{"id":150,"date":"2026-06-03T04:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T04:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=150"},"modified":"2026-06-03T04:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T04:23:12","slug":"josh-tureks-big-win-places-him-at-the-heart-of-democrats-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=150","title":{"rendered":"Josh Turek\u2019s Big Win Places Him at the Heart of Democrats\u2019 Hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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State Rep. Josh Turek dominated Iowa\u2019s Democratic Senate primary Tuesday night, posting a double-digit victory made partially possible by an injection of $10 million of outside spending on his behalf.<\/p>\n

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Now Democrats see Turek as a potentially pivotal candidate for their hopes of winning a Senate majority in November.<\/p>\n

Turek beat state Sen. Zach Wahls in the state\u2019s marquee contest, in which both candidates focused their campaign pitches around their own electability in the general election. Turek, the preferred candidate for Senate Democratic leadership, will face GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson in one of the most closely watched Senate races this fall.<\/p>\n

Turek\u2019s victory is also a win for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who didn\u2019t formally endorse in the race but whose leadership PAC gave the maximum donation to Turek\u2019s campaign. Tuesday\u2019s results come as Schumer is defending the party\u2019s chances in Maine, where an embattled Graham Platner faces a fresh round of controversy over sending sexually explicit text messages to multiple women.<\/p>\n

Given Platner\u2019s growing controversies, Iowa\u2019s prominence in Democrats\u2019 path to regaining the Senate is rising. Iowa Democrats feel bullish that the red-leaning state is open to their pitch, as President Donald Trump\u2019s job approval ratings have plummeted and farmers are feeling the pinch of Trump\u2019s trade policies. State Auditor Rob Sand, the lone Democrat elected statewide in Iowa since 2022, is already running a well-funded campaign for governor. And a trio of House races are all expected to be competitive this fall, drawing additional spending to the state.<\/p>\n

Even so, Democrats still acknowledge it\u2019s a tough climb for a party in a state Trump easily won three times. Hinson, who also won her primary handily, is already sitting on a $6 million war chest.<\/p>\n

Turek \u201cis a great candidate with a great story, but he\u2019s running in a state with 200,000 more Republicans than Democrats,\u201d said Jeff Link, a Democratic strategist in the state who wasn\u2019t affiliated in the primary. \u201cHe needs to win over a lot of people like his father, who voted for Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans attacked Turek<\/u><\/span> in a digital ad released Tuesday night, calling him \u201cChuck Schumer\u2019s puppet\u201d who \u201cwants to hike taxes, rip away Second Amendment rights, and open our borders to violent criminal illegals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who was most electable \u2014 a longtime obsession of Democratic voters \u2014 turned into the central argument<\/u><\/span> of the primary. Turek, a gold-medal Paralympian, leaned on his compelling personal story and electoral track record, while Wahls, endorsed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, promised to take on establishment leadership in both parties.<\/p>\n

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But Iowans heard Turek\u2019s pitch far more frequently on the TV airwaves this spring, after VoteVets, a Democratic group that backs veteran politicians, pumped $10 million into the race \u2014 vastly outspending either Turek or Wahls\u2019 campaigns, which each spent $1.5 million on advertising, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact.<\/p>\n

VoteVets\u2019 intervention drew condemnation from some Democrats<\/u><\/span>, since Turek has not served in the military. VoteVets defended its involvement because Turek suffers from spina bifida after his father was exposed to Agent Orange while serving in the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

VoteVets\u2019 support was \u201cundeniable\u201d in helping Turek, said Sue Dvorsky, the former Iowa Democratic Party chair who endorsed his campaign. A handful of polls, fielded in February and March, before VoteVets started spending in the race, found Wahls ahead of Turek.<\/u><\/span> But by May, Turek led in polling.<\/p>\n

Dvorsky argued that the spending evened the pair\u2019s name recognition, since \u201cZach has been working on and building his name brand since he was 19, and more people across the state knew who he was,\u201d and Wahls \u201cused VoteVets to push his own campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Wahls attacked Schumer for meddling in the primary. Wahls, who rose to viral fame as a teenager by defending his gay moms at the Iowa Legislature, styled himself an outsider in the race against Turek, pledging to not back Schumer\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

Wahls told CNN Tuesday night<\/u><\/span> that he was running against the \u201cbroken establishment\u201d and castigated Schumer for not having \u201cmet this moment.\u201d A few hours later, Wahls told his supporters he\u2019d called Turek and conceded the race.<\/p>\n

Now, with a bit of gallows humor, at least one Wahls supporter, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, said Democrats \u201cprobably should\u2019ve kept that $10 million to resuscitate Janet Mills in Maine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more House Nears Ukraine Aid Vote Amid Republican Divisions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Iowa Democrat, fueled by outside spending, has a chance at winning a seat his party may need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-election"],"yoast_head":"\nJosh Turek\u2019s Big Win Places Him at the Heart of Democrats\u2019 Hopes - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=150\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Josh Turek\u2019s Big Win Places Him at the Heart of Democrats\u2019 Hopes - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Iowa Democrat, fueled by outside spending, has a chance at winning a seat his party may need.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=150\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-03T04:23:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=150#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=150\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Josh Turek\u2019s Big Win Places Him at the Heart of Democrats\u2019 Hopes\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-03T04:23:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=150\"},\"wordCount\":774,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=150#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2240c0ed34b24848cb4239584393ed1d-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"2026 Election\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=150#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=150\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=150\",\"name\":\"Josh Turek\u2019s Big Win Places Him at the Heart of Democrats\u2019 Hopes - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=150#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=150#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2240c0ed34b24848cb4239584393ed1d-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-03T04:23:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=150#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=150\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=150#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2240c0ed34b24848cb4239584393ed1d-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2240c0ed34b24848cb4239584393ed1d-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Iowa state Rep. 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