Josh Turek

Professional background

Two-time Paralympic gold medalist for Team USA in wheelchair basketball; volunteer director for the Ryan Martin Foundation; worked with a wheelchair and mobility assistance company.

Public service

Iowa State Representative (present).

Military service

None

In this race

• Ashley Hinson (Republican)

Related research

• Josh Turek Missed Most of His Iowa House Votes While Running for Senate

Issue positions

Healthcare (Policy)

Turek does not call for Medicare for All, but his platform supports a public healthcare option, restoring Affordable Care Act subsidies, reversing Medicaid cuts in the 2025 Republican budget law, expanding Medicare drug negotiation, capping prescription drug costs, regulating pharmacy benefit managers, expanding telehealth, protecting rural hospitals, and paid family leave. Despite claiming he wants to increase aid to rural hospitals, he opposed the Working Families Tax Cut bill, which provided $209 million for rural health care for Iowa. Expanding ACA subsidies, creating a public option, broadening paid leave, and increasing Medicaid support would require new spending or taxes unless offset elsewhere. Turek says he would pay by closing loopholes for corporations and billionaires, but his platform does not provide specific details. Turek also supports codifying Roe v. Wade, protecting contraception and IVF, and repealing Iowa’s six-week abortion ban. That would override state abortion restrictions and shift more authority to Washington, a potentially divisive position in Iowa. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Turek’s healthcare platform would expand federal involvement in insurance, Medicaid, prescription drugs, rural hospitals, disability care, and abortion policy. He says it would protect Iowa families and providers, but it would also mean more spending, more federal control, and less state authority."

Taxes (Policy)

Turek calls himself a “prairie populist” and campaigns on cutting loopholes for billionaires and large corporations, strengthening Social Security by making billionaires “pay their fair share,” and repealing cuts to SNAP. Turek opposed the Working Families Tax Cuts, which provided a historic $82 million in tax cuts for working Americans. Turek’s plan to remove the Social Security payroll tax cap would expose all wage income above $184,500 (the 2026 cap) to the 12.4% OASDI payroll tax split between employer and employee, and would mean a significant tax increase for higher-earning professionals, small business owners, and farm operators. Since Social Security benefits are calculated as a percentage of lifetime contributions, however, high earners could also receive substantially larger benefit payouts. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Turek’s tax agenda would raise taxes on high earners and businesses while reversing recent tax cuts and expanding federal benefits. His Social Security proposal would impose a significant new payroll-tax burden on professionals, small-business owners, and farmers, while potentially creating larger future benefit obligations that reduce its long-term fiscal payoff."

Environment & Energy (Policy)

Turek’s environmental platform focuses less on broad climate policy and more on water quality, cancer rates, chemical pollution, and agricultural runoff. He supports increased funding for water-quality monitoring, tougher enforcement against companies that contaminate drinking water, restoring National Institutes of Health cancer-research funding, and stronger protections for air, food, and water. Those issues are especially relevant in Iowa, which has reported unusually high cancer rates and growing concern over nitrate contamination in drinking water. Turek’s proposals would likely increase federal monitoring and enforcement, potentially helping communities facing contamination and filtration costs. However, stricter standards could also impose significant new expenses on farmers, chemical manufacturers, utilities, and local governments. On energy, Turek takes a less aggressive approach than candidates who support sweeping Green New Deal-style policies. He does not campaign on banning gas-powered vehicles or rapidly eliminating fossil fuels, instead framing environmental policy around public health and water quality. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Turek’s environmental agenda would expand federal oversight of Iowa’s water, pollution, and public-health issues. While that could strengthen protections for residents, it could also bring higher regulatory and compliance costs for agriculture, businesses, and rural communities."

