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GOP's Hinson Posts Lying Ad About Democrat Turek Minutes His Primary Win

Less than an hour after Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek secured the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, his Republican opponent released an ad lying about his record.

Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson posted the ad to X along with text claiming that Turek supports gender reassignment for minors, amnesty for undocumented immigrants who commit crimes, and a “90% tax rate on hardworking Americans.” Turek has neither advocated for nor voted for any of these policies.

The ad itself, which features a menacing voiceover, says Turek “supports kids changing gender without parental consent.” The ad cites SF 496, a bill that passed the Iowa House and Senate in 2023 with only Republican votes and was later signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The law prohibits public schools from teaching lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity to elementary-aged students. It also requires schools to notify parents in certain circumstances involving a child’s gender identity preferences.

The law also bans books that allegedly depict sex acts from K–12 school libraries. The broad language of this provision has led to several literary classics being removed from shelves, including high school reading staples like The Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Turek has consistently opposed book bans and publicly blasted the law, describing it as state censorship. Earlier this year, he criticized a similar bill that would threaten librarians with jail time if they helped students obtain banned texts.

“This is what we’re spending our time on?” Turek said at a legislative forum in March. “Trying to ban libraries and books and prevent kids from having access to books? I think it’s fundamentally wrong.”

Turek is far from alone. SF 496 has been the subject of multiple lawsuits and legal challenges. A federal judge struck down the law, but it was later reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals. While the law is currently in effect, ongoing litigation has given it an uncertain future.

Hinson’s claim that Turek’s opposition to the law amounts to supporting “kids changing gender without parental consent” is intellectually dishonest.

The U.S. Senate election in Iowa will be one of the most-watched races of 2026. The state has trended red in recent years, but Democrats are hopeful they can reverse that tide amid rising prices and record-low approval ratings for President Donald Trump.

Shortly after his primary win, Turek told Politico why the state may be more competitive than some think.

“In Trump’s last midterm, we won three of the four congressional races, [and] we were only three points away from winning all four,” Turek said. “This is a common-sense state, not a red state.”

Reprinted with permission from American Journal News

Iowa Dogfight: Trump's Ruinous Policies Shaking Up Ruby-Red State

President Donald Trump’s policies have hurt farmers so badly, Republicans are getting nervous that they could flip the state in both its Senate and gubernatorial elections.

“Well, number one, this is Iowa and the tariffs are hitting them really hard. Before the tariffs, Donald Trump had a 52 percent approval rating in the state — still not super great for Iowa — but he is currently at 42 percent,” The Bulwark’s conservative founder and political expert Sarah Longwell wrote on Tuesday. “Farmers are losing money, even with the federal subsidies that are trying to offset the impact of the tariffs.”

She added that “soybean farmers are losing about $75 an acre. Trump's one big, beautiful bill kicked nearly 100,000 Iowans off their health insurance. And [Republican Gov. Kim] Reynolds is one of the most unpopular governors Iowa has seen in a while.” In addition to complaining that the school vouchers program requires students to go down to four days a week of schooling, many voters also believe that “the six-week abortion ban they enacted there in Iowa, which people think is too extreme. And then there's this issue of cancer water, which I had not heard about until I started focus grouping in Iowa — but essentially you've got a lot of chemicals going into the water, and a lot of people in Iowa say that they're experiencing incredibly high cancer rates.”

As a result of all these issues, “Cook Political Report currently rates this race as a toss-up. So that's interesting for Iowa — they've got a toss-up for governor. Democrats looking strong.” Reynolds is not running for reelection, but Democratic nominee State Auditor Rob Sand has focused on her unpopular record and is expected to tie his eventual Republican opponent to Reynolds’ governorship.

“Now let's move to the Senate,” Longwell wrote. “We also have an open Senate seat because [Sen.] Joni Ernst has decided not to run again. There's no Republican primary because Ashley Hinson, who is a sitting member of Congress — she's been there for three terms, she's a former state rep, and she was also a news anchor in the state — is the de facto Republican nominee. But the Democrats have kind of an interesting primary. There are two of them: Josh Turek, who I think is likely to win, and Zach Walls.”

She added, “Now, Josh Turek — if you don't know who he is or you haven't seen him — he's in a wheelchair. He has spina bifida, and his dad had exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. He's knocking on doors by pulling himself up step by step. He's also a four-time Paralympian and a two-time gold medalist.”

In April, The Economist/YouGov conducted a poll which found that farmers are overwhelmingly opposed to Trump’s tariffs and Iran war, as both policies have raised prices on farmers on important products like fertilizer and gasoline. Despite these concerns, farmers remain one of the most staunchly pro-Trump groups and refuse to abandon their support, instead hoping that he will provide them with economic relief.

“A recent Economist/YouGov poll suggests such troubles are now commonplace,” wrote The Economist on Monday, referring to farmers who struggle to make ends meet thanks to Trump’s policies. “27 percent of rural respondents said it would be ‘impossible’ to cover an unexpected $1,000 bill. It would be easy to blame Mr Trump for the downturn. After all, he campaigned on promises to bring down prices and revive the heartland. But rural America does not.”

The article continued, “The president’s favourability rating is higher among rural voters than among any other group in our survey. Most still think he is doing a good job. In interview after interview with The Economist, farmers said they trust the administration—but that they need help to recoup the losses its foreign policy is causing them.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Republican Legislators Silent On New ‘Code Red’ UN Climate Report

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

A new report on Monday from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations group dedicated to climate science, warns that drastic and immediate effort is needed to slow climate change. Congressional Republicans are simply ignoring it.

