Hinson, Turek tangle in fierce final Iowa Senate debate

Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) and state Rep. Josh Turek (D) squared off in a heated second and final debate for the open Iowa Senate seat on Tuesday.

The pair, who clashed in their first debate last week, are locked in a toss-up race for outgoing Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R) seat in the upper chamber. Election forecasters have moved the race in the ruby red state in Democrats’ favor, as Republicans face tough political headwind this cycle.

A Democrat has not been elected to the upper chamber since 2008, and the pair are neck-and-neck in the latest polls . Hinson is narrowly seen as the favorite to win in November, according to Decision Desk HQ .

The debate, hosted by Nexstar affiliate WHO 13 in Des Moines, largely focused on hot-button issues such as affordability and the war in Iran while the pair leaned on their usual attack points from the campaign trail. Nexstar also owns The Hill.

Notably, Hinson criticized President Trump’s diesel deal with Russia, joining a growing chorus of GOP lawmakers condemning the move. Farm states, like Iowa, have been hit hard as diesel prices have soared amid the war in Iran.

“We need to lower gas prices in this country. We need to lower diesel prices, but I don’t think we need to be making a deal with Russia to do it,” Hinson said Tuesday, arguing the U.S. should instead lower the federal gas tax and consider a rebate program.

Hinson, who is endorsed by the president , has broken with Trump on some policy priorities on the campaign trail. Last month, she spoke out against the war in Iran, calling for an end to the months-long conflict.

Turek agreed with Hinson and expressed opposition to the president’s deal with Moscow but quickly hammered the House Republican’s votes against a war powers resolution to rein in the war in Iran.

“We are in this situation because of this unnecessary war in Iran that Ashley Hinson voted in favor of continuing seven times,” he said. “This has led to gas prices going up in Iowa more than almost any other state.”

Tuesday’s debate took a testy turn as attention shifted to the candidates’ personal finances and voting records.

“We have a corruption crisis that’s leading to an affordability crisis because we’re sending people like Ashley Hinson up to D.C. not to fight for the people of Iowa but to go up there and to make themselves more wealthy and to look out for the billionaires,” Turek said Tuesday.

Attack ads opposing Hinson have focused on her personal wealth, while the House Republican has sought to underscore her support for a congressional stock trading ban.

Turek has zeroed in on her growing wealth in Congress, particularly her husband’s 2021 sale of his insurance agency to a private equity company.

Hinson said Tuesday that she doesn’t own any publicly traded stocks, which is reflected in her personal financial disclosure filed in August, though she and her husband do report a list of mutual funds and ETFs.

“His lies are beneath him on this race, and he’s muddying the water because he does not want to talk about his own liberal record here,” Hinson responded, adding that the Democrat is “too liberal for Iowa.”

Hinson’s personal financial disclosure report shows that her spouse, Matt Arenholz, owns privately held stock from High Street Insurance Partners valued between $1 million and $5 million. The firm bought out the insurance company that Arenholz co-owned, according to PolitiFact. He received part of the sale.

“My husband sold his business, and private stock is not trading stock,” Hinson said after she was pressed again on the issue.

Hinson, meanwhile, took aim at Turek’s attendance record in the state legislature this session, saying “I’ve done more town halls than the percentage of time he showed up to work this year.”

“Forty-two percent of the time is all Rep. Turek showed up to work this year, and that’s two out of every five days of work,” Hinson said. “And I think Iowans, if you’re watching tonight, you should know if you don’t show up to work two out of five days, you’re not getting a promotion, you’re getting fired.”

PolitiFact found that the state lawmaker had missed 261 House floor votes out of 445 votes between Jan. 12 and April 2. PolitiFact noted that the number only includes votes before the full House and not committee or subcommittee votes.

An analysis of Turek’s attendance record by KTIV in August showed that the state lawmaker had missed 58 percent of votes on the House floor.

Turek acknowledged missing the votes when pressed, chalking it up to a busy campaign schedule.

“I’m out campaigning. I’m out meeting Iowans all over all 99 counties,” Turek said. “I’ve done hundreds of in-person town halls.”