Turek in, Scholten out; lots more 2026 campaign news

Aug. 18 edition of "KHOI's Capitol Week"

State Representative Josh Turek (left) with State Representative J.D. Scholten on August 18 in Council Bluffs

Welcome to new subscribers! Every Tuesday you’ll receive the audio file for my 30-minute radio show/Iowa politics podcast, “KHOI’s Capitol Week,” as well as a detailed written recap, for those who would rather read than listen. You can also subscribe to the show on any podcast platform, or find it through smart speakers.

About once a week I share in this space an article first published at my main website, Bleeding Heartland.

If you found me through Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo and are looking for more coverage of Iowa’s U.S. Senate race, check out any recent episode of “KHOI’s Capitol Week,” as well as the following:

• Should Democrats hope to face Ernst or Hinson in 2026 Senate race?

• Real talk on the long odds facing Iowa Democrats in 2026

I discussed the Senate race and other Iowa campaigns with Arnie Arnesen this morning. That segment will air on Wednesday’s edition of The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen.

On to the show! Spencer Dirks and I spent most of the August 18 program talking about the 2026 campaign trail. The audio file is at the top of this post. Here’s your recap. If your email provider truncates this post, you can read it without interruption at this link.

Josh Turek joins Senate field

State Representative Josh Turek made his U.S. Senate campaign official last Tuesday. His launch video grabbed the political world’s attention—many large national accounts shared it on social media, and Jim Acosta (formerly of CNN) said it was “one of the best I’ve ever seen covering politics.”

Turek said he was “born an underdog,” due to spina bifida caused by his father’s exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. He cited his hard work to overcome economic adversity as well as health care challenges. His family relied on several government programs, and thanks to support through the Area Education Agency and Vocational Rehabilitation, he was able to go to college on a basketball scholarship, later playing wheelchair basketball professionally and in four Paralympics. He’s now in the Wheelchair Basketball Hall of Fame.

Turek describes himself as a “common-sense prairie populist” and said Senator Tom Harkin (who spearheaded the Americans with Disabilities Act) is his hero. He’s highlighting “kitchen table issues” and often mentions that he was out knocking doors every day—often crawling up stairs, dragging his wheelchair—to be elected twice in the reddest Iowa legislative district held by a Democrat. (I can confirm that of Democrats elected to the legislature in November 2024, Turek represents the most Republican district. The Iowa Senate district Mike Zimmer won in that special election in January was a little redder.)

Turek has said he initially ran for the Iowa House in 2022 because he saw denial rates skyrocket under Medicaid privatization and learned there had never been a permanently disabled member of the Iowa legislature.

Here’s the full video of my interview with Turek from last week. One line that stuck with me: “I know I can beat Joni Ernst. I’m her Kryptonite.”

J.D. Scholten ends Senate campaign, endorses Turek

Turek was the fifth Democrat to join Iowa’s U.S. Senate race, but the field dropped back down to four on Monday after State Representative J.D. Scholten (also a “prairie populist athlete from Western Iowa”) announced he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Turek.

He said in a statement, “There are so many issues facing Iowans today but we can’t sit idly by while healthcare is ripped from millions of Americans. Understanding this, I believe that there’s no better Democrat in Iowa to talk about healthcare issues than my friend, State Rep. Josh Turek.”

I wasn’t surprised. At the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding last Thursday, Scholten was the only Senate candidate to show up without staff, campaign literature, or nominating petitions to collect signatures. During his speech, he urged other Democrats to embrace his very detailed agriculture platform and to campaign in all 99 counties—not what you expect to hear from someone planning to compete for the nomination.

In addition, Scholten’s campaign raised about $176,000 during the second quarter, which is a decent amount, but was way behind his competitors in the Senate primary.

Zach Wahls lands labor union endorsement

State Senator Zach Wahls, another candidate running for Senate, announced on Monday that he had received the endorsement of the Ironworkers Local 89 after touring an apprenticeship program in Cedar Rapids.

