Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate in Iowa. Every point on this page links to its source. We don't grade candidates or tell you how to vote. As of 2026-09-28.
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Where they stand
In their own words, from their campaign website, summarised in plain English.
Economy and cost of living
Turek says he wants to cut taxes for the middle class and working families, close tax loopholes for billionaires and big corporations, raise the minimum wage with automatic inflation adjustments, ban Wall Street price gouging on food, and crack down on monopolies that drive up prices for working Iowans.
“Cut taxes for the middle class and working families and close loopholes for billionaires and big corporations.”
Turek says he wants to cut taxes for the middle class and working families while closing loopholes for billionaires and big corporations, and he sponsored legislation in the Iowa House to cut taxes for first-time homebuyers.
Turek says health care is a human right and wants to restore full Medicaid funding, protect and expand the Affordable Care Act, cap prescription drug prices, let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices, create a public option, and stop insurance companies from denying doctor-prescribed care.
“Health care is a human right. All Americans deserve access to basic care.”
Turek says he wants to strengthen Social Security by making billionaires pay their fair share, defend and expand Medicare's ability to negotiate lower drug prices, and raise Social Security income and asset limits for disabled individuals.
“Strengthen Social Security by ensuring billionaires pay their fair share.”
Turek says he wants to pass bipartisan immigration reform that secures the border, stops fentanyl from crossing it, deports people who commit crimes, ensures accountability for ICE agents, and creates a simplified, earned pathway to citizenship.
“Pass bipartisan immigration legislation that strengthens our borders and simplifies an earned pathway to citizenship.”
Turek says women should make their own decisions about reproductive health care, not politicians, and he wrote and sponsored legislation to repeal Iowa's near-total abortion ban; he also wants to make Roe v. Wade the law of the land again and protect access to contraception and IVF.
“Josh also believes that women should make decisions about their reproductive health care, not politicians, and wrote and sponsored legislation to repeal Iowa’s extreme, near-total abortion ban.”
Turek says he wants to address Iowa's water quality crisis by funding water quality sensors and cracking down on polluting chemical companies, and he supports farming practices that protect water and soil quality.
“Address the water quality crisis that is at the core of our cancer crisis by funding water quality sensors and cracking down on chemical companies that pollute our water supply.”
Turek says he wants to end unnecessary wars that put American lives at risk and supports legislation to protect Iowa National Guardsmen from being sent into combat without a congressional declaration of war or into another state without that state's governor's permission.
“End unnecessary wars that put American lives at risk.”
Turek says he is not taking corporate PAC money and wants to ban corporate PAC money in campaigns, cap contributions to campaigns, pass the DISCLOSE Act, pass a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United, and set term limits for Members of Congress and Supreme Court Justices.
“Josh is not taking any corporate PAC money, because this campaign is for Iowa and Iowans, not corporations.”
From FEC filings for 2025–26. Outside spending is money a group spends on its own about a candidate — TV and online ads, mail, canvassing. It is not a donation to the campaign, and the candidate does not control it. Supporting means it was spent to help that candidate win; Opposing means it was spent to defeat them, usually on attack ads. Groups report it within 24 or 48 hours as the election nears. Raised is the campaign's own fundraising, as of its latest quarterly report. Largest donors come from each outside spender's own FEC receipts, with each donor's share of its itemized receipts; donors under $100,000 are not named. People are shown with the employer and occupation they reported. A donor that is itself a political committee is shown with its own largest donors. Companies and nonprofits don't report their funders to the FEC, so the trail ends there, and the page says so.
