Iowa state representative, disability advocate, and four-time Paralympian. Turek was born with spina bifida and represented Team USA in wheelchair basketball, winning two Paralympic gold medals before entering elected office.
Serves in the Iowa House representing Council Bluffs and Carter Lake.
Has worked in disability advocacy in addition to his athletic career.
Sponsored Iowa “Work Without Worry” legislation aimed at letting employed people with disabilities keep needed Medicaid coverage while earning and saving more; at a July 24, 2026 ADA-anniversary event he said he would pursue the same basic goal in the U.S. Senate by addressing income and asset limits that can jeopardize Medicaid-funded in-home services.
His legislative record includes votes with Republicans on tax, domestic-abuse, victim-protection, and fentanyl-related measures, according to a 2026 review of his record.
Former President Barack Obama endorsed Turek for U.S. Senate on July 29, 2026 in a campaign video built around a game of basketball; the Associated Press independently reported and linked the original video.
Documented achievements and notable work
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{'title': 'Paralympic career', 'detail': 'A four-time Paralympian in wheelchair basketball who represented Team USA and won Paralympic gold medals.', 'sourceId': 'turek-leg'}
{'title': 'Disability advocacy', 'detail': 'Has worked in disability advocacy and organizations serving people with disabilities in addition to his athletic career.', 'sourceId': 'turek-leg'}
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Former President Barack Obama endorses Josh Turek for U.S. Senate while the two play a basketball game of “I-O-W-A.” The video uses Turek’s Paralympic basketball background and Obama’s history with Iowa as campaign imagery.
IA Fact Check assessment: Verified endorsement — political support, not evidence of candidate performance
The Associated Press independently confirmed the endorsement, described the basketball video, and linked the original YouTube upload. An endorsement is a statement of political support rather than a factual claim proving how Turek would perform in office. IA Fact Check includes it for campaign-media completeness and does not treat the endorser’s support as evidence for or against Turek’s policy record.
Sponsor: National Republican Senatorial Committee and Ashley Hinson campaign · Date: July 23, 2026
The ad calls Turek a “darling of the radical left” and attributes positions on taxpayer-funded transition-related care, benefits for undocumented immigrants, noncitizen voting and school curriculum.
IA Fact Check assessment: Mixed — several conclusions overstate what individual votes prove
Several allegations are built from votes against broad bills or appropriations packages. Those votes are relevant, but they do not automatically establish affirmative support for every opposite policy in the package. The site’s claim reviews below separate the documented vote from the motive or policy conclusion the ad assigns to it.
Sponsor: Ashley Hinson campaign · Date: June 2, 2026
Released after the primary, the ad attacks multiple pieces of Turek’s record, including the assertion that he voted to allow children to change gender without parental consent.
IA Fact Check assessment: Materially misleading on the parental-consent inference
Turek voted against SF 496, a broad education law containing parental-notification requirements plus classroom and library provisions. The vote proves opposition to the package. It does not, standing alone, establish the broader motive or universal policy position assigned in the ad.
Sponsor: National Republican Senatorial Committee · Date: June 3, 2026
The montage uses Turek clips about historically high top marginal tax rates, a wealth tax, an assault-weapons ban, an easier pathway to citizenship and opposition to DHS funding, then packages them as a broader “radical” agenda.
IA Fact Check assessment: Mixed — quotations are real; several labels are extrapolations
The quoted policy statements in the NRSC transcript are substantive and fair to scrutinize. But “easier pathway to citizenship” is not the same proposition as allowing noncitizens to vote, and a statement opposing DHS funding requires context before it can be reduced to opposition to border enforcement as a whole. The video mixes authentic positions with broader campaign labels.
Sponsor: National Republican Senatorial Committee · Date: July 15, 2026
The ad says Turek said “no” to rural hospitals and instead would give free health care to undocumented immigrants with taxpayer dollars.
