Lines of attack solidify against Iowa candidates for the general election

The field is set for candidates running in the general election and campaigns, as well as political organizations, have kicked off a series early attack ads — particularly targeting candidates portraying themselves as moderates.

In the days after the June 2 primary, candidates have quickly pivoted to early messaging before the Nov. 3 general election. Some candidates and political groups are hoping to define their opponents through campaign advertising early in the cycle, especially those entering the general election campaign season with a lower profile.

State Rep. Josh Turek, D-Council Bluffs, overwhelmingly won the U.S. Senate Democratic nomination Tuesday against state Sen. Zach Wahls. The primary result triggered Cook Political Report to move its rating of the race from a “likely Republican” to “leans Republican.” Jessica Taylor, U.S. Senate and governors editor for Cook Political Report, wrote that “the overall environment in the Hawkeye State is an increasingly favorable one for Democrats given backlash to tariffs and rising fuel and fertilizer prices as a result of the Iran War.”

While Democrats are looking at Turek’s race optimistically, he still faces a steep challenge against U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, the Republican Senate nominee. She has consistently led in campaign fundraising and amassed support from powerful Republicans including President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, who currently holds the seat.

Hinson also holds more prominence than Turek in Iowa politics, currently representing Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District in the House. Turek’s campaign and groups like the VoteVets super PAC have invested significantly in ads, beginning in the primary season, introducing Turek to voters. But Republicans are now starting their own campaign strategy to characterize Turek, who was seen as the more moderate candidate in the primary, as a liberal opposed to Republican goals on issues like immigration enforcement and tax cuts made under President Donald Trump.

Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, the Senate Leadership Fund, released an ad Thursday targeting the Democratic nominee titled “Josh Turek: Too Liberal for America.”

The ad calls Turek “America’s favorite liberal,” stating that in the state Legislature, he “voted to allow men in girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms at Iowa schools,” by voting against a 2023 law banning people from using school restrooms, locker rooms and other gender-specific facilities that do not align with their sex at birth — primarily focused on transgender individuals.

A spokesperson for Turek’s campaign pointed out that five Iowa Republicans also voted against this measure, and that Turek “opposes legislation that puts disabled Iowans and their caregivers, particularly caregivers of the opposite sex, at risk of legal consequences for entering a public restroom.”

The ad said Turek also “opposed school choice” by voting against the state’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program providing public funding for private school tuition and associated costs.A spokesperson for Turek’s campaign pointed to fact checks from Politifact and American Journal News that call attacks “false” and “dishonest.”

“Josh Turek has bucked his party to cut taxes for the middle class and pass legislation to keep Iowans safe, while Ashley Hinson cut taxes for billionaires and increased her net worth by up to ten times,” the spokesperson said.

The ad also says Turek’s campaign has “been bankrolled by special interest groups, radical, liberal organizations, corporate PACs, and big labor.” That attack was also lobbed against Turek during the primary campaign by Wahls, who criticized the Council Bluffs Democrat for receiving support from “dark money” groups affiliated with Senate Democratic leadership. Turek’s campaign has not directly received money from PACs.

Chris Gustafson, communications director for the Republicans’ Senate Leadership Fund, said in a statement, “Josh Turek is a Far-Left liberal who Chuck Schumer hand-picked to be nothing more than a rubber stamp for Washington Democrats. SLF will gleefully remind voters of Turek’s long record of voting against the interests of Iowans and ensure Ashley Hinson is elected as Iowa’s next U.S. Senator.”

But Turek’s campaign has argued Iowans have gotten to know Turek and his background, growing up with spina bifida in a working class family and going on to compete as a Paralympian and to serve as the first permanently disabled member of the state legislature. In a campaign email Wednesday, Brendan Koch, campaign manager for Turek’s campaign wrote their goal was to “leverage Josh’s compelling personal story and proven ability to connect with Republicans and Independents to capitalize on a favorable political environment and a vulnerable Hinson to win in November.”

The campaign had also criticized Hinson for advancing her own and donors’ interests over Iowans’ priorities. This is a message echoed by the Iowa Democratic Party, which also issued a news release Tuessday criticizing Hinson for advocating for her own financial interests in Washington while cutting to vote funding for Iowans’ services.

“Ashley Hinson has spent her time in DC working for herself, not Iowans,” said Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart. “She is a multimillionaire who increased her net worth by as much as tenfold during her time in Congress while voting to cut Medicaid, veterans funding, and taxes for billionaires. In November, Iowans will hold her accountable for her record of forcing rural hospitals to close, sending the cost of living skyrocketing, and plunging the ag economy into a recession.”

The state Democratic Party launched a tour Thursday called “Iowa Can’t Afford Ashley,” a series of events “highlighting Ashley Hinson’s corruption and her failing record of gutting Medicaid, raising costs, and hurting women and seniors,” according to an IDP news release.

