Iowa Democrat Josh Turek Now Runs Against Men in Women's Sports. His Votes Tell a Different Story

Josh Turek, the Democrat running for Iowa's open U.S. Senate seat, went up with a new TV ad this weekend that sounds like it came out of the Republican playbook. Nine days out, the two-time Paralympic gold medalist is telling Iowans he opposes "males competing in female sports" and taxpayer-paid sex changes.

Here's the full script, word for word from the 30-second spot: "As a kid in a wheelchair, I faced my share of bullying. That's why I believe that no Iowan should face discrimination. As a Paralympian, I also know it's important to have rules. It's why I oppose males competing in female sports, something that is already illegal in Iowa. I'm against taxpayers paying for sex changes, too. Anyone tells you any different is lying."

That last line is a dare. His opponent, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson, took it.

Hinson pulls the receipts

Saturday night Hinson quoted the ad and fired back with three links straight to the Iowa Legislature's own vote records.

"You voted to let kids secretly change their gender pronouns at school without telling their parents," she wrote. "You voted to allow taxpayer-funded Medicaid coverage of sex-change surgeries. And you couldn't even be bothered to show up to vote to ban gender-transition surgeries for kids." Her closer: "Josh — you lie like an East Coast Liberal and vote like one too."

So we pulled the roll calls ourselves. Every one of her charges checks out.

What the record actually says

The kids' surgery ban. On March 8, 2023, the Iowa House passed Senate File 538, which bans gender-transition procedures for minors, 58 to 39. The House Journal for that day lists three members as absent or not voting. Turek is one of them.

The pronoun bill. On April 20, 2023, the House passed Senate File 496, the parental rights law that makes schools tell parents when a child asks to go by a different name or pronouns. It passed 57 to 38. Turek voted no.

The Medicaid ban. On May 13, 2025, the House passed House File 1049, the state's health and human services budget. Section 14 says Medicaid money "shall not be used for reimbursement for sex reassignment surgery or associated procedures, including hormone therapy." It passed 63 to 28, and the roll call puts Turek among the no votes. To be fair to him, that was a vote on an entire budget bill, not a stand-alone ban. But when the ban was on the board, he voted against the bill that carried it.

There's a fourth vote Hinson didn't even mention. On Feb. 27, 2025, the House passed Senate File 418, which writes plain definitions of male and female into Iowa law and takes gender identity out of the state civil rights act. That's the legal footing girls' sports rules stand on. It passed 60 to 36. Turek voted no.

The law he's taking credit for

Turek is right about one thing. Males in girls' sports is already illegal in Iowa. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed House File 2416 on March 3, 2022, limiting girls' and women's teams at Iowa schools and colleges to actual girls and women.

But Turek had nothing to do with it. He wasn't in the Legislature yet. The Iowa General Assembly's own records date his first official photo to Jan. 9, 2023, ten months after Republicans passed the law. Pointing to a Republican law to prove you're a moderate is like a guy who skipped the barn raising bragging about how sturdy the barn is.

In Washington, the same fight has a clean roll call. On Jan. 14, 2025, the House passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, H.R. 28, 218 to 206. Hinson voted yes.

Why it matters

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst announced in September 2025 that she won't run again, so this is an open seat Republicans have to hold to keep the Senate, and both sides are spending like it. AdImpact, which tracks political ad buys, shows $18 million in future TV reservations on the Democratic side against $15.5 million for Republicans.

And look at what the Democrat chose to put on the air. Not climate. Not abortion. A promise to keep males out of female sports and keep taxpayers from paying for sex changes. That's the clearest sign yet that the women's sports fight is over in the court of public opinion. When Democrats in a Trump state run on our side of the issue, the only question left is whether you believe the ad or the voting record.

Iowans vote Nov. 3. The record isn't going anywhere.