2026-05-30T09:00:07.878Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/30/politics/josh-turek-zach-wahls-iowa-senate
- 曾两次获得轮椅篮球残奥会金牌的乔希·图雷克，正在周二的初选中角逐爱荷华州民主党联邦参议员提名，对手是州参议员扎克·沃尔斯。
- 获胜者预计将在今年秋季的参议院控制权争夺中，对阵共和党籍联邦众议员阿什利·辛森。
- 爱荷华州自2008年以来就未选出过民主党联邦参议员，但选民的经济焦虑以及对唐纳德·特朗普总统政策的不满，可能为民主党创造机会。
AI生成的摘要已由CNN编辑审核。
艾奥瓦州得梅因——
特蕾莎·威克斯正在煮意大利面时，一位联邦参议员候选人敲响了她家的门。
“我刚才还在看你的竞选广告，”威克斯在她家前门台阶上伸出双臂拥抱乔希·图雷克说道，“能见到你我真的很高兴。”
图雷克不仅要竞选接替两届任期后即将退休的共和党籍参议员乔尼·恩斯特，他还在测试民主党是否仍能在爱荷华州拿下参议院席位——这是该州自2008年以来的首次尝试。民主党正试图利用选民的不满情绪和经济焦虑，而这些情绪也在州长和国会选举中蔓延。
威克斯已经在爱荷华州生活了40年，因此她清楚记得当年同时选出一名民主党和一名共和党联邦参议员是司空见惯的事。她认为，这次中期选举可能预示着爱荷华州是否已彻底沦为红色州阵营，还是民主党能够掀起复兴浪潮。
“我希望这种要求变革的平静情绪能够爆发，最终看到变革成真，”威克斯光着脚站在屋外说道，图雷克此次登门并未提前预约。“我如履薄冰，对我们的未来感到忐忑不安。”
在最近一个下午的走访中，图雷克坐着轮椅穿梭在她所在的绿树成荫的社区人行道上，爬楼梯、挨家挨户敲门，途中他认真倾听着威克斯的发言。他有意展示自己的身体残疾，并认为这可能成为他的政治优势。
“没有什么能比得上面对面的互动，”现年47岁的图雷克说道，他曾代表美国男子轮椅篮球队斩获两枚金牌，之后还当选为州议员。“有个坐轮椅的人爬楼梯来争取你的选票，这意义重大。”
在周二的初选中，图雷克将与34岁的州参议员扎克·沃尔斯竞争民主党联邦参议员提名。获胜者预计将挑战获得唐纳德·特朗普总统背书的共和党籍众议员阿什利·辛森。
此次秋季选举将检验爱荷华州以及全美其他几个州的选民，是否愿意在过去十年里多次支持特朗普、各级政府均向共和党倾斜的地区选举民主党人。
“我们近十年大部分时间都处于一党执政状态，”来自得梅因的乔希·拉德自称是温和派民主党人，他渴望看到新的方向。“现在感觉不一样了。你说不清具体哪里变了，但直觉告诉你一切都不同了。”
总统的名字不会出现在11月的选票上，但民主党正试图将此次选举变成对其政策的全民公投。选民对通胀、汽油价格、医疗补助削减和关税的焦虑，是导致特朗普支持率低迷的部分原因。
“我认为人们已经准备好做出改变了，”沃尔斯告诉CNN，“人们需要那些愿意为那些被华盛顿当权派抛弃的群体挺身而出的斗士。”
图雷克与沃尔斯之间的激烈竞争，是全美各地民主党初选中的最新一例——党内选民正试图选出在大选中最具竞争力的候选人。在爱荷华州，这场竞争的意识形态色彩较淡，两位对手的执政记录相似，更多的是关于个人经历和地域背景的较量。
https://www.cnn.com/
这位前残奥会选手如何挨家挨户走访，试图拿下参议院席位
5:53 • 来源：CNN
这位前残奥会选手如何挨家挨户走访，试图拿下参议院席位
5:53
图雷克来自 Council Bluffs——爱荷华州西部密苏里河畔的一座工人阶级城市，而沃尔斯则来自约翰逊县，这里是爱荷华大学所在地的深蓝选区。沃尔斯首次获得全国关注是在2012年民主党全国代表大会上发表演讲，他谈及自己由两名女同性恋母亲抚养长大的经历，反对当时提出的同性婚姻禁令。
美国民主党全国性超级政治行动委员会VoteVets已在爱荷华州投入近1000万美元支持图雷克的竞选，为其造势。图雷克曾在2022年以6票的微弱优势在保守选区赢得州议会选举，自此进入公众视野。
这笔资金按爱荷华州的标准来看数额异常庞大，远超两位候选人在此次初选期间的总开支。
沃尔斯严厉批评了这笔外部资金投入，指责参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默通过该组织间接干预初选。沃尔斯也是全美范围内呼吁舒默辞去领袖职务的民主党候选人之一。
“查克·舒默没有顺应时代要求，”沃尔斯说道，“还有唐纳德·特朗普对我们民主制度的攻击。”
舒默否认自己参与了VoteVets的资金决策，该组织通常支持参选的退伍军人。图雷克并未服过兵役，但他表示自己的脊柱裂残疾源于父亲在越南海军服役期间接触过橙剂。
“毫无疑问，这有助于提高我的知名度，”图雷克告诉CNN，“我认为我是这些无休止战争造成的代际后果的真实案例，我觉得这一点引起了人们的共鸣。”
当被问及爱荷华州选民是否会在意这个不披露捐赠者的所谓“黑暗金钱”组织的巨额投入时，图雷克回应道：“我认为选民真正关心的是赢得选举。归根结底，这关乎选举竞争力。”
