Josh Turek’s Anti-Trans Ad Draws Backlash in U.S. Senate Race
The Iowa Democrat faces criticism over an ad opposing trans women in women's sports and Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgery.
Josh Turek, Iowa’s Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, has drawn criticism for an ad opposing transgender women competing in women’s sports and Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgery.
Turek, a wheelchair basketball Paralympian and state representative from Council Bluffs, released the ad, titled “Stop the Nonsense,” addressing his positions on transgender issues — a subject his opponent, Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, has repeatedly attacked him over.
Yet the criticism and outrage directed at Turek for the transgender issues ad — from across the ideological spectrum — have muddled his “closing message” and overshadowed a much more powerful ad featuring his sister, Ulette, who is fighting cancer and whose insurer denied coverage for a scan to determine whether her cancer had spread through the bloodstream.
In that ad, Turek says, “If you wonder how broken the healthcare system is, she is living proof,” and calls his fight to make health insurance more affordable “personal.”
Unfortunately for Turek, critics have seized on the transgender issues ad — released in the final week-and-a-half before the midterm elections — as his final salvo in the campaign.
One Iowa Action, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, released a statement condemning the ad, as reported by the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
“We unequivocally condemn Josh Turek’s recently released campaign ad and the policy shift it represents,” One Iowa Action Executive Director Max Mowitz said in the statement.
Mowitz also noted that the condemnation of Turek’s shift was not an endorsement of Hinson, who has regularly spoken and voted against expanding rights or protections for transgender people.
“Make no mistake, Ashley Hinson is no friend to LGBTQ+ Iowans, and that is not our claim,” Mowitz said. “Hinson has taken every opportunity she has had to strip the rights of transgender Iowans, and we believe she would continue that record in the U.S. Senate.
“But on the specific policy of Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgical care, there is no light between Hinson and Turek,” Mowitz added. “Their policies on this issue are the same, and that is a dangerous escalation. This places Josh Turek as the most trans-exclusionary federal Democrat on the ballot anywhere in the country. We cannot and will not let this go unaddressed.”
Hinson has attacked Turek for voting against Republican-led bills to ban trans athletes from women’s sports, deny Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgeries — a restriction largely affecting transgender adults, not minors — and bar transgender students from restrooms that do not align with their assigned sex at birth.
One of Hinson’s hardest-hitting campaign ads claims Turek supports “sex changes for kids without parental consent” — a reference to his vote against a “forced outing” law requiring schools to notify parents when students request a name or pronouns that differ from their school records.
But Turek and his campaign have answers for those votes against Republican anti-trans bills: they say the measures were overbroad and threatened other rights. For example, the bill banning Medicaid coverage for trans surgeries also sought to eliminate state civil rights protections against gender identity discrimination in employment, public accommodations, housing, and education.
A Turek campaign spokesperson told the Dispatch that Turek voted against the “bathroom ban” because it lacked sufficient exemptions for disabled Iowans and could have exposed parents or caregivers to legal consequences for entering a restroom of the opposite sex to assist their children or those in their care.
Similarly, the “forced outing” bill went beyond parental notification, banning books containing descriptions or visual depictions of sex acts from K-12 school libraries and restricting instruction related to sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-6. A federal judge blocked portions of the law last year, but an appeals court lifted those preliminary injunctions in April 2026, allowing enforcement while the legal challenges continued.
Left-leaning social media accounts have unleashed their venom on Turek for the trans issues ad, arguing that he is ceding ground to Republicans and adopting their framing on transgender issues. Some said they regretted voting for Turek early, while others pledged not to vote for him on Election Day.
“Dude could be talking about affordability, or data centers, or curbing executive power, or literally anything else,” one trans person on X wrote. “But nah, go ahead, give legitimacy to the far-rights bullshit boogeyman nonsense. Fucking moron, stooping to their level.”
#IowaSenate AdImpact: Josh Turek releases new ad in which he opposes trans women competing in women’s sports “No Iowan should face discrimination. As a Paralympian, I also know it’s important to have rules.” “It’s why I oppose males competing in female sports … I’m against taxpayers paying for sex changes, too.”
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) October 25, 2026
But Adam Peters, director of operations at Clock, Inc. LGBT+ Community Center in the Quad Cities and a Democrat running for the Iowa House of Representatives, told the Dispatch that he believes there is still a significant difference between Turek’s and Hinson’s records on trans rights.
“I voted on the first day of early in-person voting, but if I were filling out my ballot today, I would still vote for Josh Turek,” Peters said. “While I disagree with his ad, I know I can talk to him and make my concerns heard. You can too. I can’t say the same for Ashley Hinson.”
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