US Midterms 2026
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Josh Turek, a Democratic Iowa state representative and two-time Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball, faces Republican Ashley Hinson for Iowa's open Senate seat in 2026.
Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Josh Turek.
Recent media coverage for Josh Turek.
In the final debate of Iowa’s U.S. Senate election, the candidates drew on familiar attacks, with Democrat Josh Turek questioning Republican Ashley Hinson’s wealth, and Hinson targeting Turek for absenteeism as an…
Republican Ashley Hinson and Democrat Josh Turek traded sharp attacks over private stock, missed votes, fuel prices and the Iran war in their final debate before Election Day.
Turek says the pressure on farmers comes from the war in Iran and from tariffs, and he ties both to Hinson’s record. He writes that Hinson voted seven times to continue the war and five times for tariffs.
HinsonCOUNCIL BLUFFS, IA: At every basketball game he played, Josh Turek ensured the announcers introduced him the same way.
Iowa's U.S. Senate candidates Ashley Hinson (R) and Josh Turek (D). Photo courtesy of NBC.
Just three points separate Democrat Josh Turek and Republican Ashley Hinson among likely voters in the U.S. Senate race in Iowa.
SandU.S. Senate candidate Rep. Josh Turek, D-Council Bluffs, speaks during a debate on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Johnston, Iowa.
DES MOINES, Iowa: For the first time in over a decade, Iowa has an open U.S. Senate seat. Candidates are fighting for the seat currently occupied by Republican U.S. Senator Joni Ernst.
Iowa Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Josh Turek is seen at the Farm Progress Show on Sept. 1, 2026, in Boone, Iowa.
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Joshua Mark Turek was born on April 12, 1979, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to John Turek, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War and vocational school administrator, and Luellen Turek, a social worker who also taught at a community college.
Born with spina bifida, he has been a wheelchair user since he was a child and took up wheelchair basketball in seventh grade.
After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs, he played for Southwest Minnesota State University from 1997 to 2002, setting school career records for points and rebounds, and completed a history degree there in 2002; he later completed an MBA at DeVry University.
He spent close to two decades playing professionally for clubs in Italy, France and Spain, and in four Paralympic appearances with the US men's national wheelchair basketball team he won bronze in London in 2012 and gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020.
He then worked for NuMotion, a mobility equipment provider, fitting patients for wheelchairs.
Turek ran for Iowa's 20th House district in 2022 and won by six votes out of about 6,800 after his Republican opponent, Sarah Abdouch, sought a recount. He took office on January 9, 2023, as the first permanently disabled member of the Iowa legislature, and won reelection in 2024 with 52.5% of the vote against Republican James Wassell. In the House he led the bipartisan "Work without Worry" effort, which lifted Medicaid income caps for Iowans with disabilities who hold jobs.
Turek announced his Senate candidacy on August 12, 2025, for the seat of Republican Joni Ernst, which is open because she declined to run for a third term. In the Democratic primary on June 2, 2026, he won 62.6% of the vote, defeating state senator Zach Wahls. His opponent in the November 3, 2026, general election is Republican Representative Ashley Hinson, who won her party's nomination with Donald Trump's endorsement.
