Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist who bills himself as a “commonsense prairie populist,” won the Democratic nomination for the state’s open Senate seat Tuesday.
Turek beat state Sen. Zach Wahls in a contest that symbolized some of the party’s ideological divisions. Wahls ran as an anti-establishment outsider who rejected Senate Democratic leadership and had the backing of progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
Turek will now face Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson, a three-term lawmaker who handily won the GOP primary.
In the contest for governor, three-term Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra conceded the race to farmer Zach Lahn just after 11:30 p.m. Eastern. The Associated Press called the race for Lahn at 12:50 a.m.
Lahn, a political outsider who ran on a “Make America Healthy Again” platform and an “Iowa first” approach to governing, will face the Democratic nominee, state auditor Rob Sand.