爱荷华州上一次同时举行州长和联邦参议员的开放式竞选还要追溯到1968年，这也是推动该州选举竞争激烈的因素之一。
该州两大共和党高层——州长金·雷诺兹和恩斯特——都不寻求连任第三届任期，这为民主党创造了罕见的机会窗口。
尽管在这个民主党势力萎缩、特朗普轻松拿下三次选举的州，民主党仍面临 uphill 挑战，但几位共和党战略家、捐赠者和政党领袖告诉CNN，他们比多年来都更担忧爱荷华州的选情。
“民主党可能品牌受损，但共和党可能会因为经济形势以及即将到来的看似又一场农场危机而付出代价，”一位不愿透露姓名的资深共和党官员告诉CNN，以便坦率讨论党内面临的挑战。
共和党面临的一个难题体现在州长选举混乱的初选中，周二的选票上共有五名候选人。此次选举中一系列地方问题备受关注，包括水质、征收权和高发癌症率。
特朗普直到周五下午才表态，背书了代表爱荷华州最保守地区的联邦众议员兰迪·芬斯特拉。长期以来人们一直预计他将是领先候选人，但他一直未能赢得特朗普支持者的青睐。
“兰迪彻头彻尾就是‘让美国再次伟大’的支持者！”特朗普在社交媒体帖子中写道。
芬斯特拉缺席了所有有其他候选人参与的辩论，其他候选人包括商人扎克·莱恩、州议员埃迪·安德鲁斯、前州议员布拉德·谢尔曼以及前州行政官员亚当·斯汀。几位候选人将特朗普作为竞选活动的核心，承诺全力支持他的议程。
如果周二没有候选人获得35%的选票，竞选将由州共和党代表大会决定最终结果。
尽管特朗普在2024年以13个百分点的优势赢得该州，但共和党人也承认面临逆风。本届政府的关税政策给该州玉米和大豆农民的贸易带来了麻烦，再加上汽油、柴油和化肥价格飙升，加剧了人们的经济担忧。
爱荷华州审计官罗布·桑德是目前唯一担任全州公职的民主党人，他在州长提名竞选中无对手。他筹集的资金比共和党所有候选人的总和还要多，并以“不是更红或更蓝，而是更好更真实”为口号，积极争取无党派人士和温和派共和党人的支持。
考虑到共和党选民比民主党多出19.5万多人，这是民主党在该州获胜的唯一途径。
截至5月初，爱荷华州州务卿的选民登记数据显示，该州登记的共和党选民为692089人，民主党选民为496219人，不属于两大政党的选民为588500人。
这个曾在2008年和2012年支持巴拉克·奥巴马的州，此后已成为共和党据点。爱荷华州是全美各县中最多的——99个县中有31个——曾两次支持奥巴马，却在2016年转向特朗普，这生动展示了白人工薪阶层选民背弃民主党的过程。
11月的选举将考验民主党能否赢回这些选民。
“我们不必获得百分之百的支持，我在代表一个非常红色的选区时就明白了这一点，”图雷克说道，“这种政治部落主义确实存在，但在爱荷华州这样的地方，有35%到37%的投票群体是无党派人士，他们才是选举中的决定性力量。”
对爱荷华州民主党人来说，上一个值得庆祝的选举周期是2018年，即特朗普第一任期的中期选举。民主党当年在该州拿下三个联邦众议员席位，并且险些赢得州长选举。
今年，国会控制权的争夺也可能直接在爱荷华州展开。两个国会选区是全美竞争最激烈的选区之一，第三个选区则属于两党密切关注的第二梯队竞争席位。
共和党籍联邦众议员扎克·纳恩和玛丽安妮特·米勒-米克斯正与预计的民主党挑战者陷入势均力敌的竞选：州参议员、路德教会牧师萨拉·特龙·加里奥特，以及爱荷华大学法学教授克里斯蒂娜·博安南。
两年前，博安南在爱荷华州第一国会选区的选举中仅以约800票之差输给了米勒-米克斯，尽管当年特朗普以8个百分点的优势赢得该州。2020年，米勒-米克斯仅以6票的微弱优势赢得席位，这是众议院选举有记录以来最悬殊的差距之一。
来自爱荷华州东部的三届共和党籍众议员辛森正在竞选联邦参议员，这使得该州第二国会选区出现了空缺席位。该席位的候选人以及竞选的激烈程度，将在周二的初选后更加明朗。
爱荷华州的参议院竞选正成为可能决定共和党能否维持参议院控制权的关键战役之一。民主党需要净增四个席位才能夺回多数党地位。
助力共和党当选的主要超级政治行动委员会参议院领导基金，最初宣布投入2900万美元支持辛森，以期保住该席位。民主党对应的组织参议院多数党基金则承诺在秋季投入1300万美元。
民主党自前参议员汤姆·哈金2008年连任以来，就再也没能在爱荷华州拿下参议院席位。哈金退休后，恩斯特赢得了他的席位并连任两届。
然而，哈金再次成为该州政治讨论的中心。
这混合了民主党人对爱荷华州往昔的怀念——怀念哈金1985年至2015年在参议院任职的岁月——以及对未来的期许。哈金在参议院任职30年后，很少干预民主党初选，但本月早些时候打破惯例，背书图雷克竞选他曾占据的参议院席位。
“有句谚语说，艰难困苦造就优质木材，”哈金在一份声明中说道，解释自己干预此次选举的原因。“乔希的人生经历过不少艰难困苦，他就是那块优质木材。”
考虑到哈金曾为沃尔斯和他的妻子克洛伊主持婚礼，这一表态格外引人关注。沃尔斯淡化了哈金的背书，告诉CNN：“坦率地说，爱荷华州选民更在意的是能引起他们和邻居共鸣的信息，而非背书。”
哈金最持久的遗产之一是他在参议院倡导的具有里程碑意义的《美国残疾人法案》，该法案于1990年签署成为法律。他曾用美国手语在参议院 floor 发表演讲，致敬自己失聪的弟弟弗兰克。
