Iowa may be suffering the most from the war in Iran, reciprocal Canadian tariffs, and healthcare affordability crisis. Former Paralympian — and current Senate candidate — Josh Turek believes that Iowans deserve better than this from their elected representatives.
Turek joins Jen to discuss Iowans’ reasons for demanding change and how selling out to corporations is the opposite of public service. According to Turek, the harm caused by healthcare cuts — in addition to the lack of support for farmers and the unchecked proliferation of data centers — is fueling the pivot from MAGA in the state.
Josh Turek is the Democratic nominee for Senate in Iowa. He is a two-time Paralympic gold medalist for Team USA and an Iowa State Legislator.
The following transcript has been edited for formatting purposes
Jen Rubin
Hi, this is Jen Rubin, Editor-in-Chief of the Contrarian. I am delighted to have back with us Josh Turek, who, of course, is the Democratic nominee for Senate in Iowa. Josh, welcome!
Josh Turek
Happy to be back with you. Thanks for having me.
Jen Rubin
You are doing very well, at least in the polls. No one has voted. People have to actually vote. Polls don’t vote, as they say. What do you attribute your success so far to?
Josh Turek
Well, I think my state is uniquely hurting, first off. Iowa is one of three states seeing our economy contract. We’re basically dead last for nearly every economic metric, healthcare metric. Just since my opponent, Ashley Hinson, has gone up to DC, we’ve closed 842 healthcare entities in the state. Dead last for mental health providers, mental health supports, OBGYNs, Medicaid reimbursement. And so we’ve got a real crisis of healthcare and a cancer crisis. We’re the only state with a growing cancer rate, second highest rates behind Kentucky. We’ve got a water quality crisis that is largely leading to the cancer crisis. We’ve got public education that was really a point of personal pride for all Iowans, the gold standard, including being in our quarter, foundation and education, and now, because we’re giving public dollars to private schools, precipitously dropped now to the bottom half, and… maybe most importantly, because of the war in Iran and because of the tariffs, we now lead the nation in farm foreclosures, and rural communities, farmers, are really, really hurting, and so they’re ready for change. And you look at the national environment as well. I think Iowans are looking around saying, this is not the state that I grew up in, the state that I knew, and you’ve got someone like Ashley Hinson that has, in 6 years of being up in DC. 15 times more wealthy. She’s voted for cuts to healthcare, food assistance, Social Security Administration, just to give tax breaks to billionaires. Five times voted in favor of the tariffs, and seven times voted in favor of the war that I think the war in Iran has hurt Iowa more than any other state. Iowans are ready for change. They’re ready for a common sense prairie populace that’s going to fight for them, not just for the billionaires.
Jen Rubin
Let me ask you about the war. I’m a little confused. She is a member of Congress. She’s had a chance, I think, to vote on the war 6 or maybe 7 times. 7 times. She has never voted to stop the war, she has voted to defund the war, and now she says Trump should end the war immediately. What does that mean?
Josh Turek
I think somebody ended up seeing some polls, is what happened. I mean, you know, it’s easy to send a tweet. It’s much harder to actually do something about it. I’ve been really clear, you know, this is an issue that’s personal to me. I come from a family of veterans. My father ended up spending 22 months in Vietnam the day after he turned 18, enlisted to serve his country. because of his exposure to Agent Orange is ultimately the reason why I ended up with my disability of spina bifida. I’m an example of the generational consequences to these forever wars. I mean, when the bombs stop, the consequences do not. And in my lifetime, what have I seen? We spent a trillion dollars in Iraq, a trillion dollars in Afghanistan. For what? And here we are again. We spent over $40 billion in Iran. with no strategy, and meanwhile, we’re being told here in Iowa that we don’t have money for schools and roads and hospitals and lead the nation in farm foreclosures. I think you can make an argument that the war in Iran and the tariffs have hurt Iowa more than any other state. We’ve lost 3 Iowans in the conflict. You look at gas prices have gone up more in Iowa since the war began than almost any other state. Diesel prices being at an all time high, especially as farmers are going into, you know, harvesting season. And then you’re looking at input prices for fertilizer, which have dramatically skyrocketed because of the tariffs and the war in Iran. Folks are upset about it. And they should be. And I pledge this to every American and every Iowan. I’m going to do everything I can to immediately end this war in Iran and also keep us out of forever wars, because I’ve seen the consequences personally. First hand.
