Former President Barack Obama endorsed Iowa’s Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Josh Turek in a basketball court cameo, backing Turek’s bid to flip the Republican-held seat.
The seat held by Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, who is retiring after two terms, is among Democrats’ top targets as the minority party tries to clinch the Senate majority in the Nov. 3 midterms. Turek faces Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who has secured President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Turek, a state representative from Council Bluffs, is a Paralympian with spina bifida who played wheelchair basketball for the United States. In the video, Turek and Obama play a game of I-O-W-A — a twist on horse.
Turek describes himself as a “prairie populist” and talks about crawling up stairs to knock on voters’ doors, dragging his wheelchair behind him.
“I know a little something about winning Iowa,” Obama says, a nod to his 2008 victory in the Iowa Caucuses that helped propel the U.S. senator from Illinois to the White House. He won Iowa in both 2008 and 2012, making him the last Democratic presidential nominee to carry the state before Trump’s rise.
“Of all the things I’ve done in politics, Iowa was my favorite thing,” Obama says. “There was just a magic about regular folks showing up in gyms like this and just talking it out — how do we move the state forward, how do we move the country forward?”
Turek tells Obama that Iowans are “feeling that hope, that optimism for the first time in a long time.”
Obama has put his thumb on the scale in other races, including endorsing Texas’ Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico in May.
After the basketball-loving president’s game with Turek, he confessed he got “whooped.”
“… You’ve got here a man of character — somebody who knows how to win,” Obama says. “Now the ball’s in your court, Iowa. Let’s make sure we send Josh Turek to the United States Senate.”
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X at @marissajpayne.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Barack Obama endorses Iowa Democrat Josh Turek’s bid for US Senate
Reporting by Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
