Sen. Ted Cruz criticizes Democrats as ‘Marxists and Islamists’ at Hinson event in Iowa

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said Saturday Iowans would play an important role in keeping “Marxists and Islamists,” who he said have taken over the Democratic Party, out of power by electing Ashley Hinson to the U.S. Senate in November.

Cruz, alongside other Iowa Republican elected officials and candidates on the November ballot in the state, joined Hinson for her annual fundraiser, Ashley’s BBQ Bash, at the Horizon Events Center in Clive. More than 1,000 people attended the event, which included remarks from the GOP leaders and music from country music singer Lee Greenwood — as well as a performance from Hinson herself, who played violin alongside other performers at the beginning of the event.

Hinson, who is seeking the open seat now held by Sen. Joni Ernst and currently represents Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, will face Iowa Rep. Josh Turek, D-Council Bluffs, in the general election. Cruz, who delivered the keynote address, contrasted the views of Hinson and other Republicans running in the midterm elections with the political positions — and religious backgrounds — of some Democrats who have won primary elections around the country this year.

“We’re seeing the Democrat Party taken over by communists and by Islamists,” Cruz said. “That green-red alliance is frightening. Right now, today, Comrade Mamdani is the most dangerous and the most powerful Democrat in America. And you’re seeing it in race after race after race — open Marxists. I’m not calling them communists; they call themselves communists. Winning primaries in New York City, in Michigan, in Colorado, in Florida, in Oklahoma.”

Cruz was referencing candidates who have won primaries in several states this election cycle who are affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America. He was also referencing the 2025 election of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the more recent victory of Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s U.S. Senate Democratic primary. Mamdani is affiliated with DSA while El-Sayed has rejected the label of democratic socialist, but both politicians are Muslim.

“Let me say about the Islamists: Sharia law has no place in the United States of America,” Cruz said, going on to speak about El-Sayed’s appearance on Fox News with host Jesse Watters.

Cruz said not all Democrats are in these categories, and did not link Turek with these movements. However, he said “every Democrat in the House and Senate is terrified of the communists and Islamists in their party, because that’s where the energy, the money, the passion” lies.

“That brings me to why I’m here and why we’re all here, because the state of Iowa is a battleground,” Cruz said. “Because we need Ashley Hinson to win this race. … Control of the House and control of the Senate both run through Iowa.”

Speakers at the event repeatedly warned attendees Hinson is in a competitive election. The Cook Political Report, an election forecaster, recently shifted ratings for the Iowa Senate race from “leans Republican” to a “toss up,” and a recent Suffolk University poll found Hinson was leading Turek 45% to 41% among likely Iowa voters, within the poll’s statistical margin of error.

The U.S. Senate seat is not the only hotly contested race on the ballot this year — the elections for Iowa governor and the state’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts, all currently held by Republicans, are also seen as potential pick-ups for Democrats in 2026.

Hinson criticizes Turek immigration ad

Hinson said her opponent, Turek, was misrepresenting himself as “moderate” on the campaign trail to win voters’ favor in Iowa. She criticized Turek’s campaign ad, titled “I-35,” released Friday, in which he said he would work with anyone, “including President Trump, to secure the border, stop the flow of drugs into Iowa.”

The advertisement points to Turek’s vote in 2024 supporting Senate File 2340, a law allowing Iowa law enforcement to charge people with an aggravated misdemeanor if they have been denied admission, deported or otherwise removed from the U.S., or if they currently have an order to leave the country.

The measure, which was heavily criticized by Democrats and organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, also gave state courts the ability to order the deportation of undocumented immigrants, and state agencies and law enforcement the ability to transport migrants to U.S. ports of entry to ensure they exit the country. Individuals who do not comply with an order to leave can be charged with a felony under the law.

When Turek was criticized during the Democratic primary for this vote, he defended his support for it, saying, “I am someone that believes that we can recognize that we need safe and secure borders — but it’s also not a mutually exclusive issue, that we also need an easier pathway to citizenship and fundamental immigration reform.”

When Hinson brought up Turek’s statement in the ad that he would work with President Donald Trump on border security, the audience laughed.

“I’d laugh too if it wasn’t so egregious, right?” Hinson said.

She brought up Turek’s votes on other legislation in the Iowa House related to immigration law enforcement. She said his vote on House File 946, a measure that stated law enforcement officers who “knowingly and intentionally” fail to comply with state laws on federal immigration enforcement would be subject to investigation by the attorney general, was a vote “to restrict Iowa law enforcement from working with ICE to protect these criminal illegals from deportation.”

Hinson also claimed Turek “wanted to defund federal border security and immigration enforcement.” Turek said in April he would not support funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security “without serious reforms to ICE,” but he has not called for defunding border security.

“What we’ve seen here is the tale of two Tureks, right? One Josh in the primary, another Josh in the general election,” Hinson said. “So the only thing that I think is consistent here about Josh Turek is how shamelessly willing he is to say or do anything to get himself elected. So the fact is, the illegal immigration crisis was created by left-wing liberals like Josh Turek, and he is the last person that Iowans should trust to fix it.”

Democrats criticize Hinson over ‘Epstein files’ votes

Iowa Democratic leaders held a news conference before Hinson’s event, where speakers criticized Hinson for not voting to release the “Epstein files” — U.S. Department of Justice documents and information on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Democrats, alongside some Republicans like U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, had voted to compel the DOJ to release more information on Epstein, specifically after news reports of Attorney General Pam Bondi telling Trump his name appeared in government documents related to Epstein. Hinson, alongside other members of Iowa’s all-Republican federal delegation, have said they support releasing more information on Epstein and related co-conspirators, but said they trusted the Trump administration’s approach to releasing information.

Iowa Rep. Jennifer Konfrst said Hinson “has been fighting firmly on the side of the Epstein files, not Iowans.”

“For months last year, she publicly opposed and blocked the release of the Epstein files, she alone could have at any time decided to join the bipartisan effort in Congress to release the files, but she chose to stand in the way,” Konfrst said. “… As a mom, I can’t believe Ashley Hinson would sooner go to bat for the awful individuals named in the Epstein files than the young survivors Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused. It is disgusting, and it is disqualifying. It is not something we’re going to forget come November. Because while she was blocking the release of the Epstein files, she was voting to cut our healthcare and raise our prices. She was fighting harder for the Epstein class than for Iowans.”

Earlier in August, the Gazette reported Hinson was asked by three callers during a telephone town hall about not supporting the 2025 effort to force a House floor vote on the issue through a discharge petition. In the town hall, Hinson called the effort “a Democrat floor procedure” while saying she supported releasing the documents.

“Democrats are desperate,” Billy Fuerst, a campaign spokesperson for Hinson, said in a statement Saturday. “Ashley voted to release the Epstein files and wants every creep who hurt women and children to be behind bars for the rest of their lives.”