As Pete Hegseth denies allegations of sexual misconduct in his bid to become the next defense secretary, he continues to make the rounds on Capitol Hill — including a meeting Wednesday with Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, a key Republican member of the Armed Services Committee and herself a sexual assault survivor.

As he left the meeting, Hegseth told reporters that he and Ernst had a “stimulating and educational conversation.”

“I appreciate Pete Hegseth’s service to our country, something we both share,” Ernst said tweeted Moments after their meeting ended. “Today we had an open and detailed discussion as part of the confirmation process.”

ABC News has previously reported that Ernst is on a growing list of candidates who could potentially replace Hegseth as Trump’s nominee to lead the Defense Department.

When asked on Wednesday whether there was a chance she would be considered as Hegseth’s successor, she simply replied: “Mr. Hegseth is the candidate.” She was unsure whether their meeting could allay her concerns.

Ernst is the first female combat veteran in the Senate. She has also long supported legislation to combat sexual assault and harassment in the military and has been open about her own experiences with sexual assault, rape and domestic violence.

Notably, Hegseth has said that women should not take on combat roles in the military, and he continues to face his own allegations of sexual misconduct and impropriety.

Hegseth has denied the allegations of sexual assault. Speaking on The Megyn Kelly Show on Wednesday, he said: “Absolutely not” in relation to rape allegations and denied many of the claims that he had abused women.

All eyes will be on Ernst as Hegseth’s confirmation process unfolds. Last month, Ernst told ABC News that an FBI background check on Hegseth would be “helpful.”

In a 2019 interview with Bloomberg News, Ernst first revealed the details of her rape as a student at Iowa State University, in which she tearfully recounted that she had a “physically and sexually abusive” relationship with someone who raped her.

During her college years, she volunteered at a safe house for battered and abused women and children.

During a conversation with Bloomberg, Ernst also claimed that her ex-husband Gail Ernst physically abused her by “grabbing her by the throat” before “throwing her to the ground” and “hitting her in (her) head.” .” Gail Ernst declined to comment on the allegations at the time.

Ernst also claimed to have experienced sexual harassment in the military, which she described to Time Magazine in 2014.

“I had comments, passes, things like that,” Ernst said. “Those were some things where I could say, ‘Stop,’ and it just stopped, but there are other circumstances for both women and men where they don’t stop and may be afraid to report it.”

“Sexual assault has no place in our military – or anywhere else – and it is long past time for us to take more steps to prevent and reduce these heartbreaking crimes,” Ernst said in a statement after he signed a bipartisan bill in 2021 to prevent military sexual assault.

Ernst was a member of Iowa State University’s ROTC program at age 20 before joining the U.S. Army Reserve. She later served as a company commander of an Iowa National Guard transportation unit in Kuwait.

She spent 23 years in the National Guard and Army Reserve, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

Ernst has been vocal about her support for Trump, even though he has also been accused of sexual assault by multiple women – which he has repeatedly denied. In the 2016 election, Ernst was even a contender for the position of vice president.

“I would encourage women to stand up and say, ‘You know what, I’m not going to tolerate his nonsense, but I agree with him on these policies,'” Ernst said in a 2016 interview with the WHO. “Sometimes we need to look beyond certain aspects of a person and see if we agree.”

She also told Bloomberg that it was “outrageous to suggest that anyone who has been a victim of sexual assault should therefore be a Hillary Clinton supporter.”

Ernst became the first woman to represent Iowa in either house of Congress when she was elected to the Senate in 2014.