Wahls is banking on endorsements. A lot of well-known people in politics, including several current or former labor leaders, had previously announced their support as individuals. To my knowledge, the Ironworkers Local 89 was the first labor union to back a candidate in this primary.

Organized labor has been important in Iowa Democratic primaries, but less so now than it used to be. The biggest unions in the state are the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Iowa State Education Association, which have not picked a candidate yet.

Where things stand in the Senate race for Democrats

While another Democrat may join the Senate field this fall, I don’t see any more room for a serious contender. So it’s going to come down to Josh Turek, Zach Wahls, Nathan Sage, or Jackie Norris. I’ve interviewed them all; here are the links to my conversations with Wahls, Sage, and Norris.

Turek is perceived to be the favored candidate of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. I asked him last week whether anyone from the DSCC had offered or promised him support. He dodged the question, saying he had considered this campaign for a long time and wanted to make sure it was feasible. He emphasized he’s “not the DC candidate” but is the “hard-working Iowa candidate” from Council Bluffs. You can watch that exchange beginning around the 19:20 mark of our interview.

I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Senator Harkin endorsing Turek. He hasn’t endorsed in any Democratic primary since he retired from the Senate after 2014.

I’ve been saying this summer that Democrats may end up selecting their Senate nominee at the state convention next June. But if only three or four candidates file for the primary, I think someone will win the nomination outright with more than 35 percent of the primary vote.

The fundraising numbers for the third and fourth quarters of this year will tell us a lot about who can compete for the nomination.

Joni Ernst to Democrats: “Bring it on”

We still don’t know who will be the Republican nominee for Senate. The Des Moines Register reported that at last week’s Westside Conservative Club meeting, Senator Joni Ernst said, "I love it. Every day we get a new Democratic member of the House or Senate that decides to run for this Senate seat; bring it on. Bring it on, folks, because I tell you at the end of the day, Iowa is going to be red. Iowa is going to be red.”

Note that she didn’t say she was going to beat them! She just said Iowa is going to be red.

Ernst has said she will announce her plans soon. The conventional wisdom among Iowa politics watchers is shifting toward her not running for a third term. That’s how I am feeling now.

As I’ve written, Representative Ashley Hinson (IA-02) would be the Republican front-runner if Ernst bows out. Former State Senator Jim Carlin, a Trump loyalist and 2020 election denier, is also running for Senate, along with Joshua Smith, a MAGA-type candidate who seems less active.

If it’s an open primary, I wonder whether President Donald Trump might weigh in for a more MAGA candidate (for instance, current U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker).

If Ernst does run for Senate again, she will be talking about how well she works with Trump and his cabinet members. That was another theme of her remarks to the Westside Conservative Club.

Highlights from the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding

I was able to attend the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding last Thursday in Clear Lake. I highly recommend this event (an annual fundraiser for a bunch of Democratic county committees in northern Iowa), especially if you’ve never seen the historic Surf Ballroom. The venue was mostly full, but not as packed as it has been during years before the Iowa caucuses.

Without presidential candidates on hand, only a few members of the press corps made the trip to Clear Lake. So I wanted to spend a good chunk of this show talking about the speeches and candidate pitches.

Here’s the full video, for those who want to watch any part of the program. Former State Senator Rob Hogg offered a tribute to former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who was the Wing Ding keynote speaker in 2023 and was assassinated (along with her husband) this summer. Hogg’s remarks begin around the 13:00 mark.

I was fascinated by the keynote address by former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and wrote more about that over the weekend. He was open about his ongoing trauma from the events of January 6 and its aftermath. He encouraged Democrats to be mindful of their mental health and called on them to not try to fix everything, but find one issue they’re passionate about and one thing to do about it. On the video, his remarks begin around 2:13:50. Douglas Burns interviewed Dunn later in the evening.

Wing Ding pitches from U.S. Senate candidates

The candidates who spoke at the Wing Ding each got five minutes to address the crowd. Most had trouble sticking to that limit—five minutes goes fast!