这一点正是坐在轮椅上的图雷克在每次竞选活动中都会提及的。
“你在这里听到的我所有的成功，都归功于哈金参议员，”图雷克说道，“我确实认为，那位要夺回哈金参议员席位的人，之所以能有今天，完全是因为他在《美国残疾人法案》上所做的工作，这将是一件极具诗意的事。”
CNN的杰夫·西蒙和大卫·赖特对本文亦有贡献。
A Paralympian and ‘prairie populist’: How this Iowa Senate candidate is trying to spark a rural revival for Democrats
2026-05-30T09:00:07.878Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/30/politics/josh-turek-zach-wahls-iowa-senate
- Josh Turek, a two-time Paralympic gold medal winner in wheelchair basketball, is competing for Iowa’s Democratic Senate nomination in Tuesday’s primary against state Sen. Zach Wahls.
- The winner is expected to face Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson in a race that could help determine Senate control this fall.
- Iowa has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2008, but economic anxieties and voter discontent over President Donald Trump’s policies may create opportunities for the party.
AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.
Des Moines, Iowa—
Theresa Weeks was making spaghetti when a Senate candidate came knocking on her door.
“I was just watching your commercial,” Weeks said, extending her arms to give Josh Turek a hug on her front steps. “I’m delighted to see you.”
Turek is not only running to replace Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, who is retiring after two terms. He is also testing whether Democrats can still win a Senate seat in Iowa – for the first time since 2008. The party is seeking to capitalize on voter discontent and economic anxieties that are also coursing through races for governor and Congress.
Weeks has lived in Iowa for 40 years, so she well remembers when sending a Democrat and Republican to the Senate was commonplace. The midterm election may signal whether Iowa has slipped deeply into the column of a red state, she believes, or whether Democrats can stage a revival.
“I’m hopeful there is this quiet sentiment of change that will erupt and we will see that change come to fruition,” Weeks said, standing outside in her stocking feet, as Turek’s visit came without warning. “I’m on a tightrope. I’m on pins and needles as to what our future holds.”
