Iowa state representative Josh Turek won the Democratic nomination for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat in a victory for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other members of the party establishment.
Turek defeated state Sen. Zach Wahls, who drew criticism during his campaign for attacking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States. He will face Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).
Wahls regularly brought up Schumer and pledged to oppose him in the next Congress, but Turek said that the Democratic leader wasn’t an issue.
“I’m not running against Schumer,” Turek said, according to the Washington Post. “I’m running against Ashley Hinson and Trump.”
Turek was born with spina bifida and was a gold medalist in the Paralympics, playing wheelchair basketball.
Republicans sought to tie Turek to Schumer once the primary results were in.
“Schumer shill Josh Turek is a radical leftist and weak candidate, who had to be rescued by D.C. Democrats just to win a primary against a nobody,” Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters stated.
“He will get crushed at the ballot box by Ashley Hinson, who has proven she is a fighter for Iowa farmers and families,” he stated.
Schumer, meanwhile, joined fellow Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, in cheering Turek’s victory.
“His nomination puts the Iowa Senate seat firmly in play, and in November, Iowans will reject Ashley Hinson’s self-serving politics and send Josh Turek to the U.S. Senate,” the lawmakers stated.
“We are in an even stronger position to win the majority, and in November, we will flip the Senate,” they said.
The Cook Political Report gives Hinson a slight edge in the general election. Iowa is one of the Republican-leaning states Democrats are targeting as they hope to regain control of the Senate this fall.