Turek’s speech touched on many of the same themes as his launch video. You can watch that beginning around 1:48:20 on the video. Scholten’s remarks begin around 1:54:20; he urged Democrats to “get uncomfortable” and be prepared to make other people uncomfortable.

You can watch Jackie Norris, beginning around 1:29:00. She said, “Our families in Iowa are in crisis.” As a Des Moines school board member and former nonprofit leader, she sees firsthand how hard it is for families: kids who can’t get access to food, parents working two jobs, unable to afford housing.

She’s worked hard and taken risks in service to others. She mentioned being a teacher in Perry, where she saw the resilience of the community. As CEO of Goodwill of Central Iowa, she focused on raising wages for their employees to a minimum of $15/hour and helping disabled people to get jobs.

As school board member, she fought to get cell phones out of classrooms. They instituted that policy in part of the Des Moines school district before Governor Kim Reynolds picked up on the idea. (The Iowa legislature approved a statewide law restricting cell phone use in schools this year.) Norris also mentioned that she helped elect Tom Vilsack as governor in 1998 and led Barack Obama’s Iowa campaign for the 2008 general election.

You can watch Zach Wahls, beginning around 1:35:30. He started off with a laugh line: “I know it is a low bar, but I believe you deserve a senator who is not just waiting for you to die.” He talked about becoming a father last year, which drove home to him how much it costs to be a new parent.

Wahls argued that our state and country are facing two crises: out of control costs and out of control corruption, and those go hand in hand. The economy works great for those at the top but not for the rest of us, which is tied to the corruption in the political system. Wahls also called for policies that reward work, not wealth, and advocated for term limits, which he has supported in the state legislature as well.

Sage’s remarks begin around 1:42.05. He said he doesn’t use a script, but speaks from the hip: “At the end of the day, we can’t continue to do the crap we’re doing in this world.” Many people are fighting every day to survive, to get by, to pay their bills, find a doctor, and he’s lived those struggles, growing up in a family that was poor. He knows what it’s like to have to feed a family for two weeks on $40.

As a Marine who served three tours in Iraq, Sage said he wants to make sure other young men aren’t fighting war they don’t belong in. He’s sick of hearing the same candidates and same political speak that doesn’t get anywhere, and argued that Democrats need to do something different. Compared to the other candidates, Sage has a very different background.

Wing Ding pitches from candidates for governor

Both Democratic candidates for governor were at the Wing Ding. Julie Stauch spoke first, starting around 2:00:25. She has a strong Cerro Gordo County connection, because early in her adult life, she and her husband lived in Clear Lake and then Mason City. That’s where she got her start in Iowa Democratic campaigns during the 1980s. (She’s worked on 24 campaigns in nine states.)

She said she’s running for governor “because I’m a change maker. I’m a problem solver. And God knows this state needs some problems solved right now.” Talking with Iowans at her meetings (she calls them “job interviews”), her big takeaway is that “There really is no rural/urban divide” among Democrats. Everyone is concerned about the same things: clean water, public schools, health care issues, and in northern Iowa, eminent domain for CO2 pipelines. She also touched on her work for nonprofit organizations, who come to her because she solves problems: “I get sh*t done.”

State Auditor Rob Sand’s speech begins around 2:06:45 on the video. He feels Iowa is at a “tremendous fork in the road.” I’ve written before about how he weaves religious references into his political speeches. Along those lines, he spoke to the crowd about his faith and the idea of “Comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable”

The whole time Sand was growing up, his mother worked for the Area Education Agency as a physical therapist. He’s still upset “They messed with the AEAs.” (I continue to hear Iowa Democrats talk about last year’s AEA overhaul.) Sand highlighted that after his office recovered a record amount of misspent money during his first term, Republicans passed a law restricting his office’s ability to get access to documents. His staff were blocked from auditing more than $100 million in public funds supporting the school voucher program. Meanwhile, Iowa’s near the bottom in the economy, and slipping in education.

