Sen. Zach Wahls, Rep. Josh Turek call for voters support ahead of primary

State Sen. Zach Wahls and Rep. Josh Turek both worked to make their case to voters Saturday around the Des Moines area on why their campaign is the best shot at winning back the U.S. Senate seat for Democrats in November.

Both candidates made rounds at the Des Moines Farmer’s Market Saturday morning, with more events scheduled through Memorial Day weekend. In the final days ahead of the June 2 primary, both candidates answered questions from voters about their priorities as a candidate and why they are in the strongest position to flip Iowa’s U.S. Senate seat currently held by U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican.

As Ernst is not seeking reelection, the Democratic nominee will face the winner of the Republican primary between U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson and former Republican state senator Jim Carlin.

Iowans at the farmer’s market stopped to mingle with candidates, take photos and ask them about issues. Ann Robinson, who ran a stand at the farmer’s market selling paintings, said she does not have a problem with Wahls, but said, “I think Josh has got the character and the honesty to, you know, move forward with what he believes” when faced with Republicans and President Donald Trump.

Republicans have won significant victories in Iowa in recent election cycles. Iowa’s federal delegation is fully Republican. As Wahls and Turek campaign to become the Democratic nominee, the candidates spoke both about why they are the best choice for Democrats — and why they are the best suited candidate to win over independents and Republicans during the general election.

Turek has argued at campaign events and in primary debates that he is the best candidate to win back the seat, as he is the candidate who the “reddest district” won by a Democrat in the 2024 general election in his state legislative seat. In an statement provided to the Iowa Capital Dispatch Saturday, Turek said he has heard regularly from Republicans who are “fed up and ready for a change.”

“A registered Republican came to our Cedar Rapids house party last weekend, took a yard sign, and told me he’s pushing the rest of his family to support me,” Turek said. “This morning at the farmers market, another Republican came up to me, shook my hand, and told me he was voting for me because he’s tired of seeing working folks get crushed. Those are always stand-out moments for me because it reminds me of how I won my very first race. Every day, rain or shine, I knocked on Republican and Independent doors because the math was not going to work any other way. And that’s exactly what we are going to do from now until November.”

Analese Irlmeier, who also said she plans to vote for Turek, said while she supports “a more progressive approach,” she believes Turek’s campaign is more moderate and has a better chance of winning in the general election.

“I think that’s kind of where we’re at as Iowans,” Irlmeier said. “If we’re going to flip Iowa over, (Turek) emulates more of where I see Iowa kind of going, and I really appreciate his slightly more laid-back approach to things.”

Wahls is making his case to Iowa voters as someone who would be willing to stand up to both Republicans and other Democrats — and as someone who could win rural areas. Wahls said while he lives in Coralville, the district he was first elected to includes rural Johnson County, Cedar County and parts of Muscatine County, saying, “I know how to win in these small towns and rural communities, because I’ve done it before.”

Martin O’Malley stumps for Wahls

Wahls’ trip to the farmer’s market was followed by a discussion with former Social Security commissioner Martin O’Malley at Confluence Brewing Company in Des Moines, who spoke in support of his campaign. O’Malley, who came to Iowa often when he ran as a Democratic candidate for president during the 2016 election cycle, said “one of the things that I’ve always loved about your state is that you all make up your own mind.”

O’Malley said he was asked by Social Security Works, a national advocacy organization, to come to Iowa to hold events with Wahls ahead of the primary. He said he was happy to support the campaign, saying he believed Wahls was “one of the most articulate and forward-looking candidates with a policy on Social Security.” O’Malley said the issue became his focus “after having led the agency under President Biden, and watched Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE tear it apart.”

The former Social Security commissioner, who also came to Iowa to speak against cuts to Social Security in 2025, said he supported Wahls’ proposed “Keep the Promise Act,” which he would plan to introduce if elected, The proposal would roll back Trump administration cuts to Social Security in addition to removing a cap on paying Social Security taxes after the first $160,000 in earnings.

“Sadly, a lot of Democrats don’t even talk about it, but this guy does,” O’Malley said in an interview. “And for winning in the fall against likely Ashley Hinson, the contrast on Social Security between Zach Wahls and what he’s articulated and what Ashley Hinson has voted for, which is an almost half-billion-dollar cut to an agency already completed to a 50-year low — that, gets me fired up about the longer-term fix for Social Security, because when he beats her on that issue in the fall, it’s going to send a message all across the country.”

Lane Hensley, a retired Episcopal priest, said he came to the event with Wahls and O’Malley because he had questions for both U.S. Senate candidates following the May 14 debate. He said he was concerned about the “electability” of candidates in the general election, but also said he was concerned about what a Democratic senator could do if elected.

“Aside from voting with the party, what can and should any senator be doing to solve the major problems that we have?” Hensley asked. “I’m concerned that if we just flip the House, flip the Senate, that’s insufficient to go after the deeper systemic problems.”

Wahls said he was the best Democratic candidate to address these deeper issues if elected. He brought up points discussed during debates between him and Turek as key policy differences that primary voters should pay attention to ahead of the primary. He pointed to a vote his opponent took in support of Senate File 2340 in 2024, a law designating illegal immigration a state crime, and which allowed state entities to carry out certain immigration law enforcement actions.

At the Saturday event, he spoke about one of the plaintiffs named in a lawsuit challenging this measure, which is blocked from enforcement,  identified only as Jane Doe, a 68-year-old who lives in Garnavillo. The plaintiff had lived with her husband and children in the U.S. since 2000, according to court documents, but was was detained and issued an order of removal in 2005 when trying to return to the U.S. from Mexico after she went to the country following her mother’s death.

She gained legal permanent resident status in the U.S. as of 2022, after her husband passed away — but argued in the lawsuit that despite having a green card, the state law would allow state law enforcement to seek to deport her because of the previous removal order.