becoming the fourth Democrat to challenge Republican Sen. Joni Ernst in Iowa. 

Norris, the Des Moines school board chair, worked on the campaigns of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and former President Barack Obama. She joins a field of Democrats that so far consists of Nathan Sage, state Rep. J.D. Scholten, and state Sen. Zach Wahls to take on Ernst in 2026.

“Look, I think it’s time for an educator in the Senate,” Norris told the Des Moines Register. “Former teacher, school board member. I have seen firsthand the invisible burdens that are on the shoulders of families right now.”

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