Democrat Josh Turek has won the U.S. Senate race in Iowa, according to a race call from the Associated Press.
With 92% of the results in, Turek has won 50.8% of the vote.
Turek, a state representative from Council Bluffs, has beaten Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson. He flipped one of the country's most competitive U.S. Senate seats, which had been held by a Republican for the past 12 years.
Turek replaces retiring incumbent Sen. Joni Ernst, who announced she would not be seeking a third term last fall.
The race was one of the most expensive in the country. Federal spending data shows the candidates spent more than $30 million. Outside groups contributed more than $100 million to the race, according to Open Secrets.
In the final quarter of the election, Turek significantly outraised Hinson, a former TV journalist who was considered a rising star in Iowa politics. Hinson was initially considered a frontrunner to replace Ernst and received President Donald Trump's endorsement shortly after she announced her candidacy in a state that has voted for Trump three times. Trump carried Iowa by a 13-point margin in 2024.
But as Trump's approval ratings fell, Iowa's race became more competitive. The state's large agricultural industry, in particular, has been hit hard by Trump’s trade war. Hinson seemed to walk a fine line with voters, as some Republicans running for office started distancing themselves from Trump. By summer, the race was considered a toss up.
Turek is a two-time gold medalist playing basketball in the Paralympics. He uses a wheelchair due to spina bifida, a condition he says is due to his father’s exposure to Agent Orange in the Vietnam War. He was a relatively unknown state lawmaker when he entered the primary, but he beat Zach Wahls, the former state senate minority leader, to win the Democratic nomination.
Both Hinson and Turek emphasized their ability as bipartisan lawmakers to try to sway the state’s large number of uncommitted voters, but increased their attacks against each other as polling data started to indicate a close race.
Turek calls himself a “prairie populist,” and campaigned hard on healthcare reform. He attacked Hinson for her support of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which reduces Medicaid spending nationwide by $1 trillion, and claimed that Hinson’s personal wealth has increased significantly during her time in Washington.
Hinson pushed back on her support for the OBBBA, highlighting popular measures such as the no tax on tips provision. She called herself a “minivan driving mom” and labeled Turek as “too liberal” for the state and frequently pointed to his low participation rate of floor votes during the state’s last legislative session.
Election Results
The original story, published Sept. 18, continues below:
On a hot, humid morning in early September, there was a sea of cardinal and gold in the parking lot outside Jack Trice Stadium in Ames as Iowa State fans tailgated before the season opening football game against Southeast Missouri State University.
Among the fans was Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Josh Turek, going from tent to tent, talking to voters. A woman in one tent offered him a cyclone-themed beer and a sandwich, carrots and tomatoes.
“This is the single healthiest tailgate I've ever seen,” Turek said.
For the next few minutes, Turek, a former Paralympian and state lawmaker who has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair, chatted with the group about basketball before launching into his political platform.
He said he wants to tackle corruption and increase transparency in campaign finance.
“What I'd like to see is overturning Citizens United. I'd love to be able to get the dark money out of politics. I'd like to pass a bill called the DISCLOSE Act,” he said.
One of the people listening to Turek was Beth Spenler, a retired special education teacher from Williamsburg who’s concerned about affordability.
“You get up every morning and ... you watch the Today show and you're like, what next?” she said. “You know, we have a war we can't win. It's driving the price of oil up. I don't know how people are going to survive if we don't change some things.”
Spenler, a lifelong Democrat, said she likes Turek’s message and plans to vote for him.
“I think that he sounds sensible. I think that he values a lot of things we do. I think that he's an Iowan,” she said.
An increasingly competitive race
In recent years, Iowa has shifted from a purple state to more red. All six of the state’s congressional representatives have been Republicans since 2023. The state voted for President Donald Trump three times.
But the race to fill Sen. Joni Ernst's open U.S. Senate seat has become increasingly competitive.
Turek is facing Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson and Libertarian Thomas Laehn in a race that the nonpartisan Cook Political Report recently moved from "lean Republican" to a "toss up." A recent poll by Emerson College put support for Hinson at 50% and Turek at 45%, which is within the margin of error. Libertarian Thomas Laehn received 1%.
Iowa Democrats think this could be their opportunity to win back a Senate seat for the first time in more than a decade, and it could be one of the four Senate seats they need to flip in order to gain control of the chamber.
Donna Hoffman, a political scientist at the University of Northern Iowa, said she’s always thought of this race as competitive. Iowa has a large number of active no party voters — more than active registered Democrats — and how they vote will likely come down to how they're feeling in the weeks before the election, she said.
“No party voters tend to pay less attention to politics until it starts to happen, and so they can be swayed in that sense by more conditions on the ground than just sheer blind partisanship,” Hoffman said.
"Hinson's race to lose"
But Hinson still holds the advantage when it comes to voter registration. Active registered Republicans in Iowa outnumber Democrats by nearly 183,000, as of this month.
Hinson has a strong resume as a former TV journalist and state legislator who flipped her U.S. congressional seat in 2020.
“This is Hinson's race to lose, but that is certainly within striking distance for Josh Turek,” said Peter Hanson, a political scientist at Grinnell College.
Hinson's vulnerability may be her close alliance with the president, who is facing the lowest approval ratings of his second term.
“In order to win a general election, she's got to reach out to voters who have been on the fence, particularly independents, who have really soured on the president, and so making that kind of pivot is pretty difficult,” Hanson said.
Both Hinson and Turek have been leaning into bipartisan messaging to try to sway the state's uncommitted voters this November, he said.
During a BBQ fundraiser in Clive in late August, Hinson told supporters she has worked with leaders from both parties in Washington, D.C.
“I have worked with President Trump and with President Biden to deliver for Iowa because, frankly, I've heard from all of you that's what you expect,” she said. “Heck, even when Nancy Pelosi was the speaker, we brought home a lot for Iowa, and so you know that means I can work with anybody.”
Annette Goater was in attendance at the fundraiser with her husband, Mike. Goater is a retired public school teacher from Cedar Rapids, who is concerned about education and immigration. She's optimistic Republicans will do well this election and likes Trump — and Hinson.
“I like that she speaks up when she needs to — speaks up about issues that we're concerned about,” Goater said.