As she talked, Turek listened from his wheelchair on a recent afternoon he spent navigating sidewalks in her leafy neighborhood, climbing up stairs and knocking on doors. He’s intent on showcasing a physical disability, which he believes can be a political strength.
“There’s nothing like face-to-face interaction,” said Turek, 47, who was elected to the state legislature after winning two gold medals for the US men’s wheelchair basketball team. “You’ve got a guy in a wheelchair that crawls up the stairs to get your vote. It means a lot.”
In the primary election on Tuesday, Turek faces state Sen. Zach Wahls, 34, in a fight to become the Democratic nominee for US Senate. The winner is expected to challenge Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Republican, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump.
The fall election will measure whether voters in Iowa – and a handful of states across the country – have an appetite to elect Democrats in places that have repeatedly sided with Trump over the last decade and trended Republican at most levels of government.
“We’ve been in one-party rule for the better part of a decade,” said Josh Ladd of Des Moines, who called himself a moderate Democrat, eager for a new direction. “It feels different right now. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but your gut says it’s different.”
The president’s name is not on the November ballot, but Democrats are trying to make the election a referendum on his policies. Voter anxieties over inflation, the cost of gas, Medicaid cuts and tariffs are among issues contributing to a low approval rating for Trump.
“I think people are ready for change,” Wahls told CNN. “People want fighters who are going to go to bat for people that, you know, the establishment in Washington has written off.”
The spirited contest between Turek and Wahls is the latest in a series of Democratic primaries across the country in which the party’s voters are trying to find the most electable candidate for a general election. In Iowa, the fight is less ideological, given the rivals have similar records, but more about biography and geography.
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How this former Paralympian is going door-to-door to try and flip a Senate seat
5:53 • Source: CNN
How this former Paralympian is going door-to-door to try and flip a Senate seat
5:53
Turek is from Council Bluffs, a working-class city in along the Missouri River in western Iowa and Wahls is from Johnson County, a deep-blue region home to the University of Iowa. Wahls first gained national attention when he spoke out against a proposed ban on same-sex marriage by talking about being raised by his mothers, who are lesbian, and delivered a speech to the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
VoteVets, a national Democratic super PAC, has put its thumb on the scale in Iowa by investing nearly $10 million to promote the candidacy of Turek, a Paralympian, who first drew attention after winning a legislative race by six votes in 2022 in a conservative district.
That amount – an unusually large outside investment by Iowa standards – is far more than what the candidates have collectively spent on the race.
Wahls has been sharply critical of the outside spending, accusing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of trying to indirectly influence the primary through the group. Wahls is also among the Democratic candidates across the country calling for Schumer to step down as leader.
“Chuck Schumer is not meeting the moment,” Wahls said, “and Donald Trump’s assault on our democracy.”
Schumer has denied any role in the spending decisions of VoteVets, a group that typically supports veterans running for office. Turek did not serve in the military, but said his spina bifida disability stems from his father’s exposure to Agent Orange during his Naval service in Vietnam.
“There’s no doubt that it’s helped to raise name recognition,” Turek told CNN. “I think that I am really an example of the generational consequences of these forever wars, which I think has really resonated with people.”
Asked whether Iowans cared about the deluge of spending from a so-called dark money group that does not disclose its donors, Turek replied: “I think what voters care about is winning this election. And I think this comes down to electability.”
Not since 1968 has Iowa seen a wide-open race for governor and Senate at the same time, which is one of the factors driving the state’s fiercely competitive election cycle.
The decision by two of the state’s top Republicans, Gov. Kim Reynolds and Ernst, not to seek third terms has created a rare opening for Democrats.
While it may still be an uphill climb in a state where the Democratic Party has atrophied and Trump easily carried three times, several Republican strategists, donors and party leaders tell CNN they are more concerned about their Iowa prospects than they have been in years.
“Democrats may have a tarnished brand, but Republicans could pay the price for the economy and what looks like another farm crisis on the horizon,” a longtime Republican official told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity to frankly discuss challenges facing the party.
One of the headaches for Republicans is playing out in a messy primary in the governor’s race, with five candidates on Tuesday’s ballot. A series of local issues have loomed large in the race, including water quality, eminent domain and high cancer rates.
The president waited until Friday afternoon to weigh in and endorsed Rep. Randy Feenstra, who represents the most conservative corner of Iowa. He had long been expected to be the leading candidate, but struggled to catch on with Trump’s base.
“Randy is MAGA all the way!” Trump wrote in a social media post.
