Democrat Josh Turek flips Iowa Senate seat, first Democratic win there since 2008

The Fox News Decision Desk projects that Democrat Josh Turek will win Iowa's open US Senate seat, flipping a Republican-held seat as the GOP fights to retain control of the chamber.

Turek defeated Republican Representative Ashley Hinson in the race to succeed retiring Senator Joni Ernst.

The victory marks the first time Democrats have won the seat since 2008, when former Senator Tom Harkin secured his final term. It is also a Democratic pickup in a state President Donald Trump carried by more than 13 points in 2024.

Reacting to the win, Turek wrote on X: 'Iowa, after 448 days of hard work, pushing up hills, knocking doors, visiting all 99 counties, visiting small and midsized communities all across Iowa, and preaching a message of a better future for Iowa – together, we have made history.'

Senate Majority Leader John Thune had made Hinson's race a priority, saying: 'I'm absolutely convinced that she flat has to win, and if she doesn't, we're not going to be in the majority.'

Hinson told supporters she had conceded the race to Turek and congratulated him on a very hard fought campaign. She said: 'Josh and I, to put it mildly, disagree on a lot. But tonight I hope that we can agree on this, that the campaign is behind us, and the work of serving the people of Iowa remains ahead.'

Hinson added that it is time to put politics aside, dial down the rhetoric, and start solving problems for Iowa's families and Iowa's farmers, and said she was deeply proud of her campaign's fight even though the outcome was not the one they wanted.

Turek centred his campaign on affordability, health care and wages. He promised to push for lower prescription drug costs, more affordable housing, a higher minimum wage and a federal ban on food price gouging.

Health care was a personal theme for Turek, who was born with spina bifida and became a two-time Paralympic gold medallist. Pointing to his own experience accessing care, he said 'health care is a human right.' His platform also called for restoring Medicaid funding, protecting Affordable Care Act subsidies and supporting rural hospitals.

Turek presented himself as a bipartisan lawmaker who could work across party lines, including on immigration. Campaigning as a 'prairie populist,' he argued that working families were being squeezed by housing, grocery and fuel costs while Washington politicians and corporations benefited. He also tied Iowa's economic pressure to Trump's tariffs and the war in Iran.

Hinson ran on tax relief, border security, parental involvement in schools and support for agriculture and biofuels. Trump backed her at a Sioux City rally, calling her 'a mother, a warrior, a patriot' and promising that 'with Ashley in the Senate, we will make it year-round E15. We'll make it permanent.'