Josh Turek, a state representative and former Paralympian, won the Democratic nomination for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat, beating state Sen. Zach Wahls in the June 2 primary.
Turek, of Council Bluffs, will face Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson and Libertarian Thomas Laehn in the Nov. 3 general election.
Turek, 47, is a two-time gold medalist in wheelchair basketball at the Paralympic Games representing Team USA.
He was born with spina bifida, which he attributes to his father’s exposure to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. He often talks on the campaign trail about the 21 surgeries he had before he was 12.
He won his first Iowa House race in 2022 by six votes and won reelection in 2024 by nearly six percentage points even as President Donald Trump carried the district.
“I won that first race by dragging my wheelchair up stairs every single day to talk to voters, regardless of party,” Turek said in a victory speech June 2.
He calls former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin his political hero for Harkin’s work to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act and has said it will be “beautifully poetic when the man who takes back Sen. Harkin’s seat is only here because of his work.” Harkin endorsed Turek in the primary.
“He was a true prairie populist that fought for the people of Iowa,” Turek said of Harkin. “This is our chance here in Iowa to once again have a senator that is going to fight for the people.”
Stephen Gruber-Miller is the Capitol bureau chief for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com, by phone at 515-284-8169 or on X at @sgrubermiller.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Democrats hope Josh Turek can turn Iowa’s open US Senate seat blue
Reporting by Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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