Iowa Democratic Senate Candidate Says Campaigning Is Too Demanding to Attend All State Legislative Votes

Josh Turek, Iowa Democratic state representative, defended missing nearly 58% of legislative votes, citing town hall meetings in all 99 counties.

Iowa Democratic Rep. Josh Turk defended his attendance record during Tuesday night's debate for the open state Senate seat after calling out his opponent, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson.

Hinson pointed to Turk's absences while answering a question posed to both candidates about Iowa's rising cancer rates.

"You have to get out to vote on things like pediatric cancer research, and I'm investing in legislation to make sure we direct these resources to where we need to go to help end this cancer crisis," Hinson said.

The host of the debate asked Turk directly why he lost the votes.

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"I've been out there, and I've met with porches all over the state, all 99 counties, hundreds of public forums," Turek replied.

"Ashley Hinson, meanwhile, hasn't held an in-person town meeting since she decided to run for the US Senate. Also, in my first three years in the House, I had a more than 90 percent attendance record," Turk continued.

"I want to ask again, but why did you lose those votes?" The presenter repeated

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"I've been out on the campaign trail. I'll be meeting in all 99 Iowa counties. I've done hundreds of in-person town halls. Ashley Hinson, meanwhile, hasn't done that since she ran for the United States Senate. She did one in-person town hall." he said

Hinson disputed the notion that he did not hold any town halls during the campaign cycle.

“I've worked town halls more than a percentage of the time he came to work this year. 42% of the time, the representative of Turk has come to work this year. That's two out of every five business days, Hinson said.

“Ivans, if you're watching tonight, you should know that if you don't show up to work two out of five days, you don't get a promotion. You're getting fired. I'm proud of my bipartisan record of working with both parties to get things across the finish line. "I'm in the top 20 percent of bipartisan lawmakers in Congress, and I have a 99 percent attendance record, even when running a statewide campaign."

Obama supported the Democratic candidate of the state of Iowa in the US Senate against the Republican House of Representatives supported by Trump.

"He also lost 193 votes," Turk chimed in before the moderator continued.

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Hinson's campaign also disputed the idea that he had not held any town halls.

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“Ashley has a 98.8% lifetime voting record, while Josh Turk has a record 42% statehouse voting record this year. Ashley has lost 16% (94 of 553) of committee amendment votes during his tenure in Congress, but has been present on all final approval votes (final approval votes include amendment language) during his time on the Appropriations Committee — 70 bills since 2021."

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