Josh Turek, Candidate for U.S Senate

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Holiday Party / Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ RetreatJosh Turek, an Iowa state representative and Paralympic gold medalist, joins the podcast as a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. He explains that he’s the first permanently disabled member of the Iowa Legislature and represents one of the reddest districts in the state, having overperformed Democrats there by about 14 points. He shares his origin story: growing up poor in Council Bluffs, relying on free lunch programs and credit cards for groceries, being born with spina bifida linked to his father’s Agent Orange exposure, enduring 21 surgeries by age 12, and finding a life-changing path through wheelchair basketball that led to college, a professional career overseas, and four Paralympic Games, ending with back-to-back gold medals for Team USA.Turek describes how work in adaptive sports and as an assistive technology professional pulled him into politics when privatized Medicaid caused huge spikes in denials for wheelchairs and other mobility devices. Discovering Iowa had never had a permanently disabled legislator, he ran in heavily Republican territory, dragging his wheelchair up countless stairs to knock doors and initially winning by only six votes, later expanding that margin to six percentage points. He argues this proves that with the right candidate, message, and work ethic, Democrats can win even in deep-red areas.He frames his Senate run around the legacy of Senator Tom Harkin and the Americans with Disabilities Act, saying the ADA gave him the “on-ramp” to education, work, and public service. He wants Iowa again to have a “prairie populist” senator who fights for working people, rural communities, family farms, and social safety nets like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the ACA—rather than billionaires and large corporations. He believes 2026 is a “generational opportunity” with an open Senate seat, open governor’s race, and multiple open House seats, and that Iowa is “a common-sense state masquerading as a red state,” pointing to past support for Obama and near-wins for Democrats in recent statewide races.Policy-wise, Turek emphasizes:* Healthcare & Disability:* Healthcare is a human right; he supports moving toward a public option and ultimately single-payer–style coverage.* He cites Iowa’s worsening health metrics, nursing home and rural hospital closures, Medicaid waitlists, and personal stories—like his sister’s stage-2 breast cancer and a $30,000 PET scan demand from private insurance—as examples of a broken system.* He wants to fully fund Medicaid and protect ACA subsidies, raise outdated income and asset limits for disabled people on SSI/SSDI, tackle the direct-care worker crisis, and expand mental health capacity (including supporting repeal or reform of the IMD exclusion and raising bed limits).* Economy, Rural Iowa & Farm Policy:* He describes “farmageddon” in rural Iowa: falling commodity prices, damaging tariffs, high foreclosure and suicide rates among farmers, and the erosion of rural pillars—pharmacies, hospitals, schools, and grocery stores.* He criticizes the failure to pass a new Farm Bill since 2018 as evidence the current delegation is out of touch.* He supports incentives for cover crops and conservation, stronger water-quality protections, and federal action (EPA standards, nitrate limits, buffer strips) to avoid a patchwork of different state rules and to protect small family farms.* On CAFOs, he favors stricter, “common-sense” regulation on size and manure management to reduce pollution and nitrate runoff into water.* Water Quality & Cancer:* He links Iowa’s high and rising cancer rates to environmental factors, especially in rural areas: pesticides, glyphosate exposure, and polluted water.* He previously ran a bill to fund pediatric cancer research and connects cancer to his own family—his grandmother’s pancreatic cancer, his father’s Agent-Orange-related cancers, and his sister’s diagnosis.* Labor & Unions:* He identifies as strongly pro-labor, citing his 100% union voting record and AFL-CIO score in the Legislature, and says he wants to match or surpass Harkin’s pro-labor record in the Senate. He doesn’t see major substantive differences with Zach Wahls on labor, attributing some endorsements to timing.* Immigration:* Turek calls for comprehensive immigration reform with both secure borders and an easier path to citizenship.* He shares his personal experience navigating the system with his wife, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, whose application was initially denied without an interview and who briefly faced deportation.* He links immigration reform to workforce needs in areas like direct care, agriculture, and meatpacking, and to long-term demographic and economic health given low U.S. birth rates.* Campaign Finance & Corporate Power:* He denounces Citizens United and says the system is essentially controlled by billionaires and corporations.* He pledges not to take corporate PAC money, saying this will make it easy to prioritize Iowa families over corporate lobbyists when choosing how to spend his time in D.C.Turek also speaks at length about how he works across the aisle in Des Moines. Despite being told as a Democrat in a Republican trifecta that he’d “never get a subcommittee,” he has passed multiple bipartisan bills—on accessibility of state parks, “right to repair” for wheelchairs, safer medical supplies for catheter users, asset limits for disabled Iowans, and more—often by finding “strange bedfellows.” He says he loves policy more than politics and prides himself on doing the painstaking relational work needed to actually move legislation.Throughout the conversation, he stresses resilience, empathy born of hardship, and his intent to stay grounded in Council Bluffs values and disability advocacy rather than be changed by Washington. He says Harkin’s example—constituent service, workdays, and staying tethered to Iowa—informs how he would serve. He closes by asking listeners to help spread the word that Iowa is in play and to adopt his “six-vote initiative”: each supporter should talk to six friends or family members, register six voters, and bring six people to the polls—because, as his first six-vote win proved, a handful of votes can change everything.The Iowa Writers’ CollaborativeIf you’re a paid subscriber to at least one member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, you can attend our upcoming holiday party for free. Otherwise, cover charge is $35 at the door. Other details:What: Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Holiday PartyWhen: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17Where: The Harkin Institute, 2800 University Ave., Des MoinesWho: Mingle with members and fellow supporters of the collaborative, and hear the wonderful music duo Weary Ramblers perform.RSVP: Reserve your spot by Dec. 5.Let the holiday shopping spree madness begin…with a pitch. Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ RetreatThink of the stories — those rings on the tree of your life — that won’t get told unless you tell them.Come to the Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat. Tell your family that this is what you want as a gift… or gift it to yourself. You won’t regret it.We’ll be holding the sixth annual retreat September 27–30, 2026, and our growing community now spans generations. One family attending includes a grandfather, his son, his granddaughter, and a sister — a whole storytelling lineage showing up together.Tangible gifts can break, be returned, or get forgotten. An experience like this one? It stays with you.And here’s something new: from now until December 15, every registration includes a 10-month online class seriesbeginning January 14. Each month, one of our workshop leaders will teach the same 90-minute session they offer in Okoboji. It’s the first time we’ve ever opened this door — and it’s a wonderful way to keep your creative momentum all year long.Click for the Okoboji Mastery Circle Online workshops + the Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat = $795.For more information about the speakers coming to the retreat (including five literary agents):https://okobojiwritersretreat.comMonday, December 1, Podcast — Should Des Moines area nurses join the Teamsters? Alex Wilken is a critical care nurse who is leading effort to unionize 2,000 Des Moines nurses — Iowa Methodist, Blank, Lutheran hospitals — to join the Teamsters Union. The vote is Dec 7 to 9 and they have a news conference taking place on Tuesday. Douglas Burns is covering this story and will be co-moderating this conversation. Do you know a metro area nurse? Let them know about this call: Monday Zoom Call - Nurses Organizing This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit okobojiwriters.substack.com/subscribe