Barack Obama tells Iowans ‘ball’s in your court’ to elect Josh Turek to U.S. Senate

Josh Turek picked up an endorsement for his U.S. Senate bid Wednesday from former President Barack Obama, announced in a video showing the two Democrats playing basketball together.

Turek, a state representative and two-time Paralympic gold medalist with 2016 and 2020 wins on the U.S. wheelchair basketball team, is the 2026 Democratic nominee for the seat currently held by U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican. He is facing a tough general election race against U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who has received support from national Republicans like President Donald Trump and campaigned alongside GOP leaders like U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Sen. Ted Cruz.

National Democratic leaders are also bringing high-power backers to the campaign. Turek’s campaign released the video “Who’s Got Next,” where the Democratic Senate candidate plays a game of horse, renamed “I-O-W-A,” against the former president at a gymnasium in Chicago. Obama, a well-known basketball fan, talks about his favorite players and Turek’s time on the Iowa campaign trail as they make shots.

The video doesn’t show who won the game, but Obama said at the end he’d been “whooped.”

Obama, who won the Iowa Democratic presidential caucus in 2008 and won the state in the 2008 and 2012 general elections, said, “of all the things I’ve done in politics, Iowa was my favorite thing.”

“There was just a magic about regular folks showing up in gyms like this, and just talk it out, ‘how do we move our state forward, how do we move the country forward,'” Obama said in the video.

Republicans have seen a stretch of victories in Iowa in recent election cycles — currently, Iowa has an all-Republican delegation in Washington D.C., and Republicans hold a trifecta of control at the Statehouse. Though political forecasters like Cook Political Report rate Iowa’s U.S. Senate seat as “leans Republican,” Democrats believe Turek — alongside other Democratic candidates on the ballot — will shift the political tides in Iowa.

National Democrats are investing significantly in the Senate race, with the Senate Majority PAC reserving $30 million for a fall ad campaign targeting Hinson’s voting record. Turek has also received endorsements from Democrats like former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, another previous Iowa caucus winner, as well as Iowans including former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin.

In the video, Turek said he believes Iowans are feeling optimistic about the midterms.

“I’ll tell you what, people all across Iowa are saying that they’re feeling that hope, that optimism for the first time in a long time,” Turek said.

After finishing the game, Obama said, “I’ve seen enough. Not only did I get whooped, but you’ve got here a man of character, somebody who knows how to win.”

“Now the ball’s in your court, Iowa,” the former president said. “Let’s make sure that we send Josh Turek to the United States Senate.”