Josh Turek
US Senator-elect for Iowa; Paralympic gold medallist who beat Ashley Hinson in 2026.
Josh Turek won Iowa's open Senate seat on 3 November 2026, beating Republican Ashley Hinson 686,486 votes to 630,615 on unofficial results and clearing 50% outright.
Last refreshed: 5 November 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Can a Paralympic champion shift a Republican-leaning Iowa Senate seat?
Timeline for Josh Turek
Turek beats Hinson as Sand wins Iowa
US Midterms 2026Won in Iowa after $7.65m of SLF spending against him
US Midterms 2026: SLF's final $43.9m: 7 of 10 targets wonReceived $17.21m of Lower Costs Now support
US Midterms 2026: Democratic groups file $67.97m in IowaMentioned in: New PAC Lower Costs Now spends $65.65m
US Midterms 2026SLF opens a $4.06m South Carolina front
US Midterms 2026Background
Josh Turek is the Democrat elected US senator for Iowa in 2026, and a state representative for Council Bluffs. He won the seat Joni Ernst vacated on 3 November 2026, beating Ashley Hinson 50.45% to 46.34%.
Turek has played wheelchair basketball for the United States at four Paralympic Games, winning two gold medals. He has spina bifida and was Iowa's first legislator with a permanent disability. He describes himself as a prairie populist and common-sense moderate.
His campaign ran on rural costs. Cook's June rating move tied his race to fuel and fertiliser prices after the Iran war, costs that land on farms through gas-derived fertiliser and the diesel spring planting burns.
Turek turned farm costs into a win
Turek won the Democratic primary on 2 June 2026 with 63%. The next day Cook Political Report moved his race against Hinson from Likely to Lean Republican, citing the Iran war's fuel and fertiliser costs for Iowa farmers. On 22 September a Marist Poll gave him an eight-point lead, 50-42, his first poll lead of 2026, and Sabato's Crystal Ball rated the race a Toss-up.
He finished with 50.45% to Hinson's 46.34%, with 95 of 99 counties fully reported. NBC News and CBS News projected him the winner, taking the seat Joni Ernst vacated for the Democrats.
Allied groups outspent Turek's opponents
Turek's side held the money advantage in October 2026. Lower Costs Now, a new Super PAC partly funded by Senate Majority PAC, reported $17.21m for him from 1 to 26 October, the most of any spender in the race; Democratic-side groups filed $67.97m in Iowa against $18.49m for Republicans.
The Senate Leadership Fund made him a late priority, spending $7.65m against him in four days at the end of October. He was one of seven of the fund's ten final-week targets who won.
Who is Josh Turek and what is his background?
Why is the Iowa Senate race now rated Lean Republican instead of Likely Republican?
Has Josh Turek won any Paralympic medals?
What are Josh Turek's chances against Ashley Hinson in Iowa?
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 5 November 2026. Editorial standards.