Democratic candidates for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat attended a forum in Des Moines Wednesday night, answering questions on issues such as campaign finance, health care and water quality.
The event was hosted by End Citizens United Action Fund, a group dedicated political campaign transparency, and Progress Iowa.
Though it was one of the first events to feature both candidates, state Rep. Josh Turek and state Sen. Zach Wahls appeared onstage at separate times to each make their case to an auditorium of more than 200 voters.
Both candidates have pledged not to take money from corporate PACs and have said they would like to ban stock trading for members of Congress.
"What we have right now is, we have a situation where we have our current slate of representatives that are just looking out for billionaires, large corporations, and they have outsized influence," Turek said.
Wahls attacked Turek for getting support from super PAC VoteVets, a veterans group that has spent more than $2.5 million on campaign ads to support Turek.
"[It] is well-known to be linked to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. And I don't think it is a coincidence that on the very first day of my campaign, I said, 'I think it is time for new leadership in the Senate Democrats,' and Rep. Turek has not taken that position," Wahls said.
Turek, who represents Council Bluffs, called Wahls, who represents Coralville, a "smart and articulate guy," but believes that he is more electable because he won a race as a Democrat in a very red part of the state. Wahls ran unopposed in the 2022 election.
"The two communities I represent, Trump won by 18 points and by 10 points, I was able to outperform by 50% more than any other Democrat in the state, and this is with the Republicans spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on negative television ads," Turek said.
During his turn on stage, Wahls launched several attacks against Iowa's 2nd District U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, the Republican frontrunner in the race, who is also a former state senator.
"I have watched Ashley Hinson side with lobbyists and sell out hard working Iowa families. That is the corruption that we have to confront head on," Wahls said.
Both candidates spoke about the need to make health care more affordable, saying they believe there should be a "public option" available.
"That is why we have proposed lowering the Medicare enrollment age, so we can expand it," Wahls said. "Making sure that we have a public option so people can buy into Medicare, even if they haven't reached that age, and expanding Medicare coverage to include things like vision and dental and hearing."
Turek said he would like to see more federal enforcement of clean water standards in Iowa and support for farmers.
"We need far more incentives to our farmers to prevent them putting down fertilizer in the fall and in the winter. We need to make sure that we have more incentives to the farmers and regulations in place for cover cropping, for land barriers like what states like Minnesota have done," Turek said.
Both candidates called for major reforms to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, following the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by agents in January.
"What we are seeing is inhumane. It is unjust," Turek said.
The Democratic primary is on June 2.