Sand closed with more religious imagery: after saying the story about Jesus flipping over the money changers’ tables in the Temple had always stood out to him as a kid, he said, “In November of 2026, with your help, we’ve got a few tables in Des Moines that we could be flipping over.”

I interviewed Sand and Stauch earlier this year. You can watch those conversations here.

Wing Ding pitches from candidates in IA-04

Two Democrats are running for Congress in the fourth district, which covers a huge 36-county area. Stephanie Steiner’s speech begins around 40:30 on the official video. She went really big picture, spending no time on personal biography. Instead, she focused on what history teaches us: those in power will always tell you that you are powerless. But the truth is the opposite: “when we remember that, empires crumble, tyrants fall, and justice is born again.”

Steiner went on to quote Thomas Paine, Sojourner Truth, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, who said our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter. She mentioned polluted water, health care treated as a privilege for the wealthy, and civil rights being stripped away. She closed with calls to action: “We must defend the truth like our lives depend on it, because they do. And when they tell us to be quiet, we will get louder. When they try to divide us, we will stand arm in arm. […] Power to the people always.”

Ashley WolfTornabane’s remarks begin at 47:40. She recounted a recent yoga class where the teacher used one of those singing bowls. As you run a mallet along the bowl, at first nothing happens, and then it starts to hum and gets louder, building up an “incredible energy.”

WolfTornabane lives in Storm Lake, where Republicans have been in power for her entire life. Republicans use culture war issues to divide people with fear and hate. She feels Democrats need to respond with hope, as Barack Obama did so successfully. Democrats need to dream big, give people something to hope for, and keep repeating their message and not assume people have heard it before. “Listen, give hope, and repeat” is like running that mallet along the outside of the singing bowl.

I have interviewed both of the IA-04 candidates; click here to watch my conversation with Steiner and here to watch WolfTornabane.

Wing Ding pitches from candidates in IA-02

The crowd also heard from three Democrats running for Congress in the second district, which includes some of the counties that help plan the Wing Ding. (I think they bent the rules for State Representative Lindsay James, who didn’t officially launch her campaign until today.)

Kathy Dolter was the surprise of the night for me. The room was absolutely on fire–and unlike most candidates, she came in under the allotted time. Her remarks start at 53:40 on the video. She began with a short summary of her background as a veteran, nurse, educator, leader, innovator, and “doer.” She has started nursing programs, and was a dean of nursing. To underscore that “I’m a non-politician, a real person,” she ticked off some other jobs she had done, from nursing assistant to fast food worker.

Dolter got the crowd cheering with a top 10 list of things she would do for regular Iowans if elected to Congress. It starts with repealing the “big, bad bill” and stopping the “Trump tariff tax.” She ticked off policies to protect democracy, including a “No Kings” amendment to the Constitution. Plans to improve our “broken health care system” would include impeaching Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. She also referenced a Main Street plan for small towns, addressing public education, and restoring USAID funding, because “diplomacy prevents wars.”

Clint Twedt-Ball, a pastor and nonprofit leader from Cedar Rapids, started speaking around 59:05 on the video. He spent a lot of his time talking about his background, his upbringing in small towns, and the work he and his brother have done since starting the organization Matthew 25. They stepped up after the floods of 2008 to help people rebuild in the hardest-hit neighborhoods.

Twedt-Ball criticized Republican cuts to food assistance and Medicaid, to shift more money to billionaires. He told the crowd, “I’m here because I know how we get to choose our future. We the people still have the power, and we need to remember that.” He’s built affordable housing, he’s given people food security, he’s created education and mentoring programs. “I know how to rebuild after storms.”

Lindsay James said she didn’t have anything official to announce, but “This week is going to be a very exciting week.” She talked about growing up in Dubuque and spent a lot of time on anecdotes from knocking on doors when she was first running for the Iowa House. She hinted at a Congressional run by saying that lately, she has felt a “deepening sense of calling.” Her remarks begin around 1:06:30.

