Turek campaigns with former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin in final stretch before election

OTTUMWA — Democrat Josh Turek said Sunday he believed President Donald Trump “accurately identified the problem” Iowans face as they struggle with issues like rising costs — but he argued Trump and Republicans’ failure to lower prices since taking power will drive voters to support his campaign for U.S. Senate.

Turek was joined Sunday in Ottumwa by former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat who served in the U.S. Senate for 30 years, for a door knocking and ‘get out the vote’ effort in the final days leading up to the Nov. 3, 2026 election. As Harkin and Turek rallied with Wapello County Democrats before heading out to knock doors around the city, Harkin told a crowd that he believed Turek has “real grit,” referencing the movie “True Grit” with John Wayne.

“I’ve got to tell you, Josh Turek has a real grit,” Harkin said. “He’ll outwork you. He’ll outwork any candidate. He’ll out-campaign you. And all of the time, keeping his sense of who he is and what he believes in and what he supports. You couldn’t ask — at this point in time in our country and what needs to be done in Washington to stop some of this madness, to get us back on a kind of an even keel, not one that’s way to the right or way to the left, but an even keel — you couldn’t ask for a better person to support than Josh Turek.”

Turek, a state representative from Council Bluffs, is facing U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Republican currently representing Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, in the election. On the campaign trail, Turek has highlighted his own moderate positions and willingness to work across the aisle. In recent campaign ads, the candidate has spoken about his support for strengthening border security and improving the U.S. immigration system, saying, “I’ll work with anyone to fix it, including President Trump.”

Trump won Iowa in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections, and Republicans have seen major victories in the state in recent election cycles, including an all-Republican federal delegation. But polls and political forecasters believe Democrats have an opportunity in Iowa this election to pick up the U.S. Senate seat, as well as other congressional and statewide offices.

When Harkin was in the U.S. Senate from 1985 to 2015, the Democrat served alongside longtime U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican. Speaking with reporters, Harkin said he believed Iowa’s shift from a relatively “purple” state to strongly supporting Republicans in recent elections was less of a reflection of Iowans becoming more conservative and more about voters’ frustration with traditional politics.

“I just think that a lot of Iowans felt — rightfully so — that people in maybe in both parties were not really paying attention to their basic needs,” Harkin said. “They then sort of said, ‘Well, we’ll try something new and maybe flashy, like Trump.’ I mean, he is an engaging personality and so they kind of went that way, but I don’t believe it was anything permanent.

“I think Iowans decided that maybe we needed a change, but now their lives haven’t gotten any better. They’ve gotten worse, and that’s why I think this year Iowans once again are going to say, ‘Wait a minute. We need to have a new change because what we thought we were getting in the past, which would make our lives better, has not happened.’ And so I think now Iowans are looking for new types of representation,” Harkin said. “People have a new kind of an approach, a way of working in government to really make their lives better. So that’s why I think there’s going to be some big changes in this election.”

Turek agreed, saying he believed Trump’s message on the campaign trail in past cycles spoke to Iowans’ concerns.

“I think that Trump accurately identified the problem,” Turek said. “I mean, he was out there saying, ‘I’m going to drive down your grocery bill, your gas bill, your electric bill. I’m going to keep us out of forever wars.’ But it’s been exactly the opposite of what people have ended up getting. And so now I think that Iowans are really waking up.”

The Democratic candidate said Iowa is “uniquely hurting” because of Trump and Republicans’ policies, pointing to rural healthcare closures spurred in part by Medicaid cuts made in the 2025 “One, Big Beautiful Bill” Act, as well as the negative impacts of tariffs and the U.S. Iran war on Iowa’s agriculture economy.

Turek also argued Iowa is not a red state.

“We’re a common-sense state that has masqueraded red,” he said. “Thirty years, they send Senator Harkin up there along with Grassley. Trump’s last midterm, we win three of the four congressional races. … I think that Iowans, more than almost any other state, they vote for the person, not just the party. And I think that in me, they see one of them, a true Iowan, someone that’s gone through a lot of economic struggle, a lot of healthcare struggle, and someone that’s going to go up there, not to enrich myself, not to look out for the haves, the billionaires, large corporations, but someone’s going to go up there and actually fight for the people.”

Billy Fuerst, communications director for Hinson’s campaign, said in a statement Turek was “too liberal for Iowa,” criticizing some of his votes as a state legislator.

“In the Senate, he would vote with Chuck Schumer 100% of the time to raise taxes on Iowa families, put family farmers out of business, and shut down rural hospitals with government-run healthcare,” Fuerst said.