Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek has won the Democratic nomination for his state’s open U.S. Senate seat, NBC News projects, advancing from a combative primary to a potentially competitive general election in a state that has favored Republicans in recent elections.
Turek, 47, defeated state Sen. Zach Wahls and will face Rep. Ashley Hinson, who won Tuesday’s GOP primary with President Donald Trump’s endorsement, in the general election.
A former Paralympic gold medalist in basketball, Turek is backed by former Sen. Tom Harkin, whose “prairie populism” was a staple of Iowa politics until his retirement in 2014. In his victory speech Tuesday night, he reached out to Wahls’ supporters.
“Zach has been an exceptional representative for his district and a true public servant for the people of Iowa,” Turek said. “I am grateful for this primary. It has made me a stronger candidate. To Zach supporters: I know I was not your first choice, but I ask each and every one of you to join our campaign to push for change. Together, we are going to build an Iowa that people move to, not away from.”
Turek then turned his focus to Hinson.
“She does not represent Iowa and does not represent our values,” Turek said. “And tonight, Iowa, we have had enough.”
The seat is up for grabs after Republican Sen. Joni Ernst decided not to seek re-election this year. And despite a run of comfortable, double-digit wins for Republicans in Iowa over the last decade-plus, the race has emerged as a sleeper in the battle for partisan control of the Senate. The Republican-aligned Senate Leadership Fund plans to spend $29 million on the battle.
Hinson, 42, has represented her eastern Iowa congressional district since 2021. With Trump’s endorsement, she emerged from what, compared to the Democratic primary, was a lower-wattage contest with former state Sen. Jim Carlin.
Celebrating her primary win Tuesday, Hinson thanked Trump for his endorsement and spent several minutes praising his agenda, which she has supported in the House.
“No one,” Hinson told her supporters, “has fought harder and persevered through more, sacrificed more, just to do the right thing for our country than our president has.”
She also characterized Turek as a “liberal” who “has been masquerading as a good old Iowa moderate.”
“I know that Iowa needs a fighter,” she said, “and I will tell you this: I will never back down from a fight.”
The biggest difference-maker in the Democratic primary may have been VoteVets. The outside spending group, which traditionally supports veterans, invested in Turek because of his backstory — he was born with spina bifida attributed to his father’s exposure to Agent Orange while he was serving in Vietnam — and spent $10 million on advertising, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm.
“Josh Turek — 21 surgeries by age 12, but he put up 1,000 shots a day to make Team USA,” a narrator says in one of the VoteVets ads, which features video of Turek on the basketball court. “Now Josh is running for Senate to reverse Donald Trump’s healthcare cuts and take on the insurance companies. Iowa families are hurting, but Josh Turek’s got the strength to fight back.”
The VoteVets onslaught was substantial, accounting for almost 2 out of 3 ad dollars Democratic groups spent during the primary, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm. Turek’s and Wahls’ campaigns each spent about $1.5 million.
Wahls, 34, first landed on the national radar in 2011, when, as a University of Iowa student, he went viral for his speech defending his moms and marriage equality at the state House of Representatives.
In his primary with Turek, Wahls boasted an endorsement from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and argued that he was the true progressive in the race. Wahls also railed against the flood of outside money boosting his opponent. Noting how VoteVets has aligned with Senate Democratic leadership in the past, he framed Turek as an extension of a party establishment led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
In remarks at Hinson’s watch party Tuesday night, Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann previewed the general election as “the battle for Iowa values” while picking up Wahls’ baton and tying Turek tightly to Schumer.
“You all know exactly who Josh Turek is going to get his orders from,” Kaufmann told the crowd. “It’s going to be Chuck Schumer. It’s going to be the left. It’s going to be California. It’s going to New York. … All you need to know is where he’s getting his marching orders tonight. I will guarantee you, Chuck Schumer was probably the first call that he took.”
Despite Wahls’ complaints about what he termed “dark money” groups, hebenefited from outside spending himself, though it was only a tiny fraction of what VoteVets put behind Turek. A group called Iowa Action hit state airwaves last month with a 30-second spot that warned of “D.C. insiders” who were “spending millions to stop” Wahls.
VoteVets, for its part, took a victory lap after Turek’s victory.
“Josh knows firsthand what it means to fight through adversity. That’s a quality veterans know well — and we are proud to stand behind him,” Paul Eaton, a senior adviser to the group, said in an emailed statement. “If elected, he will fight for working families, veterans, and military family members like his own. With our country at war and prices soaring, our nation needs Josh in the Senate more than ever.”
