Republican Senate nominee Ashley Hinson is hammering Democratic opponent Josh Turek for skipping nearly 60% of Iowa House votes this session, all while pocketing more than $20,000 in taxpayer-funded daily payments.
Turek, an Iowa state representative and two-time Paralympic gold medalist now running for the U.S. Senate, missed 261 votes in the Iowa House between January 12 and May 3, Fox News Digital reported. That amounts to a 58% absence rate during a session in which the legislature sat for 100 days. Under Iowa state law, legislators receive a tax-free per diem of $201 for each day the legislature is in session, meaning Turek collected $20,100 in taxpayer money during a stretch when he was absent for more than half the chamber's business.
Hinson, a congresswoman who has represented northeastern Iowa since 2021, did not hold back about her opponent's record. "The truth is out," she told Fox News Digital. "He's an absentee legislator. He accepted more than $20,000 in per diem benefits, but hardly showed up."
The absences were not limited to routine procedural tallies. In May, Turek missed a vote on an appropriations bill that would have provided funding for veterans' assistance. Where was he? At a fundraiser hosted by the nonprofit arm of VoteVets, a group aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
That combination, a vote on veterans' aid traded for a fundraiser linked to a national Democratic power broker, captures the core of Hinson's case against Turek. She accused him of "skipping votes to attend ritzy fundraisers" and of missing the chamber's work on the Iowa Farm Bill, a measure she framed as critical to the state's agricultural backbone.
Turek spent much of the January-to-May window locked in a contentious Democratic primary. Sen. Elizabeth Warren backed a progressive rival against him, a sign of the same intra-party tensions that have roiled Democratic Senate primaries across the country. But winning a primary does not excuse a state legislator from showing up for the job taxpayers are already paying him to do.
Iowa has not elected a Democratic senator in nearly two decades. Turek, who has served in the state legislature since 2023, is trying to flip the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst. The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election forecaster, rates the race "Lean Republican", though it shifted the contest toward Democrats after Turek's primary win on June 2.
Hinson drew a sharp contrast with her own attendance. She told Fox News Digital she holds a 98.8% voting record in Congress and serves on the House Appropriations Committee. "Iowans need a senator who's going to show up and be their advocate," she said.
The Turek campaign fired back with a familiar counter-punch. An unnamed spokesperson accused Hinson of being "a multi-millionaire who skipped votes on the annual defense funding bill to fundraise and wasted $50,000 in taxpayer funds to pay for her luxury D.C. apartment." Hinson was absent during a portion of the House Appropriations Committee markup for the defense appropriations bill, though that bill has yet to reach the House floor. Under House rules adopted in 2023, lawmakers are eligible for taxpayer-funded reimbursements for certain housing expenses while in Washington.
The question of lawmakers missing votes while drawing public pay has become a recurring sore point with voters. But the scale matters. A congresswoman who misses part of one committee markup and a state legislator who misses 261 floor votes are not in the same category. Hinson's 98.8% attendance claim, even if self-reported, puts daylight between the two records.
The political backdrop makes Hinson's attack both urgent and strategic. A Fox News poll released earlier in July showed Hinson trailing Turek 46% to 50%, a gap within the survey's margin of error. President Trump, who endorsed Hinson, carries a net favorability rating of minus 13 points in Iowa, with just 42% of the state's voters viewing him favorably.
Hinson acknowledged the competitive environment. "I always run like I'm 10 points behind," she said, vowing to "earn every single vote." She pitched herself as a common-sense candidate who understands the economic strain Iowa families face.
"I understand we're in a tough time for our country. I'm a minivan-driving mom, and I understand it's tough to keep those groceries stocked. It's tough to fill up the minivan with gas, and times are tough."
Schumer's bid to retake the Senate majority runs through states like Iowa, and national Democratic money has already begun flowing into the race. The VoteVets fundraiser Turek attended in May, the one he chose over a veterans' funding vote, is a preview of the outside support he can expect. Whether Iowa voters will accept a candidate who collected their tax dollars while missing the majority of his legislative duties is another question entirely.
Hinson framed the choice in plain terms. "Iowans just want someone who's common sense, who can relate to what they're going through," she said. "And I think I will bring that to this election and win in November."
Democratic Senate campaigns across the country have struggled to square national ambitions with local credibility. Turek's attendance record hands his opponent a straightforward argument: if you will not show up for the job you already have, why should voters trust you with a bigger one?
Collecting a paycheck for work you did not do is not a campaign platform. It is the kind of conduct that makes voters distrust politicians in the first place.
