Democratic US Senate candidates Josh Turek (left) and Zach Wahls.
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Iowa Democrats are voting Tuesday in one of the party’s most-watched primary elections this election year, a key test of the party’s strategy to take control of the Senate in this year’s midterms.
Voters will choose among the leading state representatives. Josh Turek And state Sen. Zack Wahls. Both are vying to become the first Democrats elected to the U.S. Senate in Iowa since Tom Harkin, who was last elected in 2008. Whoever wins the primary will face Republican Representative Ashley Hinson, who represents the state’s 2nd congressional district, to fill the seat Senator Joni Ernst will vacate at the end of the year. Hinson also has a primary challenger in Jim Carlin, although he is heavily favored to win.
Whoever emerges will have a tough task winning in a state that President Donald Trump won by 13 percentage points in 2024, and where there are nearly 200,000 more registered Republican voters than Democrats. However, Democrats are eager to pick up the seat as Trump’s approval ratings have fallen amid the Iran war and the state’s struggling economy.
farm bankruptcies have increased Throughout the state. Teaax revenue Is on the decline. And Tariffs and Iran war have hit soybean and other farmers hard. During this time, morning consultation in a survey Released in May, it found that Trump had a -7 approval rating in Iowa, lower than in February, before the start of the Iran war. The same poll gave a “likely” Republican victory in the Senate race.
The fight between Turek and Wahls symbolizes a larger conflict within the Democratic Party between its more moderate and progressive wings and has become a referendum on Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The general election for the Iowa Senate could be a key part of Democrats’ effort to retake the chamber. To do this, they will have to flip four states that Trump won, namely Iowa, Texas, North Carolina or Maine, while also successfully defending their seats in places like Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire.
“The big fight among Democrats right now is who is more electable,” timothy hagelthe University of Iowa political science professor said about the Democratic primary. “Which way are we going? Republicans, of course, want Wahls, because he’s so far to the left that it will probably turn off non-party voters. And a lot of Democrats are saying ‘We need Turek because we need a fighting chance in this election.'”
Turek is seen as the establishment candidate, with the support of Harkin, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and some current senators. Turek, who lives in Council Bluffs on the state’s western border with Nebraska, is a Paralympian who won a seat in the state legislature that had long been held by Republicans.
Turek said, “I’m the only candidate in this race who has even run against a Republican, let alone defeated one.” Posted on x In May. “I am battle-tested and ready to take on Ashley Hinson and win.”
Wahls is seen as the more progressive candidate. He has been endorsed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and during the election campaign promised not to support Schumer to lead the party if elected. He lives in Coralville, a suburb of Iowa City, a college town in Johnson County, a Democratic stronghold.
“Ashley Hinson is Donald Trump’s choice for this seat. My primary opponent is Chuck Schumer’s choice. But this seat is not hers – it belongs to the people of Iowa,” Wahls. written in a substack Post on Monday.
On Tuesday, Iowans are voting in races in three of four congressional districts and in primaries for their Republican gubernatorial nominee in a five-way race that also includes GOP Rep. Randy Feenstra. Iowa’s State Auditor, Rob Sands, is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination for governor.