Paralympic gold medalist Josh Turek won Iowa's Democratic Senate nomination on June 2, 2026, while Trump-endorsed Rep. Ashley Hinson secured the Republican nomination to replace retiring Sen. Joni Ernst. VoteVets spent over $10 million supporting Turek despite registered Republicans outnumbering Democrats by nearly 200,000 in Iowa. The race has made Republicans nervous, with Sabato's Crystal Ball shifting its rating to 'leans Republican.'
Josh Turek background
- ▪Josh Turek won his first race for a seat in the Iowa House of Representatives in 2022 by six votes
- ▪Josh Turek was born with spina bifida due to his father's exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam
- ▪Josh Turek is a former U.S. men's wheelchair basketball player who won gold medals at the 2016 and 2020 Paralympic Games
- ▪Josh Turek won reelection to the Iowa House of Representatives in 2024 by nearly six percentage points even as Trump carried his district
Democratic Senate primary victory
- ▪Josh Turek received endorsements from former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, Maggie Hassan, Tammy Duckworth, Bob Casey and Ruben Gallego, as well as former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin.
- ▪VoteVets, a Democratic-aligned PAC, spent more than $10 million in outside spending running television and digital ads supporting Josh Turek's candidacy
- ▪Josh Turek's Democratic primary opponent was state Sen. Zach Wahl, who has a history of testifying to the Iowa state legislature in favor of gay marriage rights while still a teenager
- ▪Josh Turek won the Democratic nomination for Iowa's Senate seat on June 2, 2026
Republican opponent Ashley Hinson
- ▪Ashley Hinson is a 42-year-old three-term congresswoman and former news anchor backed by Trump and Sen. Joni Ernst
- ▪Ashley Hinson secured the Republican nomination for Iowa's Senate seat
- ▪Ashley Hinson opposed legislation that ultimately codified the right to same-sex marriage
Iowa political landscape
- ▪The Iowa Senate race is to replace retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst
- ▪Trump carried Iowa by about 13 percentage points in 2024
- ▪Republicans hold all six seats in Iowa's Congressional delegation, both chambers of the state Legislature and every statewide elected office but one
- ▪Registered Republican voters outnumber registered Democrats in Iowa by nearly 200,000
National implications
- ▪Sabato's Crystal Ball shifted their rating of the Iowa Senate race from a "likely Republican" victory to the more competitive "leans Republican" as the primary was called for Josh Turek
- ▪The Iowa Senate race has made Iowa Republicans unusually nervous about potentially losing control of the Senate
- ▪National midterm trends favor Democrats, as polling shows voters souring on Republican President Donald Trump
Perspective of Iowa Republicans
- ▪The Iowa Senate race has made Iowa Republicans unusually nervous about potentially losing control of the Senate despite Republicans holding all six Congressional seats and both state legislative chambers
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