In a debate Thursday in Des Moines, the two Democrats vying for the open U.S. Senate seat in Iowa laid out sharply contrasting visions of electability, exposing a fissure in their party’s strategy for reclaiming the Senate this fall. State Rep. Josh Turek and state Sen. Zach Wahls each argued that he alone possesses the recipe for winning back a state that, despite electing Republicans to every federal office and delivering a double-digit victory to President Donald Trump in 2024, remains within reach for Democrats.
The primary for the seat vacated by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, who declined to seek reelection, is among the party’s top pickup targets — one of the few remaining competitive Democratic Senate primaries this year. Early voting in the state began Wednesday.
Turek, who represents a rural southwestern Iowa district that supported Trump, called himself the “battle-tested” candidate who has proven he can pull votes from across the aisle. “My opponent, Zach Wahls, has never run against a Republican,” Turek said. “I know that there is something specific about my story, my background, my resume … that really has this unique ability to win over independents, which are the kingmakers in the process, and moderate Republicans.”
Wahls, a state senator from the Iowa City area, countered that his own advocacy — including a 2011 speech to state lawmakers about his two mothers that went viral — has repeatedly put him before Republican audiences. He framed the race as a choice between a stale national Democratic brand and a new direction that reconnects with rural and blue-collar voters who feel left behind. “We need to win back the trust of rural and blue-collar voters who were written off and lost by Chuck Schumer,” Wahls said. “We have a choice: Run the same playbook that Chuck Schumer ran and lose, or fight for the voters that he wrote off and win them back.”
The two broadly agreed on policy priorities, saving their sharpest fire for the likely Republican nominee, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson. Both candidates criticized Hinson’s support for Trump’s tariffs and the war in Iran, with Wahls accusing her of “rubber stamping” the administration’s approach by voting against a resolution to curb the president’s war powers. Turek assailed Hinson for backing tax and spending cuts that, he said, deepened a “crisis in this state, unique to Iowa” by reducing Medicaid and food assistance. Each pledged support for higher corporate taxes and a crackdown on corruption in Washington.
Wahls directed some criticism at Turek’s record, however, pressing him on missed votes related to reproductive health care. He noted that Turek was absent for a vote on Iowa’s restrictive abortion law, approved during a one-day special session, as well as for a separate vote that would have criminalized the death of an “unborn person.” Turek explained that he had a serious medical issue tied to his disability that prevented him from attending the special session. His campaign said the other absence occurred while he was in Washington for a legislative summit on disability issues. Both men said they would work to codify abortion access if elected to the Senate.
The race has been shaped by a late wave of outside spending. VoteVets, a Democratic veterans-advocacy group, has spent roughly $7 million to support Turek — surpassing the combined total raised by both campaigns. The organization cited Turek’s personal background — he was born with spina bifida after his father’s exposure to chemicals during the Vietnam War — as evidence he is uniquely positioned to advocate for veterans’ health care and military families. Wahls called the spending a sign of Washington insiders trying to “exert outsized influence,” while Turek’s campaign emphasized the grassroots energy behind its operation.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face Hinson in a general election that Republicans have already fortified. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, backed by Senate GOP leaders, has committed $29 million to defend the seat and maintain their thin majority. The political committee aligned with Senate Democrats, in turn, announced Thursday it was investing $13 million in the state, underscoring the national stakes.