Democrats Are Pouring Into This Red-State Senate Race

A surprisingly robust primary field has emerged to challenge GOP Sen. Joni Ernst in bright-red Iowa, with state Rep. Josh Turek announcing a run on Tuesday to become the fifth major Democratic candidate in the race.

Turek, who represents Council Bluffs in far western Iowa in the state House, is a former Paralympian who won two gold medals in wheelchair basketball as part of Team USA. He announced his run with a two-minute video in which he casts himself as an underdog who’s managed to win in Trump territory.

Turek joins four already-announced candidates: State Sen. Zach Wahls; Jackie Norris, the chair of the Des Moines School Board and a former chief of staff to then-first lady Michelle Obama; former professional baseball player and State Sen. J.D. Scholten and Nathan Sage, an Iraq War veteran who chairs the Chamber of Commerce in the tiny town of Knoxville.

The size of the field reflects Democrats’ optimism that the backlash to President Donald Trump’s second term could be large enough to give them a fighting chance in a state he won by 13 percentage points in 2024. It also highlights the party’s ongoing uncertainty about the best pathways to compete in red territory.

The five candidates are taking distinct approaches: Norris is emphasizing her background as a teacher and education issues; Sage and Scholten are both running as populists; Wahls, age 34, is promising to be part of a “new generation” of Democrats; and Turek is emphasizing his past electoral successes.

There are clear through lines: All five candidates are attacking Ernst for her support of the GOP budget that combined slashes to Medicaid with tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy. Multiple candidates mentioned Ernst’s “we are all going to die” response at a town hall in their launch videos.

Ernst has hired a campaign manager, but some Republicans in Washington, D.C., still believe she could choose not to run for a third term after briefly clashing with Trump over the nomination of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It’s not clear who the GOP could run if Ernst decides to bow out.

Republicans have a 53-47 advantage in the Senate. While the political environment in the midterms is expected to favor Democrats, their pickup opportunities beyond North Carolina and Maine are unclear. Iowa is one of several states in the next tier of opportunities, along with similarly red Texas and Ohio.