Immigration (Policy)

Turek supports amnesty for illegal immigrants and says the immigration system is “broken.” His campaign calls for stronger border security alongside legalization, notes that his wife immigrated to the United States before becoming a citizen, and says immigrants who enter illegally and commit crimes should be deported. He also supports stronger efforts to stop fentanyl trafficking. At the same time, Turek calls for greater “regulation and accountability for ICE agents,” voted against DHS funding in the Iowa Legislature, and said ICE should be reformed before receiving more money. During his Senate campaign, he went further, saying he would not vote for any DHS funding. That creates a conflict in his platform. Border security, deportations, and fentanyl enforcement depend heavily on DHS agencies such as ICE and Customs and Border Protection. Refusing to fund the department without offering a detailed replacement or reform plan could reduce staffing, detention capacity, deportations, and border enforcement. Turek also provides few details on his pathway-to-citizenship proposal, including who would qualify, whether applicants would owe fines or back taxes, or whether stronger enforcement would come before legalization. CBO found that the post-2021 immigration surge cost state and local governments a net $9.2 billion in 2023, largely through higher spending on schools, shelters, and border security. New reporting shows it also increased home prices in the United States. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Turek promises stronger border security while supporting legalization and threatening to withhold DHS funding. Without a detailed reform or enforcement plan, his agenda risks weakening the agencies responsible for carrying out the border-security policies he says he supports."

Public Safety (Policy)

Turek has advocated for what he calls “common sense gun reforms,” including expanded background checks and drawing a distinction between hunting rifles and firearms he describes as “weapons of war.” That language suggests he would support additional restrictions on certain semiautomatic firearms, potentially placing new limits on weapons commonly owned by law-abiding gun owners. Turek is not campaigning on defunding police or abolishing law-enforcement agencies. Instead, his public-safety platform focuses on fentanyl interdiction, deporting immigrants who commit crimes, protecting protest rights, and imposing greater accountability on ICE agents. But Turek provides little detail on traditional law-enforcement issues. He has not laid out a substantial agenda on violent crime, repeat offenders, sentencing, prosecutors, police recruitment and retention, or federal support for local departments. That leaves voters with little sense of how he would approach many of the public-safety issues that directly affect Iowa communities. He is also more specific about restricting and reforming federal immigration enforcement than about strengthening local police and prosecutors. For a candidate who presents himself as a bipartisan Democrat from a Republican-leaning district, that imbalance raises questions about whether his moderate image extends to criminal-justice policy. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Turek does not support defunding police, but his law-enforcement platform is notably underdeveloped and focuses more on regulating ICE than supporting local police and prosecutors. His limited public-safety agenda leaves unanswered questions about how he would address violent crime, repeat offenders, and broader law-enforcement needs."

Economy & Labor (Policy)

Turek supports raising the minimum wage and adjusting it to inflation, passing the PRO Act, protecting collective bargaining, banning Wall Street private equity firms from buying single-family homes and farmland, simplifying affordable-housing permitting, lowering child-care costs, cracking down on monopolies, and expanding apprenticeships. Iowa follows the federal $7.25 minimum wage. Raising it would increase earnings for many low-wage workers. However, the CBO’s 2021 analysis of a $15 federal minimum wage estimated roughly 1.4 million fewer workers would be employed and the federal deficit would increase by $54 billion in a 10-year period. Additionally, the PRO Act would cost businesses $47 billion each year and would be funded by a $2 trillion tax hike. Heritage notes that the bill would preempt state right-to-work protections and broaden employee classification, changes with particular significance in right-to-work Iowa. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Turek’s labor agenda would raise the minimum wage, expand union power, and increase federal intervention in housing and business practices. While some workers could benefit from higher pay, his policies could reduce employment, increase deficits, weaken Iowa’s right-to-work protections, and impose substantial new costs on employers."

Public Education (Policy)

Turek is a strong supporter of public education and a vocal opponent of school choice vouchers. As state representative, Turek sponsored legislation to repeal Iowa’s voucher program and increase transparency around nonpublic school accreditation. In the Senate, he says he would end vouchers, restore Department of Education funding, increase public-school funding, and protect Area Education Agencies. Turek argues public dollars should stay in public schools, saying school choice vouchers “benefit the richest” and are a “waste” of taxpayer money. But Turek’s platform does not address why some families want public school alternatives, including concerns about curriculum, safety, special education, or academic performance. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Turek would move education policy back toward traditional public-school funding and away from vouchers. That will appeal to teachers and many rural districts, while school-choice supporters will call it a rollback of parental control."