A review of social media posts by House and Senate Republicans on Monday found zero mentions of the report or its findings. Only two lawmakers even mentioned the climate, mocking efforts to protect it.

The Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis report, the sixth assessment by the international body, relied on more than 14,000 studies. It reached the "unequivocal" conclusion that humans are inducing global warming and that it can "have profound consequences for the world's social, economic, and natural systems."

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres urged immediate action to limit warming in the face of a "code red for humanity."

"If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe," he predicted. "But, as today's report makes clear, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses."

Several Democratic lawmakers seized on the report to urge the U.S. to take immediate action.

"Today's new @IPCC_CH report makes clear that acting on climate can't wait," tweeted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. "Democrats promised bold climate action—and we're making it a vital part of infrastructure legislation."

"Climate action is coming, because it must," agreed Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz.

"Today's IPCC report on climate change is an urgent call to action. We must take climate action now," wrote New Mexico Rep. Melanie Stansbury, adding that in her state, "we already know this urgency—it's time to act!"

Much of New Mexico is facing a dense layer of smoke from the massive wildfires currently burning in California — which experts say are being fueled by climate change.

But congressional Republicans — most of whom deny the science that humans are causing climate change — said nothing.

The lone GOP mentions of the climate on Monday came from Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson. Both mentioned it in the context of opposing Democratic proposals to address the environment.

Hinson bashed "out of control spending by the far-left" that would fund "a civilian climate corps."

Greene warned that Democratic proposals to promote electric vehicles are really just a scheme to "enslave America to China."

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

Suddenly, House Republicans Are Upset By Greene’s Anti-Semitic Remarks

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

Several House Republicans are distancing themselves from comments by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) comparing COVID-19 prevention efforts to the Holocaust. But faced with her long record of antisemitic and racist comments last February, the same lawmakers voted against stripping Greene of her committee assignments.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Tuesday that his caucus did not stand with Greene's latest rantings: "Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling. Let me be clear: the House Republican Conference condemns this language."

McCarthy was referring to a series of comments by the first-term representative opposing mandatory vaccination and wearing masks, which she said, "create discrimination against unvaxxed people who trust their immune systems to a virus that is 99% survivable."

She likened this to Nazis forcing Jewish people to wear gold stars and then putting them into gas chambers.

"I agree with @GOPLeader," responded Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson. "There is no comparison to the Holocaust & we must stand firmly against anti-Semitism in any form."

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, the new House Republican Conference chair, tweeted that "Equating mask wearing and vaccines to the Holocaust belittles the most significant human atrocities ever committed. We must all work together to educate our fellow Americans on the unthinkable horrors of the Holocaust."

"I am no fan of mask mandates, but comparing them to the Holocaust is over the top & out of line," wrote Missouri Rep. Vicky Hartzler. "I stand with our Jewish brothers & sisters & condemn these disgraceful comments."

"Any comparisons to the suffering and torture that so many endured are misguided, insulting, and minimizes the atrocity of the Holocaust," said Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

"Mask mandates are not even remotely comparable to the discrimination and persecution Jews faced during the Holocaust and to insinuate the two are similar is disgraceful," said Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina. "Given the rise of antisemitism around the world today, I find this comparison even more appalling."

"Comparing mask-wearing to the horrors of the Holocaust is unconscionable. Such bombastic rhetoric crosses the line of political discourse, adds to the recent uptick of anti-Semitism across the world and must be condemned," wrote Ohio Rep. Troy Balderson.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas said Greene's comments were "stupid and insulting to Holocaust survivors," urging her to "Just stop. Members of Congress should think before they speak."

"I never ever compare anything to the Holocaust, unless it is the Holocaust," noted Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee.

In a CNN interview on Sunday, Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan said "any comparisons to the Holocaust, it's beyond reprehensible" and that her "hyperbolic speech" fuels antisemitism.

But while the GOP caucus may now be outraged, 199 of its members — including every one of those ten — voted against holding her accountable for a long history of other antisemitic, Islamophobic, and racist behavior.

Prior to her 2020 election to Congress, Greene professed that Muslim Americans "do not belong in our government," that Black people are "lazy" and make "bad choices," that a prominent Jewish banking family caused deadly California wildfires with secret space lasers, and that "the most mistreated group of people in the United States today are white males." She also shared an anti-Muslim video on social media that claimed that Jews were trying to destroy Europe via "immigration and miscegenation."

On Feb. 4, her colleagues voted to take away Greene's committee assignments as a punishment for conduct that did not "reflect creditably on the House." But just 11 Republicans joined 219 Democrats in voting for that resolution.

McCarthy and the GOP leadership defended her at the time, taking no action on their own and standing by Greene. In November, he demanded Americans give her an "opportunity" to serve before judging her.

Greene offered a pseudo-apology on Tuesday, somehow blaming Democrats for her problems.

"I'm sorry some of my words make people uncomfortable, but this is what the American left is all about. And they are America last in every single way," she tweeted.

McCarthy and his caucus might soon get another chance to punish Greene. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) said Tuesday he is drafting a resolution to censure her for her actions.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

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Smart. Sharp. Funny. Fearless

GOP's Hinson Posts Lying Ad About Democrat Turek Minutes His Primary Win

Iowa Dogfight: Trump's Ruinous Policies Shaking Up Ruby-Red State

Republican Legislators Silent On New ‘Code Red’ UN Climate Report

Suddenly, House Republicans Are Upset By Greene’s Anti-Semitic Remarks

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