Jen Rubin
We’re recording this on Monday. This afternoon, Donald Trump is going to announce a huge steel plant that he is suddenly bringing to Iowa. This is just about 5 weeks before Election Day. What is this? Is it ever coming? Do you think it’s gonna be good for Iowa if it arrives? What’s going on?
Josh Turek
Well, we’ll see. You know, the devil’s in the details on this. I can tell you this, that, we certainly can use the jobs. I mean, this is a state, as I said, that has been hurt more, by the tariffs and by the war in Iran than almost any other state. We’re one of three states seeing our economy contract. Our farmers need markets. Commodities prices are upside down. You go into these rural communities, they have absolutely been hollowed out. We’ve lost grocery stores, we’ve lost pharmacies, we’ve lost healthcare clinics and schools because of the votes of people like Ashley Hinson has taken. And so, look, I’m all in favor of jobs, but certainly we need to see what are the specifics in this, and make sure we’ve got protections to property rights and eminent domain, and making sure that we’ve got large multinational corporations that are certainly paying their fair share.
Jen Rubin
One thing that Donald Trump is convinced of is that we do not need to regulate AI. The more data centers, the best, the better. Mike Johnson today said it’s all a Chinese plot to regulate AI. What is your view and what do you think is the best approach for Iowa?
Josh Turek
Well, AI is certainly going to fundamentally alter society. The question is, is this going to be a transformation that is going to benefit everyone, particularly the, you know, the American worker, the working class? Or, is this going to be a continuation of what we have seen, which is making a handful of individuals that are already unbelievably wealthy even more wealthy, and consolidate even more wealth and power to the hands of a few? I think, at least in terms of data centers, we absolutely need some regulations in place. One, we need to stop giving handouts to large multinational corporations. My opponent, Ashley Hinson, $50 billion, you know, tax breaks to these tech companies. No, that’s not what I’m about. Secondly, we need to make sure that there’s guardrails to make sure that this isn’t driving up the energy cost to the average user. Google’s larger data processing center is right outside of my community in Council Bluffs. And I’ve heard over and over from individuals telling me, you know, I’m seeing my energy rates go up. No, we need absolutely protections to ensure that they are not driving up energy rates. And then lastly, especially in a state like Iowa, where we’ve got a cancer crisis being driven by a water quality crisis. We need to ensure that they are not using and abusing our natural resources, like our water. And so I think mandating closed-loop circuit to ensure that. Those are some of the basic levels of protections, but when it comes to AI. There’s a lot that we need to do in a very short time that we need to do it, and we need some common sense regulations in terms of job protections, protections to children, cybersecurity. And even elections. I mean, as I’m here in Iowa, I’m seeing more and more AI campaign content coming out. I mean, there’s even one out there of me walking around. It’s, you know, it’s a lot. This is going to fundamentally change society, and we need folks that are going to go up there. to DC to actually fight for the people, not just always be looking at this through the guise of how can I give more tax breaks to people that are already infinitely wealthy.
Jen Rubin
Healthcare has been one of the defining issues of your entire life. You have had a health crisis, obviously, of your own. You were a recipient of public health benefits. This president and this Congress has cut Medicaid, is cutting Medicare, in order to pay for Tax breaks for the very rich! The big hit to rural health is gonna hit very, very soon, is already being felt in Iowa. What do you think should be done on the healthcare front, and specifically on rural healthcare? What can you do to reverse some of these trends you’ve seen, where you have rural hospitals closing entire communities without, trauma centers, without physicians, without OBGYNs?