Democracy & Campaign Finance (Policy)

Turek supports banning corporate PAC money, passing the DISCLOSE Act, reversing Citizens United through a constitutional amendment, setting term limits for members of Congress and Supreme Court justices, banning congressional stock trading, enforcing Supreme Court ethics rules, and requiring annual town halls. Turek has campaigned on keeping billionaires out of elections and politics. However, The Washington Post reported that VoteVets, a liberal political action committee, spent more than $10 million supporting him even though Turek is not a veteran. Additionally, in the most recent fundraising period, Turek accepted donations from several billionaires, including Jonathan and Jennifer Soros and an associate of Jeffrey Epstein. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Turek campaigns on reducing the influence of billionaires, PACs, and special interests in politics, but his own campaign has benefited from more than $8 million in outside PAC spending and contributions from several billionaire donors. That contrast undercuts his reform message and gives critics an opening to argue that his rhetoric does not match the financial support behind his campaign."

Foreign Policy (Policy)

Turek’s foreign-policy profile remains underdeveloped. On Israel and Gaza, he acknowledges Israel as a U.S. ally but supports restricting American aid if he believes it contributes to civilian casualties or limits humanitarian assistance. That raises questions about whether conditioning aid could weaken a key U.S. ally during an ongoing regional security threat. His platform focuses more heavily on veterans than on broader national-security strategy. Turek supports protecting and expanding the PACT Act, addressing veteran homelessness, maintaining VA staffing and healthcare, and ending what he considers unnecessary wars. He also favors restricting the deployment of Iowa National Guard members into active combat without a congressional declaration of war. While intended to restrain open-ended military involvement, such limitations could reduce presidential flexibility during fast-moving international crises. Turek has also offered little detail on China, Russia, Ukraine, Iran, NATO, defense spending, or economic and trade security. His emphasis on avoiding military intervention is clear, but without a corresponding strategy for deterrence, restraint risks becoming weakness when confronting hostile governments and terrorist organizations. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Turek favors limiting military commitments and placing greater conditions on U.S. involvement abroad, but he has not articulated a comprehensive national-security strategy. His reluctance toward intervention, without clear plans for deterring adversaries or supporting allies, leaves significant questions about how he would protect American interests overseas."

Culture Issues (Policy)

As a state representative, Turek has consistently opposed restrictions on gender-transition policies and school gender rules. In 2023, he voted against Iowa legislation prohibiting certain gender-transition procedures for minors, including surgeries and other medical interventions. Additionally, Turek opposed requirements that school employees notify parents about their child’s gender identity. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Turek’s record on social issues combines opposition to restrictions on gender-transition procedures and school gender policies. Critics would argue that his approach gives government institutions greater discretion over children while placing additional restrictions on parental authority."

Sources (Reference)

◆ Healthcare
• Josh Turek Campaign — Platform
• Congressional Budget Office — Federal Budget and Economic Analysis

◆ Immigration
• Josh Turek Campaign — Platform
• Josh Turek — Statement on ICE Funding
• RNC Research — Turek on DHS Funding
• Congressional Budget Office — Immigration Surge Effects
• Congressional Budget Office — Immigration Policy Estimate
• New York Post — Immigration and Housing Prices

◆ Economy & Labor
• Congressional Budget Office — Federal Minimum-Wage Estimate
• Americans for Tax Reform — PRO Act Tax Analysis
• House Committee on Education and the Workforce — PRO Act One-Pager
• Heritage Foundation — PRO Act Analysis

◆ Public Education
• Iowa Legislature — House File 199
• Iowa Legislature — House File 251

◆ Democracy & Campaign Finance
• Washington Post — VoteVets Spending in Iowa Senate Primary
• Federal Election Commission — Josh Turek Campaign Filing
• Washington Post — Iowa Primary Analysis

◆ Culture Issues
• LegiScan — Iowa Senate File 538 Roll Call
• Iowa Legislature — House Floor Vote