I haven’t interviewed James yet, but you can watch my conversations with Dolter and with Twedt-Ball from earlier this summer.

Hinson campaign lobs pre-emptive strike on James

Even though James wasn’t an official candidate for Congress, Republican incumbent Hinson’s campaign bashed her as a “leftist lunatic” in a statement sent to the media last week.

Hinson loves these pre-emptive strikes. Her campaign also did it to Sarah Corkery in 2023 and to Kevin Techau, her first declared Democratic opponent this spring. (He ended his campaign in late June.) The Hinson team didn’t issue this kind of statement about Dolter or Twedt-Ball, so it appears they see James as the likely Democratic nominee and want to define her early as “Iowa’s AOC.”

I’ve closely followed James’ work in the Iowa legislature since she was elected for the first time in 2018. I would call her a mainstream Democrat—not a “leftist.” Anyway, this tells you what rhetoric Republicans will use in this race.

Remember, we don’t know whether Hinson will run for re-election or for Senate. If she ends up running for Senate, the GOP primary in IA-02 could be interesting.

Trump promises to ban mail-in voting

In an unhinged post on his Truth Social platform, President Donald Trump said Monday that he will lead a “movement” to ban mail-in voting and what he called “highly inaccurate, very expensive, and seriously controversial voting machines” before the 2026 elections.

Hundreds of thousands of Iowans vote by mail in a typical general election. Trump does not have the authority to change state election procedures through an executive order. While Congress could ban voting by mail, I can’t see that kind of bill getting through the U.S. Senate.

I sought comment on Monday from Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, Attorney General Brenna Bird, and State Representative Bobby Kaufmann, and didn’t hear back from any of them. Bird was an early Trump endorser who often joins multi-state legal actions supporting his policies. Kaufmann was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 Iowa caucus campaign; he’s the incoming Iowa House majority leader and has floor managed many election-related bills.

Ryan Peterman, the Democratic candidate for secretary of state, denounced Trump’s plan in a news release:

“This plan unveiled by President Trump is an attack on our most fundamental democratic right – the right to vote. In order to exercise that sacred right, I myself voted by mail while serving in the Navy.

Over 680,000 Iowans voted by mail in the 2024 election. These are elderly grandparents who can’t easily leave their homes. They are young adults away at college. And they are the brave men and women who serve our country in the military.

There is no evidence of widespread fraud through mail-in ballots as the President has claimed. Voting by mail is a safe and common method used by eligible voters of all political parties.

Today, I am calling on Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate to join me in condemning this effort by President Trump, and stand up for free, fair, and accessible elections across our great state of Iowa.”

Rob Sand pledges to reverse Medicaid privatization

Sand is about a third of the way through his planned 100 town halls for this year. I attended his event in Osceola (Clarke County) on Monday morning, and what I saw was similar to what Erin Murphy described in this feature for the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Around 50 people packed the small venue. Sand typically asks for a show of hands for Republicans and independents as well as Democrats. He leads the group in singing the first verse of “America the Beautiful.” His prepared remarks ran a little less than 20 minutes, and he took questions for at least 30 minutes. As I mentioned above, he speaks about his faith as well as his background. He closes with a pitch to follow him on social media, share his event schedule, and donate to the campaign.

One thing I heard that was new for me: Sand is now promising to issue an executive order reversing Medicaid privatization on day one of his administration. He described privatized Medicaid as “a disaster.” His office’s audits have found many hospitals and larger health care providers have to take out lines of credit or hire staff just to get the for-profit companies managing the Medicaid program to pay their bills. It’s worse for Iowans, and more costly.

