Sage Announces Run for Ernst’s Senate Seat

An Army and Marine Corps veteran who’s executive director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce is launching a campaign for the Iowa Democratic Party’s 2026 nomination for the U.S. Senate. 

Nathan Sage, a native of Mason City, completed three tours of duty in the Iraq war. Sage says he’s running to fight for working class Iowans.

Sage says Republican Senator Joni Ernst, who’s also a veteran, hasn’t done enough to push back against Veterans Administration cuts devised by Elon Musk’s DOGE team. He also faults Ernst for voting to confirm Pete Hegseth as U.S. Defense Secretary.

Sage’s dad was a factory worker, his mom was a daycare teacher and his family lived in a trailer park in Mason City. He says his parents tried their best for their four children, but it was a hard life and he joined the Marines in 2003. Sage used his G-I benefits to earn a journalism degree from Kansas State University and got a job as an overnight announcer at radio stations in Knoxville and Indianola, working his way up to station management. In 2023, he was hired to lead the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce. Sage says his work with small businesses and working Iowans prompted him to consider and now launch a campaign for the U.S. Senate.

story courtesy of Radio Iowa; photo courtesy of Nathan Sage for Senate