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Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) on Thursday, after a groundswell of support for Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, denied she is behind a campaign on Capitol Hill to tank his nomination and seek the job herself.

“I don’t have a campaign against Pete,” she told RealClearPolitics White House correspondent Philip Wegmann, adding that he deserved to have a Senate confirmation hearing.

“I just want to make sure the process is able to play out and that we’re thoroughly vetting him. I do believe that Pete deserves to have a hearing. All the rumblings out there are absolutely false. My role as a senator is to make sure that we are putting to bed any rumors, any anonymous whatever,” she claimed.

She claimed that if there were allegations against the current Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, “we would have gone through that process as well.”

Ernst’s denial comes as she and close ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed doubt about Hegseth, driving up speculation he would have to withdraw. Ernst and Graham also previously worked together to pressure Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) to drop his holds on promotions on generals due to the Biden Pentagon’s abortion policy paying for troops to travel for abortions.

But while she has denied any campaign against Hegseth, the Federalist reported she has repeatedly called Trump, nagging for him to replace Hegseth.

And Democrats close to her have been publicly promoting her to replace him.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee with Ernst, told reporters, “I’d start off with a very, very favorable inclination” to confirm her, according to the Washington Examiner’s Senate reporter, Ramsey Touchberry.

And Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who also sits on the committee with Ernst, called her someone with “independent judgment and integrity and high degree of insight … on military and foreign affair issues.” He added, “I think she’d have significant bipartisan support.”

Even some Republican senators, such as Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), another member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, floated Ernst as a possibility to replace Hegseth, but then later backtracked as support began to build up for him.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), another committee Republican, also at first expressed reluctance over Hegseth, but has more recently struck a positive tone.

With a slim majority of 53-47 in the upcoming Congress, Hegseth can lose only three Republican senators if all Democrats vote against him and Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) — a fellow veteran who strongly supports Hegseth — casts the deciding vote.

Ernst only tepidly pushed back against a rumor Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could replace Hegseth as the nominee, saying, “I do think he would be a good candidate for this position. But as I’ve told reporters, as they ask me in the hallway, Hegseth is the nominee, and the president will determine who that nominee is.”

She echoed Graham’s tepid defense in saying all the allegations against Hegseth have been anonymous.

“I mean, people need to really come forward if they have information,” she told the Post. “They need to be willing to put their name to it.”

On Friday, Breitbart News reported exclusively that Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird — a potential primary contender to Ernst — called for all of Trump’s nominees to be confirmed.

Follow Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong on “X”, Truth Social, or on Facebook.