Josh Turek is trying to turn an unlikely personal story into a Democratic route to the US Senate in Iowa, a state that has not elected a Democrat to the chamber for 18 years.
The 47-year-old former Paralympic basketball player faces Republican congresswoman Ashley Hinson in one of the most closely watched Senate contests of the 2026 election. Although Iowa voted for Donald Trump by more than 13 points in 2024, independent analysts now regard the race as competitive, with the Cook Political Report recently moving it from Lean Republican to a toss-up. ([washingtonpost.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/08/20/cook-political-report-shifts-senate-races-texas-iowa-leftward-toss-up/?utm_source=openai))
At the Iowa State Fair, Mr Turek moved through the crowded midway in his wheelchair, past the rides and food stalls, before stopping at a basketball game called Hot Shot.
He missed his first four attempts. Then he tried again.
His fifth shot struck the front rim, bounced off the back and dropped through the hoop. The next went in as well. He chose a plush steer as his prize.
“Once I’m warm, I’m good,” he said.
The moment captured the qualities that supporters believe could make Mr Turek a formidable candidate: persistence, sporting discipline and an ability to appeal beyond the Democratic base.
He describes himself as a “common-sense prairie populist” rather than a standard liberal Democrat. He was once a registered Republican and voted for George W Bush in his first presidential election. He now says he is prepared to work with anyone, including Mr Trump.
Mr Turek also points to the occasions when he has voted alongside Republicans in the Iowa state legislature. During two terms in the state House, he was regarded as one of its more bipartisan and effective members, while opposing measures on school vouchers, restrictions on gender-affirming care and limits on books dealing with LGBTQ issues.
At the same time, he supported Republican-backed measures including tougher prison sentences for repeat serious offenders and a proposal to make illegal immigration a state crime.
That record has left Ms Hinson with a difficult target. She has sought to portray Mr Turek as more liberal than he claims and has accused him of missing too many votes, calling him “an absentee legislator”.
From spina bifida to Paralympic gold
Mr Turek was born in Council Bluffs, western Iowa, with spina bifida. He underwent more than 20 operations during his childhood and eventually began using a wheelchair at the age of 10.
His family had limited money. His father worked as a recruiter for a technical school and his mother was a county case worker. The children shared clothes, ate free school lunches and relied on inexpensive meals at home.
Mr Turek was bullied and spent part of middle school living with a great-aunt in Missouri. When he returned to Council Bluffs for high school, he joined the student council, school newspaper and Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, despite having few classmates attend his graduation party.
Basketball became his escape and then his career. He played wheelchair basketball at Southwest Minnesota State University, where he became a four-time All-American and scored more than 4,000 points.
After professional spells in Italy and Spain, he was repeatedly cut from the United States team before eventually winning bronze at the 2012 Paralympics in London. He then helped the US take gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and again in Tokyo in 2021.
“I don’t want basketball to be the be-all, end-all of my story,” he said after Tokyo.
His route into politics began in earnest after he returned to Iowa. He was first elected to the state House in 2022, winning by six votes, and was re-elected two years later by nearly 600.
He has described the difficulties of campaigning in a wheelchair, including pulling himself and his chair up porches and steps to reach voters. When people ask how he reached a house, he tells them: “I dragged my wheelchair up here. That’s how important your vote is.”
A Democratic chance in Republican Iowa
National Democrats rallied behind Mr Turek during the primary, which he won in June. His supporters include former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, Senator Tammy Duckworth and Tom Harkin, Iowa’s last Democratic senator.
Former president Barack Obama later endorsed him in a video featuring the pair playing a basketball version of the game H-O-R-S-E. Mr Obama described Mr Turek as “a man of character” and said he knew how to win. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/571bcd5377eca160eac686f57875f663?utm_source=openai))
The endorsement was shown at a Democratic gathering in Clear Lake, where hundreds of people stood and cheered as Mr Turek made his way on to the stage.
His campaign has focused on the cost of living, healthcare and the impact of Republican policies on working families. At the state fair, he accused Ms Hinson of supporting Mr Trump’s tariffs, the war in Iran and legislation that he said had made healthcare harder to obtain for some Iowans.
Ms Hinson, a former local news anchor and three-term congresswoman, is seeking to present herself as a pragmatic Republican while tying Mr Turek to the national Democratic Party.
He is trailing her in fundraising and some polls have shown him behind. But the race has tightened enough for Cook Political Report to classify it as a toss-up, a significant shift in a state where Republicans have dominated federal elections in recent years.
Mr Turek’s supporters argue that his appeal lies less in polished political performance than in the life voters can see in front of them: an athlete who kept trying after repeated rejection, a state representative who won his first election by six votes and a candidate who is willing to navigate Iowa one difficult step, ramp or staircase at a time.