Feenstra had skipped all of the debates, which featured his rivals: Zach Lahn, a businessman, state Rep. Eddie Andrews, former state Rep. Brad Sherman and Adam Steen, a former state administrator. Several of the candidates have placed Trump at the center of their campaigns by pledging to fully support his agenda.
If none of the candidates hit 35% on Tuesday, the contest will be decided at a state Republican convention.
Yet even though Trump won the state by 13 percentage points in 2024, Republicans acknowledge headwinds. The administration’s tariff policies have complicated trade for the state’s corn and soybean farmers, which along with soaring cost of gas, diesel and fertilizer, have contributed to deepening economic worries.
Rob Sand, the Iowa auditor who is the only Democrat currently holding statewide office, is running unopposed for the party’s gubernatorial nomination. He has raised more money than his GOP opponents combined and is aggressively working to win over independents and moderate Republicans with a slogan, “Not redder or bluer, but better and truer.”
It’s the only path Democrats have to win here, considering Republicans outnumber them by more than 195,000 voters.
As of early May, voter registration data from the Iowa Secretary of State shows 692,089 registered Republicans, 496,219 registered Democrats and 588,500 voters not affiliated with either major political party.
A state that Barack Obama won in 2008 and 2012 has become a Republican stronghold ever since. Iowa had the most counties of any state in the nation – 31 of 99 – that twice went for Obama and shifted to Trump in 2016, in a vivid display of White working-class voters abandoning the Democratic Party.
The November elections will test the party’s ability to win them back.
“We don’t have to win this 100-0. I know this from representing a really red district,” Turek said. “There really is a lot of tribalism in this, but in a state like Iowa, where you’ve got 35 or 37% of the voting bloc that are going to be independents, they’re the kingmakers in the process.”
For Iowa Democrats, the last election cycle worth celebrating was 2018, the midterm election of Trump’s first term. Democrats won three US House seats in the state and came within striking distance of winning the governor’s race.
This year, the fight for control of Congress could also run directly through Iowa. Two House districts are among the most competitive in the country, while a third seat is in the next tier of races that both parties are closely tracking.
Republican Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks are locked in tossup races against expected Democratic challengers Sarah Trone Garriott, a state senator and Lutheran minister, and Christina Bohannan, a law professor at the University of Iowa.
Two years ago, Bohannan came within about 800 votes of defeating Miller-Meeks in the state’s 1st Congressional District, even as Trump won by eight points. In 2020, Miller-Meeks won her seat by only six votes in one of the slimmest margins in any House race on record.
Hinson, a three-term Republican congresswoman from eastern Iowa is running for the Senate, leaving an open seat in the state’s 2 nd District. The candidates for that race – and how competitive the race becomes – will come into sharper focus after Tuesday’s primary.
The Senate race in Iowa is emerging as one of the contests that could determine whether Republicans maintain control of the upper chamber of Congress. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to capture a majority.
The Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC working to elect Republicans, announced an initial investment of $29 million to boost Hinson in hopes of keeping the seat in GOP hands. The Senate Majority PAC, the group’s Democratic counterpart, has made a $13 million commitment for the fall.
Democrats have not won a Senate seat in Iowa since former Sen. Tom Harkin was reelected in 2008. When he retired from the Senate, Ernst won his seat and has held it for two terms.
Yet once again, Harkin is at the center of the political conversation in the state.
It’s a mix of Democratic nostalgia for what Iowa once was, back when he served in the Senate from 1985 to 2015, and for what it could be. After 30 years in the Senate, Harkin rarely weighs in on Democratic primaries, but earlier this month broke that tradition and endorsed Turek for his old Senate seat.
“There’s a saying that rough weather makes good timber,” Harkin said in a statement, explaining his decision to weigh in on the race. “Josh has had some pretty rough weather in his life, and he is good timber.”
It was a particularly notable sentiment, considering Harkin officiated the wedding of Wahls to his wife, Chloe. Wahls downplayed Harkin’s endorsement, telling CNN: “Iowans, frankly, care a lot less about endorsements than they do about a message that is resonating with them and with their neighbors.”
One of Harkin’s most enduring legacies is the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act, which he championed in the Senate, before it was signed into law in 1990. He delivered a speech on the Senate floor in sign language as a tribute to his brother, Frank, who was deaf.
It’s a point that Turek, speaking from his wheelchair, makes at every campaign stop.
“Every single bit of success that you’ve heard me talk about here, I owe to Senator Harkin,” Turek said. “I do believe that it is going to be something beautifully poetic that the man who is coming to get Senator Harkin’s seat back is only there because of the work that he did on the Americans with Disabilities Act.”
CNN’s Jeff Simon and David Wright contributed to this report.