CEDAR RAPIDS, IA — Iowa Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson came up short against Democrat Josh Turek in Tuesday’s midterm election in one of several Democrat upsets this cycle.
“While tonight’s outcome was not the one that we wanted, I am so deeply proud of our campaign’s fight, and I am just eternally grateful to everyone who helped make that happen,” Hinson told supporters after Tuesday’s loss.
Decision Desk HQ called the race just after 11 PM ET, putting Iowa among the ranks of Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas of states that flipped from red to blue.
Turek has served in the Iowa state House since 2023 and has voted on legislation that allows men to use women’s bathrooms and another bill that would allow public school children to change their gender identities without their parents’ knowledge or consent.
But Turek ran his Senate campaign as a moderate, hiding his legislative record from voters and presenting himself to voters as a “prairie populist.”
“Josh and I, to put it mildly, disagree a lot,” Hinson said to supporters after Tuesday’s loss. “But tonight I hope we can agree on this: that the campaign is behind us, and the work of serving the people of Iowa remains ahead.”
Going into Tuesday night, Cook Political Report labeled the race a toss-up, and polls showed the race in a dead heat, with a RealClear Polling average putting the race at a tie. Some polls showed Turek ahead by 5 points, while others showed Hinson leading by 2 points.
The last Iowa Democrat Senator was Tom Harkin, who served from 1985 until his retirement in 2015 when he was succeeded by Joni Ernst.
Hinson has served in the U.S. House since 2021, where she worked on legislation including this year’s bipartisan Farm Bill that delivered needed funding for Iowa farmers.
In the final weeks before the election, President Trump made two campaign appearances in the Hawkeye State campaigning for Hinson. In late October, Hinson appeared at a Sioux City rally with the president where she said as a representative, she asked him “for a lot of things for Iowa.”
Trump also held a final rally in Iowa the weekend before Election Day, touting the work of Republican leadership.
But Trump’s extensive travel schedule over the last month was not enough to push many Republican candidates across the line.
“Candidate quality matters, and President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves,” a White House official told Townhall Tuesday night.
Regardless, Democrats walked away with the decisive victory on Tuesday, in Iowa and nationwide.
“Anyone who voted Democrat today is going to have a serious case of buyers remorse when gas prices come down quickly when the Iran conflict is solved but they’re still stuck with a list of liberal extremist Democrats,” a White House official told Townhall.
But, Hinson told supporters, despite Tuesday’s results, she isn’t done fighting, saying she still wants future generations to “have the American dream.”
“Never underestimate a mom on a mission. Never count her out,” Hinson said. “The fight for common sense is far from over.”