IA Fact Check assessment: Materially misleading conjunction
The federal reconciliation law at issue does contain a $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. It also contains much larger Medicaid and health-coverage reductions; CRS estimates the law’s health provisions reduce federal outlays by about $1.1 trillion over ten years. Opposing or seeking to repeal that broad law is therefore not equivalent to opposing rural hospitals. The NRSC release also does not identify a Turek proposal that proves the categorical “free health care to illegal immigrants” claim.
Sponsor: National Republican Senatorial Committee · Date: August 2026
The social video attacks Turek for missing nearly 60% of votes in the Iowa House, including a farm-bill vote, while seeking a U.S. Senate seat.
IA Fact Check assessment: Substantially supported — timeframe must be stated
Independent reporting found that from January 12 through May 3, 2026, Turek missed 261 Iowa House votes, accounting for nearly 60% of the chamber’s votes in that period. That supports the time-bounded attendance criticism, but it should not be silently generalized to his entire legislative career. Missing roll calls is also more precise than saying he did no legislative work at all.
Sponsor: Republican Party of Iowa · Date: August 2026
The Iowa GOP uses Turek’s remarks about high historical top marginal rates and a wealth tax to say he wants to raise taxes on Iowa families.
IA Fact Check assessment: Context needed — tax target is broader in the attack than in the quoted remarks
The underlying statements support saying Turek favors higher taxes on at least some high earners or large concentrations of wealth. They do not, by themselves, establish an across-the-board tax increase on ordinary Iowa families. A precise attack should identify which incomes, assets or provisions would actually face higher taxes.
Sponsor: Republican Party of Iowa · Date: August 10, 2026
The Iowa GOP launched a statewide “Turek’s Too Liberal” tour that bundles several attacks: that Turek missed 58% of House votes in a defined 2026 period, missed votes involving veterans and agriculture, supported public benefits for undocumented immigrants, opposed parental-notification requirements in school gender policy, and voted for tax-policy changes Republicans characterize as making tax increases easier.
IA Fact Check assessment: Mixed — attendance claim substantially supported; “too liberal” is political opinion
The umbrella label “too liberal” is a political judgment, not a testable fact. The attendance allegation is supported when stated with its January 12–May 3, 2026 timeframe: existing reporting reviewed on this page found 261 missed House votes, nearly 60% of votes in that window. The policy allegations should be evaluated vote-by-vote because several arise from votes on broad bills or packages; a vote against or for an omnibus measure does not automatically prove every motive or policy conclusion assigned by an opponent.
“Missed Vote of the Day” series
Sponsor: Ashley Hinson for Iowa · Date: July 28–August 10, 2026
Hinson’s campaign continued a daily series highlighting individual roll calls Turek missed, including criminal sentencing, taxes, property-tax relief, college policy, health care, public-benefit oversight and commercial-driver requirements.
IA Fact Check assessment: Attendance fact is checkable; policy labels require bill-by-bill context
The series establishes a set of specific absences when matched to official House roll calls. What those absences mean is narrower: not voting on a bill is not the same as casting a vote against it, and campaign descriptions such as “protecting students” or “keeping hospitals open” summarize broader legislation through the sponsor’s preferred policy lens. The site preserves the attendance criticism while avoiding conversion of an absence into an affirmative policy position without additional evidence.
Push
Sponsor: Josh Turek for Iowa · Date: April 2026
Turek’s first statewide television ad uses his disability/Paralympic biography and the image of pushing uphill to argue that Iowans are being forced uphill by poor policy decisions from Washington.
IA Fact Check assessment: Political/economic framing — personal biography is checkable; broad causation should be separated
The biographical elements can be checked against his public record. The broader statement that Washington policy is making Iowans’ lives harder is a political/economic causal argument that should be evaluated issue by issue rather than assigned a single literal truth value.
“Turek supports kids changing gender without parental consent.”
Fairness note
A fair criticism is attendance: missed votes became an issue in the Democratic primary and general-election campaign. AP reported that Turek attributed some absences to medical reasons and other obligations. Exact percentages should be checked against the House journals before publication as a standalone statistic.
