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Democrats are eyeing Iowa’s U.S. Senate race with renewed optimism after state Rep. Josh Turek secured his party’s nomination on Tuesday. They consider it their best chance to compete for the seat in years.
Turek — a 47-year-old, two-time Paralympic gold medalist with a history of winning in conservative areas — defeated state Sen. Zach Wahls, 34, who sought to tap into anti-establishment sentiment in the party by tying Turek to national Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and leaning into calls for generational change.
But voters rejected that message, handing Turek a decisive 26-point victory in a major win for party leaders, who saw him as the stronger candidate heading into November.
“His nomination puts Iowa firmly on the Senate map,” Maeve Coyle, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, told The Hill, citing Turek’s record of “overperforming Democrats and winning tough races.”
The bet showed early signs of paying off later Tuesday, when the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted the Iowa Senate race toward Democrats , from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican.” The next day, Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics followed suit .
Turek faces a formidable general-election opponent in Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), a well-funded candidate who easily won her GOP primary on Tuesday.
But Democrats and strategists say President Trump’s declining approval ratings and the economic fallout from his tariffs and Iran war — which have been acutely felt in Iowa — are creating a political environment that is increasingly favorable for their party.
“Democrats are in a stronger position than ever to win the majority,” Coyle told The Hill.
Turek, who represents a statehouse district that Trump carried three times, has leaned into his bipartisan record in the state legislature and has pledged to “tackle Washington’s rampant corruption” if elected.
“If you’re tired of this rigged system only looking out for billionaires and leaving the rest of us behind, then join us,” Turek said in a speech after his primary victory. “Whether you’re a Republican, an independent or a Democrat, there is room here for you in our campaign.”
Turek’s appeal to independents and disaffected Republicans is central to Democrats’ theory of the race in Iowa, which Trump carried by 13 points in 2024 and which last elected a Democratic senator in 2008.
“He’s helping create a permission structure that allows former Trump voters to turn their MAGA skepticism into votes for Democratic alternatives,” Democratic political strategist Basil Smikle told The Hill.
Democrats are hoping Turek’s backstory will also resonate with voters beyond the party’s traditional base.
Turek was born with spina bifida after his father was exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. Confined to a wheelchair, he played basketball before entering politics and won two Paralympic gold medals for the United States.
“Turek’s profile mattered almost as much as his platform,” Smikle said. “That’s important because Democrats have had difficulty building trust and his economic populism mixed with local credibility helped provide the decisive victory.”
Though not a veteran himself, Turek was heavily backed by the Democratic group VoteVets, which spent $9.7 million in the primary and signaled it could continue going into the general election. Last cycle, the group spent $50 million on all races combined.
VoteVets is not formally affiliated with Schumer, but the flood of funding left Turek vulnerable to attacks during the primary from Wahls, who tapped into frustrations with the Democratic establishment and accused Turek of being an extension of Schumer.
Republicans, in the early days of the general election campaign, now appear to be taking a page out of Wahls’s playbook, labeling Turek “a radical Democrat bought and paid for by Chuck Schumer.”
“Chuck Schumer spent $10 million dollars to coronate Josh Turek as his rubber stamp for Democrats’ radical tax-and-spend agenda,” Samantha Cantrell, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) regional press secretary, said in a statement .
“In November, Iowans will reject him and elect Ashley Hinson to keep fighting for Iowa families, farmers, and workers,” she added.
The NRSC released an ad this week calling Turek “the Democratic Party’s establishment candidate,” and included audio of Wahls saying, “Senator Schumer wants a nominee whose vote he can count on.”
Yet the candidates themselves struck notably similar tones in the opening days of the general election campaign. After winning her primary on Tuesday, Hinson touted her bipartisan record, pledging to “root out corruption in Washington” and address issues like affordability and health care.
“My record is one of delivering bipartisan results for Iowans, and that’s exactly what I’ll do in the United States Senate,” Hinson said in a statement. “I’ll work…
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