Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) won't be seeking re-election next year, according to sources, and social media reacted to the news.

The 55-year-old Iraq War veteran has served in the U.S. Senate since 2015, but she has telling confidantes that she had accomplished what she had set out to do in Congress after two terms, and several Democratic officials from her state have already lined up as challengers, reported CBS News.

"Every day we get a new Democratic member of the House or Senate that decides to run for this Senate seat — bring it on," Ernst said earlier this month at a meeting of the Westside Conservative Club. "Bring it on, folks. Because I tell you, at the end of the day, Iowa is going to be red."

State Sen. Zach Wahls, state Rep. Josh Turek, and Des Moines School Board chairwoman Jackie Norris have already jumped into the 2026 race, and Democrat Catelin Drew flipped a state Senate this week in Iowa, but it's not clear what Republican the winner eventual would be facing with Ernst leaving Washington for the private sector.

"Joni Ernst saw the writing on the wall," Wahls posted on X. "Iowans are fed up with rising costs and unchecked corruption. And next year, we're going to flip this seat."

"Whether it's Joni Ernst or someone else, they'll have to answer for supporting cutting Iowans' healthcare in favor of a tax break for billionaires," said Turek. "When I'm in the Senate, I'll never forget about Iowa."

"Joni Ernst can run from the mess she created but IA families will still be paying the price for her votes to slash Medicaid and health care funding to pay for handouts to billionaires," Francis wrote. "For whoever steps in to replace Joni as the GOP nominee, bring it on. I'm a mom on a mission to make Iowa better."

"On Earth 2, where the establishment of the GOP in 2016 successfully stopped Trump’s hostile takeover of the party, Ernst is either serving as VP, on a GOP ticket in 2020 or 2024 or had run for top spot herself," speculated journalist Chuck Todd.

"Understandable that Ernst is retiring," said X user Drew Savicki. "Being passed up for SecDef for a drunken imbecile is humiliating."

"Smart move by Joni Ernst to retire rather than face a wave of negative ads from Democrats featuring her 'we all are going to die' quote from a town hall a few months back," added Democratic strategist Mike Nellis. "That was brutal — and in a midterm year, even in this partisan environment, it might’ve ended her career."

"It turns out your constituents don't like being told 'well, we're all going to die' anyway, as you vote to strip away their health care," said political consultant Laura Packard.

"Guess the GOP figured out this wasn't a winning slogan," added the Democratic National Committee.

"You’d almost always rather run in an open seat race than face an incumbent, but Ernst was deeply flawed," opined pollster Adam Carlson. "If it ends up being Ashley Hinson as the R nominee, this is prob a net positive for Republicans to hold the seat. They better hope a crazy doesn’t get through the primary."

"Doomers: The 2026 election doesn't matter, Republicans are just going to rig the whole thing anyway," posted urban policy consultant Ned Resnikoff. "Various red state republican incumbents: I'm just going to quit now because if I run in 2026 I'm going to get absolutely killed."