Democrat Josh Turek won Iowa's open U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday, beating Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson for the seat Joni Ernst is giving up. Turek had 50.8% of the vote with 92% of results in, in a state that voted for President Donald Trump three times.
Iowa was one of seven Republican-held seats Democrats won Tuesday night, along with Maine, where Sen. Susan Collins conceded to Troy Jackson. The Senate's party division going into the election was 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and 2 independents who vote with Democrats. Seven pickups give the Democratic side a Senate majority in January.
How Iowa's race was won
Republicans had held the seat for 12 years. Ernst announced last fall that she would not seek a third term, and Trump endorsed Hinson soon after she entered the race. Hinson, a former TV journalist, started as the front-runner.
It ranked among the country's costliest races. The two campaigns spent over $30 million, outside groups added more than $100 million, and Turek outraised Hinson in the last fundraising quarter. Hinson called him "too liberal" for Iowa and pointed to how few floor votes he cast in the Iowa House during the last legislative session, while Turek, who calls himself a "prairie populist," campaigned hard on health care reform.
Who Josh Turek is
Turek is a state representative from Council Bluffs and a two-time Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball. He has spina bifida.
In the Senate he will serve alongside Iowa's senior senator, Republican Chuck Grassley. With a Democratic majority, his vote counts toward deciding which of Trump's judicial and Cabinet nominees get confirmed, a power the Constitution gives to the Senate alone.
Iowa Democrats also elected Rob Sand governor. New senators are sworn in when the next Congress convenes in January.