Josh Turek
Well, you’re absolutely correct. We’re going through a healthcare crisis here in Iowa. Healthcare is an issue that’s deeply personal to me. I was born with my disability, had my first surgery at one day old, had 21 surgeries by the age of 12, almost all of which took place at Shriners Hospital in Minnesota. It was the only way that my family could afford it. When I joined the legislature, actually, the reason why I got involved in politics is I was working in healthcare. I was assessing and providing mobility devices for individuals with progressive conditions, like muscular dystrophy and ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and what we were seeing was, since the privatization of Medicaid had taken place in Iowa, a thousand percent increase in denial rate. We’ve got 27,000 disabled Iowans that are on Medicaid waitlist, cuts to HCBS. When you go and you speak to, a CEO of a rural hospital, they will tell you Medicaid is their lifeblood. One in five Iowans are on Medicaid, two in five of those are in the rural communities. As I said, just since Ashley Hinson has gone up to DC in 6 years, in a state of only 3.2 million, 842 healthcare entities have closed. 160 pharmacies, largely in rural communities, independents, have closed in the last decade. We’ve got a lot here to deal with, and… Unfortunately, what my opponent Ashley Hinson has supported is for 110,000 Iowans to lose their healthcare with the Big Beautiful Bill, and thousands more to lose basic food assistance just to give tax breaks to billionaires. Including supporting cuts to the Social Security Administration. It is just fundamentally wrong. What I will fight for? A fully funded Medicare, a fully funded Medicaid, bring back the ACA subsidies to ensure that Iowans have the supports they needed, but also. chris ryall: guardrails to insurance companies, because what I’ve seen over and over and over, and my sister’s an example, she ended up getting diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer, and her insurance said, because you’ve got stage 2, not stage 3 or stage 4, we will not cover the PET scan to see if the cancer spread to other parts of your body. No guardrails on insurance companies because they are denying care literally off the backs of the most vulnerable. Doctors should be deciding care, not insurance companies. But I’m someone that believes that healthcare is a human right. I’ve seen too much personal suffering, individuals having to declare medical bankruptcy, divorce or spouse, and would love to be able to fight for a public option in the U.S. Senate to ensure that every Iowan, but every American, has access to a baseline level of healthcare.
Jen Rubin
So if people want to find out more about your campaign, and more important, people want to find out how to vote and where they could vote and ways in which they could vote, what should they do?
Josh Turek
Yeah, all of that is right behind me. Turek for Iowa, T-U-R-E-K, the number four, the word for Iowa.com. The truth is. You know, this is a generational opportunity that we’ve got here in Iowa to be able to win this Senate seat. And if we can win. we can fundamentally, you know, change the state and change the country. We can have someone in the U.S. Senate from Iowa that is fighting for the people, not just for the billionaires of large corporations, or someone like Ashley Hinson voting for cuts to healthcare, food assistance, and Social Security Administration. while supporting tariffs and the war in Iran seven times. just to give tax breaks to billionaires, you’ll have someone in the U.S. Senate, a common-sense prairie populist, fighting for the people, fighting for social and economic justice, fighting for social safety nets like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, always with the guise of what is best for the middle class, what is best for our workers. And so ask for your help, because if we can win here, we’re going to be able to change the country.
Jen Rubin
Well, contrarians, as you know, I have been talking to Josh for months now. When we first started talking, people said, why are you talking about Iowa, Jen? And I said, don’t quit on Iowa. Things are happening there. And Josh has really shown that to be the case. Best of luck. Remember, folks, check your registration. Find out your options for voting. If you can vote early, vote early. Make sure your vote is cast. Thanks so much, Josh. Best of luck and we will follow this race all the way through Election Day. Take care.
Josh Turek
Thank you for the time, really enjoyed it.