Sand said the school vouchers program, “other than gutting the auditor’s office, is the single biggest invitation to waste, fraud, and abuse in Iowa history.” He won’t make unrealistic promises to repeal the whole program, since Republicans will still control the state legislature. But he wants to increase funding for Iowa’s public schools and said he would “call their bluff” on school choice. Changes he would fight for:

1. If private schools take public money, they can’t turn students away;

2. Put an income limit on the program so the wealthiest Iowans aren’t using voucher funds to do what they were going to do anyway;

3. Make private schools subject to state audits and the state’s open meetings and open records laws;

4. Limit tuition increases, so private schools can’t keep costs out of reach for those who can’t afford it.

Someone at the town hall asked about the Area Education Agencies overhaul. Sand mentioned his mom’s career as a physical therapist for the AEA, and said he’s done more than 730 town halls since being elected state auditor. Not one time has anyone said to him, we’ve got to do something about these AEAs. “I don’t understand why they did that bill.” He would try to get the legislature to make some changes to ensure that kids in rural areas and small towns are still getting access to care.

I plan to attend one of Julie Stauch’s interview sessions next week.

Iowa State Fair notes

The Iowa State Fair wrapped up on Sunday, with fewer candidate visits than we might see closer to an election. But a lot of politicians did show up. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler all spent time at the fair with Senator Ernst and/or Governor Kim Reynolds.

Lots of Iowa candidates for state or federal offices put in at least a day or two at the fair. Ryan Peterman mentioned that he was there for the first time. All of the candidates in IA-03 were there. Among Democrats, I think Sand was there most often.

I was told that Republican candidate for governor Eddie Andrews spent a lot of time at the Iowa GOP booth. He ended up winning the Iowa Secretary of State’s straw poll for GOP candidates for governor. That is not a scientific survey—I think it reflects how many people Andrews talked to in the Varied Industries Building.

The governor was less accessible to the media at the fair this year. She didn’t take any questions during her joint press conference with Brooke Rollins. Longtime Iowa TV political reporter Dave Price wrote over the weekend, "This was the first time since she became governor that Kim Reynolds didn’t agree to sit down with me for an interview during the Iowa State Fair (other than 2020 when COVID canceled it)."

State legislative leaders reject IPERS changes

On last week’s show, we mentioned that the Iowa DOGE task force was likely to recommend big changes to the state’s main pension program (IPERS). I said there was practically zero chance of such an unpopular idea getting through the state legislature during an election year. Indeed, top lawmakers confirmed last week that they don’t plan to go there.

The Des Moines Register’s Marissa Payne has the quotes from Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley and Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver.

The governor’s office referred requests for comment to the head of the DOGE task force, who noted that the 45 proposed changes were “preliminary.” I won’t be surprised if the final report drops the idea of converting IPERS from a defined benefit to a defined contribution program for new public employees.

Why don’t Iowa Democratic lawmakers ever flee the state?

Texas Democrats have been in the news lately after they fled to Illinois to prevent the Republican-controlled House and Senate from passing new political maps. (They’re back in Texas now.) I thought listeners might wonder why we never hear about this kind of story in Iowa.

The answer is that a quorum in the Iowa House and Senate is a simple majority. That means Democrats can’t block the majority from passing bills by staying away from the capitol.

Governor approves National Guard support for ICE

Last Tuesday, Governor Reynolds’ office announced that “Twenty Iowa National Guard soldiers will provide administrative and logistical support to Iowa-based ICE officials in enforcing immigration laws,” from September 8 through November 15. It’s not clear exactly what they are going to be doing.

Someone in the audience asked Sand about these deployments during the town hall I attended on Monday. He said the auditor’s office had looked into Iowa National Guard deployments to Texas and found that the use of funds was lawful. (I was among those raising this question years ago.) But Sand said that if elected governor he would prioritize “public safety right here in the state of Iowa for Iowans.”

I didn’t have time to mention this during the show, but after saying he supported deporting people with violent criminal records who are here unlawfully, Sand specifically mentioned the young man from West Liberty. Pascual Pedro Pedro was brought to Iowa as an early teen, had no criminal record, and was employed as construction worker. He was detained and quickly deported after showing up for a scheduled immigration appointment in early July. Sand said that “doesn’t make sense to me.” He noted that Iowa has a workforce crisis and added, “We want people working here.”

That’s all for now—thanks for reading or listening! I’ll be back again soon.