On Tuesday, State Rep. Josh Turek entered the race for the 2026 Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. In his announcement video, the Council Bluffs native and Paralympic gold medalist centers his status as an “underdog” — in sports, politics and life.
Turek was born with spina bifida, “caused by my dad’s exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam,” he explains in the video. He underwent 21 surgeries by the age of 12, and has used a wheelchair since he was little.
“I wouldn’t have gotten that far without VA health coverage from my dad’s service, free summer lunch programs when my parents were struggling, and the local AEA that made sure that I had access to a good education,” he says, adding that Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who authored and sponsored the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, “made sure that the doors were open for kids like me.”
“Now, the senator from Iowa is just closing doors … and her explanation?” Turek’s video then cuts to the infamous clip of Sen. Joni Ernst at a May 30 town hall, saying, “Well, we all are going to die.”
Turek represents District 20 in the Iowa House, which sits along the Missouri River and encompasses Council Bluffs. The district had been represented by Republicans for a decade when Turek was first elected in 2022 in a race he won by just six votes, which was confirmed by a recount. In 2024, his margin of victory swelled to 560 votes.
“I wasn’t supposed to be able to win a state House seat that Trump won twice,” he says in the video, titled “Underdog.” “But I campaigned just like I played basketball: outworking everyone, pushing the hills, crawling the stairs, all just to have a conversation with everyday Iowans. Did not matter the party.”
Turek is described as a “common-sense, bipartisan legislator” on his campaign site. He supports public education, opposing Iowa’s school voucher scheme and “broken health care system.”
“He is a strong proponent of meaningful and effective environmental protection – especially the air, food, and water we all rely on,” the site reads.
Turek has played basketball at Council Bluff’s Abraham Lincoln High School, Southwest Minnesota State University — from which he graduated with an MBA and the school’s scoring record — and for Team USA at four different Paralympic Games. As a member of the U.S. men’s national wheelchair basketball squad, Turek finished seventh in 2004, earned bronze in 2012, and took home gold in both 2016 and 2020.
As a professional athlete, Turek also served as the volunteer director for the Ryan Martin Foundation, a nonprofit providing resources and mentoring to youth and adult athletes with disabilities.
Turek is the fifth Democratic candidate to enter the race for Ernst’s Senate seat, joining Nathan Sage, state Rep. J.D. Scholten, state Sen. Zach Wahls and Jackie Norris, chair of the Des Moines School Board. Two Republican candidates have also announced primary challenges to Ernst: Joshua Smith, a former Libertarian candidate, and Jim Carlin, who believes Ernst isn’t conservative enough.
Whether the embattled Ernst will run for another term is still unconfirmed. If she decides not to run, it is expected U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson will step into the race. However, the senator has hired a campaign manager and sounded revved up to run at an event in Urbandale on Wednesday. According to reporting from the Iowa Capital Dispatch, Ernst encouraged members of the Westside Conservative Club to “turn out, turn out, turn out” in November 2026 and “put the Democrats in their place.”
“Every day we get a new Democratic member of the House or Senate that decides to run for this Senate seat — bring it on,” Ernst said. “Bring it on, folks. Because I tell you, at the end of the day, Iowa is going to be red.”