National Democrats are also highlighting Hinson’s financial interests, with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee launching a digital ad Tuesday titled “Looking Out for Herself.” In the ad, the narrator states “Hinson voted for tax cuts for the wealthiest 1%” while her net worth “increased up to $7 million since she first ran for Congress.”

“While she’s getting richer, Hinson voted to put health care access for hundreds of thousands of Iowans at risk,” the narrator says, while the video shows an article headline about the impact of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits expiring. Hinson, alongside U.S. Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Randy Feenstra of Iowa, voted against a three-year extension of the federal health care subsidies earlier in January; U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn was the only member of Iowa’s all-GOP delegation to support extending the tax credit.

The Senate Majority PAC, Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, made a $13.4 million television reservation for the fall focused on Hinson’s record. This ad campaign ramp up plans to both highlight Hinson’s vote supporting the “One, Big Beautiful Bill” Act which included Medicaid cuts. Several rural hospitals in the state have closed or reduced services after the law was signed in 2025. These ads will also criticize Hinson’s support of Trump policies, specifically on tariffs — a major point of concern in Iowa agriculture.

Ads launch in governor’s race

Opposition ads are also starting in the Iowa gubernatorial race as Zach Lahn, a businessman and farmer, became the Republican nominee for Iowa governor. He won in an upset victory in Tuesday’s primary over U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra and three other candidates. He will face state Auditor Rob Sand, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, on the general election ballot.

Lahn also is coming into the general election season with lower name recognition than Sand, who is currently the only Democrat to hold statewide elected office in Iowa, and gained national attention earlier in his career for his work uncovering a lottery scam.

Lahn has not previously held elected office. Before running for governor, he worked for the Koch-affiliated advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, and previously lived in and was a registered voter in Kansas. He registered to vote in Iowa in 2024, the Kansas Reflector reported — allowing him to meet Iowa’s two-year residency requirement for his 2026 gubernatorial bid. In Kansas, Lahn launched a private pre-K through 12th-grade school named Wonder, financed by the son of billionaire Charles Koch, Chase Koch. Chase Koch’s former wife, then Annie Koch, later divorced him and married Lahn, who also divorced his previous wife.

The Des Moines Register reported in April that Lahn frequently flew in his personal airplane from Iowa to Kansas, telling the Register, “I have a blended family, and some of my children are based out of Wichita. And I’m trying my best to be present for things. And also, we use the plane to shuttle kids back and forth from Iowa as a tool that we use.”

On Friday, Sand’s campaign launched an ad titled “Full Time.” The narrator states, “turning Iowa around will be a full-time job, but Zach Lahn isn’t even a full-time Iowan.” The ad pulls from a quote in the Register article, where Lahn said if elected he would find a “different arrangement” and “be in Iowa as much as humanly possible.”

Emma O’Brien, Sand’s deputy campaign manager, called Lahn’s response was “a disqualifying answer from someone running to be Iowa’s – not Kansas’ – next governor.”

“Iowans are dealing with some tough challenges, and they need a governor committed to Iowa to help solve them – not a frequent flyer who treats the state like a layover,” O’Brien said in a statement. “… Iowans don’t want a part-timer or political operative as their next governor, and in November, they’ll send carpetbagger Zach Lahn back to Kansas.”

Because Sand was running unopposed, Republicans have been speaking out in opposition to Sand as a candidate for several months — often criticizing him for portraying himself as a moderate or opposed to the political party dichotomy. In May, the Right Direction PAC, associated with the Republican Governors Association, launched “Failed,” an ad stating Sand “didn’t do his job” as state auditor in relation to a misallocation of $27.5 million in court debt funds caused by coding errors in the state’s case management system, corrected in 2024.

The state auditor’s office was alerted of financial irregularities by the Iowa Department of Transportation in 2022, but did not release an audit until 2024 on the issue. Sand told the House Government Oversight Committee when questioned on the subject in 2025 that because the issue was identified as a coding error — introduced through changes made to the court debt collection and distribution systems in 2020 and 2021 laws — the misallocation was not an “audit issue.”

The ad pulls from multiple TV news segments saying the auditor’s office “took no action” on the problem. KCCI, one of the TV stations which had a clip used in the ad, published a fact checking article which stated the ad omits “some context included in KCCI’s original reporting” on the issue, including that one of the reporter’s statement was explaining Republicans’ stance as they argued Sand should have been more involved in finding and correcting the problem.

Sand’s campaign called the ad “false and misleading.”

“This false attack has already been debunked, but D.C. insiders are clearly worried and are being forced to bail out their flailing candidates,” O’Brien said in a statement.

This story has been updated to include additional information on DSCC campaign advertisements and information from Rep. Turek’s campaign.