In A Wave Cycle, Iowa Doesn’t Need Another Schumer-Approved, GOP-Lite Careerist

Schumer’s Endless Mistake: Picking The Wrong Democrats For The Wrong Reasons

3 great Dems to take on Joni Ernst?

Obama won Iowa both times he ran, with 53.9% in 2008 and with 52% in 2012. In 2016, Trump beat Hillary by 10 points and in 2020 he beat Biden by around the same margin. Last year he did even better against Kamala— 55.7 to 42.5%. She only won 5 counties, the worst of any Democratic candidate. But Iowans have fallen out of love with Trump. Last month, 24/7 Wall Street reported that Trump’s net approve in Iowa is now slightly underwater (48.0% approving and 49.3% disapproving), quite the difference compared to his 13.2% margin of victory less than a year ago. Last week, USA Today reported Trump’s approval in every state and, spoiler alert, it was just 49% in Iowa:

Alabama- 62%

Alaska- 49%

Arizona- 50%

Arkansas- 61%

California- 33%

Colorado- 39%

Connecticut- 40%

Delaware- 36%

Florida- 53%

Georgia- 46%

Hawaii- 26%

Idaho- 66%

Illinois- 37%

Indiana- 57%

Iowa- 49%

Kansas- 57%

Kentucky- 59%

Louisiana- 56%

Maine- 40%

Maryland- 30%

Massachusetts- 32%

Michigan- 47%

Minnesota- 43%

Mississippi- 57%

Missouri- 54%

Montana- 56%

Nebraska- 54%

Nevada- 47%

New Hampshire- 41%

New Jersey- 40%

New Mexico- 45%

New York- 38%

North Carolina- 47%

North Dakota- 67%

Ohio- 50%

Oklahoma- 63%

Oregon- 37%

Pennsylvania- 46%

Rhode Island- 36%

South Carolina- 55%

South Dakota- 58%

Tennessee- 59%

Texas- 50%

Utah- 56%

Vermont- 26%

Virginia- 42%%

Washington- 36%

West Virginia- 68%

Wisconsin- 45%

Wyoming- 69%

So back to Iowa for a minute. The incumbent senator, Joni Ernst isn’t very popular and may not even run. Iowans watched her take a strong, quasi-principled position against Pete Hegseth’s nomination and then watched her vote to confirm him— the pivotal vote— when Trump barked at her. Not long after that she gave a snarky response— “We are all going to die”— to a constituent worried about Medicaid cuts.

This has all drawn a lot of interest from Democrats in a state that was thought, inaccurately, be “deep red.” But instead of a gaggle of the kind of consultant-driven establishment shills the Iowa Democratic Party has been putting up in recent years, it looked like a contest was forming up between three good progressives, best of all, our old friend state Rep J.D. Scholten, former marine Nathan Sage and state Sen. Zach Wahls. 

Then last week, one of the kinds of Democrats who always lose in Iowa, consultant Jackie Norris, a former chief of staff for Michelle Obama and a “moderate,” jumped into the race. If that wasn’t bad enough, Schumer and the DSCC have recruited a conservative-leaning, two-term state Rep from Council Bluffs, Josh Turek, who’s declaring his candidacy today. He has a powerful personal story, but when push comes to shove, he sometimes votes like a Republican— pro-gun, unsupportive of women’s Choice (absenting himself from votes on key legislation to support the right to abortion) and against immigrants (SF 2340 with all the Republicans and just 2 other conservative Democrats).

His defenders say his GOP-aligned record reflects his district, which leans red and where he won by only six votes in 2022. His endorsement by Republican Mayor Matt Walsh and his appeal to Republican voters suggest a “pragmatic” approach that many Democrats with no strong values— like Schumer— admire. One of his colleagues in the legislature, Austin Baeth, told the Des Moines Register that Turek is the “best chance of winning,” which was exactly the argument used to elect Kyrsten Sinema and to support Joe Manchin— and never mind that they scuttled much of the progressive agenda Joe Biden came close to passing and then both left the Democratic Party mid-session and became independents. Baeth: “Josh has been one of the highest-performing Democrats in the state. He has won twice in a district that Trump won. And if you drive around Council Bluffs this last October and November, you’ll see yards that have a Trump sign and a Turek sign next to each other because people see him as more than a politician.”

That’s exactly the problem. Democrats in Iowa have been burned again and again by candidates who run as “one of us” in red-leaning swing districts, only to legislate as “one of them” when the stakes are highest. Great personal story aside, Turek’s record isn’t the profile of a fighter who will stand up to Republican extremism— it’s the résumé of someone who folds to it. And we’ve seen this movie before: the “best chance of winning” candidate who wins, then sides with corporate lobbyists, anti-choice crusaders, and nativists because that’s what “works back home.” It’s how we’ll lose what’s left of a progressive agenda if Schumer and the DSCC keep mistaking Republican-lite for electable.

Democrats in Iowa already have three outstanding progressive candidates ready to take on the GOP— people with vision, backbone, and a record of fighting for working people. And yet Schumer, in all his Beltway arrogance and chronic misreading of the moment, decides Iowa needs a conservative who votes with Republicans on guns and immigration and who calculates that ducking abortion rights votes is better for his career. It’s the same tired playbook that’s been losing rural America for decades: ignore the base, chase mythical “swing” voters, and end up with a candidate who pleases no one but corporate donors.

Iowa doesn’t need another Schumer-approved seat warmer who blends into the GOP caucus. It needs a Democrat— like Sage or Scholten or Wahls— who will call out Republican extremism, stand up for reproductive rights, and fight for immigrant families— not someone who shrinks from the fight and calls it pragmatism. Despite Schumer’s whispered bullshit, Iowa doesn’t need a Democrat who can get a Trump sign in their yard. Iowa needs a Democrat who can take that Trump sign down and replace it with a vision worth fighting for.