Josh Turek (DEM)
Raised
$6.3M through 2026-06-30individuals $5.8M · PACs $378K · party $62K · cash on hand $2.4M
SLF PAC— $17.9M opposing Turek
· 15 ads on this pageLargest donors:
ONE NATION $70.7M (28%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); Miriam Adelson $30.0M (12%), Adelson Drug Clinic, Physician; Stephen A Schwarzman $17.0M (7%), Blackstone, Chairman & CEO; Paul Elliott Singer $14.5M (6%), EMC, President; Elon Musk $10.0M (4%), Space Exploration Technologies Corp., CEOVOTEVETS— $9.8M supporting TurekLargest donors:
Deborah J Simon $1.1M (8%), NOT Employed; VOTEVETS ACTION FUND $1.0M (7%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); AB PAC $800K (6%); THE BENCH $650K (5%); Joshua Bekenstein $625K (5%), Bain Capital, CO-ChairmanWIN IT BACK PAC— $3.8M opposing TurekLargest donors:
CLUB FOR GROWTH ACTION $4.5M (40%); Jeff Yass $4.5M (39%), SIG, Managing Director; SCHOOL FREEDOM FUND $1.9M (17%); William H Roj $300K (3%), Retired; Ricky Sandler $100K (1%), Eminence CapitalFIGHT ON IOWA— $2.4M opposing TurekLargest donors:
Kenneth Griffin $1.5M (83%), Citadel Investment Group LLC, CEO; A PUBLIC VOICE INC. $115K (6%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); William Duhamel $100K (6%), Route ONE Inventment CO LP, Investment ManagementAMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY ACTION, INC. (AFP ACTION) DBA CVA ACTION AND DBA LIBRE ACTION— $1.8M opposing Turek
· 2 ads on this pageLargest donors:
KOCH INC $30.0M (33%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); STAND TOGETHER INC. $20.0M (22%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); Jim C Walton $7.0M (8%), Self-Employed, Philanthropist; S Robson Walton $7.0M (8%), Retired, Retired; STAND TOGETHER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INC $6.5M (7%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC)and 17 more
Bundled through PACs
$43K through 2 PACs · FEC bulk data of 2026-09-27JSTREETPAC— $41K from 57 giftsLobbyist/registrant PACPAC FOR GOOD— $2,500 from 1 gift
64 PACs gave directly — alphabetical; the legal limit is $5,000 per election
A NEW DIRECTION PAC $1,000
ABLE DEMS PAC $3,500
ADVANCING DEMOCRACY AND MOBILIZATION PAC $10K
ALL FOR OUR COUNTRY LEADERSHIP PAC $10K
ALSOPAC $5,000
AMERICA WORKS FEDERAL PAC $5,000
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR JUSTICE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (AAJ PAC) $5,000
AMERICAN MOBILIZATION PAC $5,000
BEYOND THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS PAC $1,000
BLUE HEN FEDERAL PAC $10K
BLUE WAVE PROJECT $10K
CARROLL COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE $450
COMMON GROUND PAC $10K
COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA - COPE POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS COMMITTEE $5,000
DEFEND THE DREAM $5,000
DEFEND THE VOTE $5,000
FIGHT PAC $7,000
FOLLOW THE NORTH STAR FUND $5,000
FORWARD TOGETHER PAC $10K
GRANITE VALUES PAC $10K
HAWAII PAC $5,000
HEALTH JOBS JUSTICE $5,000
HOOPS PAC $5,000
I GOT YOUR BACK PAC $10K
IMPACT $10K
IN OUR HANDS $5,000
IN THIS TOGETHER PAC $5,000
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE $5,000
JENNIFER KONFRST FOR CONGRESS $2,000
JUNTOS PAC $10K
KEVIN TECHAU FOR CONGRESS $4,000
LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS ACTION FUND $50
LEGPAC $10K
LIFTOFF PAC $5,000
LOBO PAC $10K
M-PAC $5,000
MACHINISTS NON PARTISAN POLITICAL LEAGUE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS & AEROSPACE WORKERS $5,000
MAPLE PAC $5,000
MELTON FOR IOWA $402
MITTEN PAC $10K
MODERATE DEMOCRATS PAC $10K
MONTGOMERY COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE $500
What named supporters and critics say, as reported. Shown in equal numbers.
Praise
Nathan Sage: Endorsed Turek, saying he will be a fighter for working-class Iowans. desmoinesregister.com
Accurate?
Leo Kanne: Praised Turek as a fighter for the working class who understands worker struggles. thegazette.com
Accurate?
Criticism
Zach Wahls: Attacked Turek for voting for a 2024 Iowa law allowing arrest of undocumented immigrants previously deported. iowapublicradio.org
Accurate?
Ashley Hinson: Argued Turek's farm bill statement conflicted with his past support for California's Proposition 12 livestock standards. thegazette.com
Accurate?
Controversies
Stated as reported. Most are reported by at least two independent news outlets or found in an official record; any with only one source so far is marked Single source.
Allegations
Missed Iowa House votes while campaigning Single source
Only one source found so far. We keep looking for a second, independent report.
Records reported by Fox News show Turek missed 58% of Iowa House votes in the 2026 session, some while fundraising out of state, while collecting over $20,000 in taxpayer-funded per diem payments. Turek's campaign said missing votes to fundraise is not unique to him and cited his bipartisan record.
Ethics complaint filed by Turek supporter against primary rival Wahls
A Turek supporter, Kathy Ulrich, filed a complaint with the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee alleging that primary rival Zach Wahls violated ethics rules by working for a network of politically active organizations while serving in the Legislature; the committee unanimously dismissed the complaint, and Wahls said there was no direct evidence linking it to the Turek campaign though he suggested it was politically motivated.
Campaign's Epstein-donor accusation against Hinson Single source
Only one source found so far. We keep looking for a second, independent report.
Turek's campaign has accused opponent Ashley Hinson of having ties to donors connected to Jeffrey Epstein, calling her "corrupt" and running an ad tying her to Epstein; Hinson's campaign called the claims "pathetic lies" and said she voted to release the Epstein files.
VoteVets, a Democratic-aligned super PAC, spent more than $8 million on ads supporting Turek even though he is not a veteran; his primary opponent Wahls repeatedly claimed the group was aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a characterization Schumer denied.
Response: “There’s no doubt that it’s helped to raise name recognition,” Turek told CNN. “I think that I am really an example of the generational consequences of these forever wars, which I think has really resonated with people.”
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