Josh Turek is the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Joni Ernst — a Paralympic gold medalist and state representative from Council Bluffs. Support Josh directly — donations to the candidate are the most effective way to make your opinion count!
Donate via ActBlue » Campaign website »This dossier is new, added because of the startling shift throughout Iowa: Democrats are now in reach of the Governor's office, a US Senate seat, and two US House races — all in a state Trump won by 14 points. Here is a comprehensive look at the Iowa Senate campaign from June 11 — start there. Cook Political Report has now moved the race to Toss Up — a year ago that would have sounded impossible.
And, frankly, this dossier is here because I couldn't resist the video of Barack Obama and Josh Turek shooting hoops — Josh doing so from his wheelchair.
The Obama Endorsement
See this brilliant visit between Josh and Barack Obama, and their basketball. What Obama told him after the video was in the can is classic Obama political insight:
What if all our candidates were listening? You'll find it in Jen Psaki's interview with Turek about the endorsement — see the interview here, plus an article about it.
The Race
Josh won the Iowa Democratic Senate primary to fill the seat of retiring Republican Joni Ernst, and put the case plainly: "We are not a red state, we are a commonsense state. When you hit the bottom, you are ready for change."
He is not running alone. Iowa's Democratic candidate for Governor, State Auditor Rob Sand, was unopposed in his primary and leads in the polls. State Democratic Chair Rita Hart lays out how the whole Iowa ballot is breaking our way. And Blue Boosters is already working the IA-01 House race, where Christina Bohannan is about to beat Mariannette Miller-Meeks with our help.
In a September interview, Josh takes stock of his race and of the other Iowa races showing real potential — the word they hear most, by far, is "betrayal." Iowa could be an up-and-coming blue state, thanks to fury at Trump. In early October Josh returned with an update — with a partial transcript and his latest TV ad.
His TV ad, "Prove It," makes the case: in deep-red Iowa, Josh Turek is the most bi-partisan member of the state legislature, while his opponent is the least — and she advocates for Trump.
Hinson and Turek both showed up at the Iowa State Fair — she appeared with Pete Hegseth, while he was drumming up support for the Farm Bill. You be the judge of who read the room.
The Opponent
Rep. Ashley Hinson (R), the least bipartisan member of the Iowa legislature by Josh's own campaign's telling, and a reliable Trump advocate. New reporting digs into fresh weaknesses in Hinson's campaign: with the public feeling negative economics, she keeps going negative against her better instead — campaign malpractice galore, and it shows.
Follow the private-prison money: the two major private prison companies sent big-dollar donations to the Republicans in six of our seven Senate races — Iowa included — as soon as Republicans voted to pay them exorbitantly for every day they hold a detainee. What other reason might there be to vote these graven bums out?
Latest Updates
- "I am a prairie populist…" says Josh to a Washington Post reporter on October 9. Iowa is still red, so why is this Senate race so close? Because Iowa has voted for Democrats before — and Josh is the kind of Democrat Iowans vote for.
Support
- Campaign website
- Donate via ActBlue
- Barack Obama — endorsement and interview
