KEOKUK, Iowa — The two men competing to be Iowa’s Democratic Senate nominee agree on at least one thing: Their party needs a rebrand.

For the underdog candidate, state Sen. Zach Wahls, that conviction has led to an unorthodox campaign strategy: regularly ripping Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. 

Speaking to a few dozen voters in this southeast town of 9,900 on Saturday, Wahls ended his stump speech by declaring, “We are going to defeat Chuck Schumer on June 2nd.” 

It was not an isolated incident. During the Democratic primary debate on May 14, Wahls targeted Schumer in both his opening and closing statements, betting that he can tie his opponent — front-runner state Rep. Josh Turek — to the Senate minority leader whose state is more than 1,000 miles away. 

In an interview with MS NOW before a town hall, Wahls was asked to define the difference between himself and Turek.

“There’s a core contrast. I said on the first day of this campaign I will not vote to support the failed leadership of Senator Chuck Schumer,” said Wahls. “Josh Turek has been unable to distance himself from Chuck Schumer.”

Wahls, a progressive who has been endorsed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., grounds his attack in financial ties: Schumer’s leadership political action committee donated $10,000 to Turek’s campaign, and establishment Democratic organizations in Washington, D.C., have backed the front-runner. 

“I think the National Democratic brand is broken and, frankly, very toxic,” Wahls said.

Turek, despite the support of some members of the Democratic establishment, does not entirely disagree about the party’s standing in Iowa.

“We need to make a distinction between what is maybe a coastal Democrat and what is an Iowa Democrat,” Turek said. “We can’t just be the lesser of two evils, just corporate Democrats.”

But Turek bristles at the suggestion that he would be beholden to Schumer if elected. 

“Zach’s running against Chuck Schumer; I’m running against Ashley Hinson and Donald Trump,” Turek said, name-checking the likely Republican nominee, Rep. Ashley Hinson. 

Turek’s pitch to voters leans heavily on biography. Born with spina bifida due to his father’s exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, Turek went on to win two gold medals and a bronze across three Paralympic appearances for Team USA. He uses a wheelchair and has made lowering healthcare costs a centerpiece of his campaign. His military family background nabbed him the backing of VoteVets, a PAC that has spent nearly $10 million on his behalf. 

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That cash helped Turek introduce himself to the electorate on the Iowa airwaves, with ads profiling his unique bio. On the ground, Turek has focused on winning over on-the-fence Democratic primary voters, with what he believes is an electability argument. 

“The two communities I represent, Trump won by 18 points and by 10 points, and I was able to win my district by nearly six points,” said Turek, who hails from Council Bluffs, a city on the Iowa-Nebraska border widely seen as Trump country. He noted that Wahls hails from Johnson County — among the most reliably liberal of Iowa’s 99 counties, and the only one Trump did not carry in the 2024 caucuses, when he lost it to former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley by a single vote.

“Zach comes from a Harris plus-38 district,” Turek said of his opponent. “I know that I’ve got a unique ability to connect with independents and moderate Republicans, and that’s what it’s going to take to be able to win this race.” 

David Kochel, a much-revered Republican political strategist in Iowa, sees Wahls’ district as a political liability. “Zach Wahls comes from the People’s Republic of Johnson County,” he said. “Turek has pushed a little bit more of an electability message because he wins in a more red part of the state.” 

Either way, Kochel is not worried about Republicans’ chances in a general election, heaping praise on Hinson, the likely Republican nominee. 

“She’s a terrific candidate, she’s an excellent campaigner. I think having her at the top of the ticket matters a lot for the statewide Republican ballot as well because I think she is about as strong a candidate as we could ever put up,” said Kochel, believing Hinson’s political talent will resonate with Republicans across the state. 

But for Iowa’s evangelical leader, Bob Vander Plaats, Hinson’s victory in November is far from assured. “Ashley Hinson is going to be in a really, really tough race,” said the influential Republican leader. “I do believe Ashley Hinson fares a lot better against Zach Wahls. … Josh Turek is a compelling candidate, and he won in a Trump district.”

Even Hinson, Vander Plaats suggested, would not claim this one is locked up. 

“It’d be a fool’s errand to think you have it in the bag,” he said.

Emily Gold

Emily Gold is a coordinating producer for MS NOW.