Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate in Iowa’s 2026 general election. His candidacy advanced through the Libertarian convention process and appears on Iowa’s official general-election candidate list.
Ballot-qualified Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate.
Advanced from the Libertarian Party convention in May 2026.
Included here so the Senate race reflects all ballot-listed candidates in the site’s existing race category.
Fairness note
This profile separates documented actions and quotations from campaign interpretation. Where an opponent uses a political label, the label is presented as advocacy rather than converted into a factual finding unless the underlying evidence supports the narrower claim.
U.S. Senate race · public polling · September 28–29, 2026
Quantus likely-voter poll: Hinson 47.1%, Turek 45.8%; gap is within reported sampling uncertainty
What the poll reports: Quantus Insights reports Republican Ashley Hinson at 47.1%, Democrat Josh Turek at 45.8%, Libertarian Thomas Laehn at 1.7%, and 5.4% undecided in its initial Iowa U.S. Senate ballot test. The 1.3-point Hinson–Turek difference is smaller than the pollster's reported full-study margin of error, so IA Fact Check does not treat the numerical edge as a statistically clear lead.
Methodology: Quantus says it completed 738 interviews through SMS invitations to mobile phones on Sept. 28–29. Its ballot analysis excluded 24 respondents who said they would not vote, leaving 714 voters, and results were weighted to Iowa likely-electorate benchmarks. The pollster reports a ±3.8-point full-study margin of error at the 95% confidence level and cautions that subgroup uncertainty is larger.
Other ballot tests: Quantus reports Hinson 48.5% to Turek 46.6% after allocating initially undecided voters who expressed a lean, with Laehn at 1.7% and 3.2% still undecided. A separate two-major-candidate test reports Hinson 48.9% to Turek 46.7%, with 4.4% unsure. None of those differences is larger than the reported full-study margin of error.
How to read it: This is one survey snapshot, not an election result or forecast. Differences from other public polls can reflect field dates, likely-voter screens, sampling, weighting, question wording and survey mode. IA Fact Check records the poll alongside other public polling without ranking the candidates or predicting the election.
What the poll reports: The Trafalgar Group’s September Iowa U.S. Senate survey reports Republican Ashley Hinson at 44.0%, Democrat Josh Turek at 42.1%, Libertarian Thomas Laehn at 3.4% and 10.4% undecided.
Methodology: Trafalgar says the survey was conducted Sept. 16–18 among 1,089 likely general-election voters, with a 5.7% response rate, a reported margin of error of ±2.9 percentage points and 95% confidence.
How to read it: These are survey estimates, not election results or a forecast. The 1.9-point difference between Hinson and Turek is smaller than the poll’s stated overall margin of error. Polls can differ because of sampling, likely-voter screens, weighting and field methods, so this result should be read alongside other public Iowa polling rather than as a guaranteed outcome.
U.S. Senate · Thomas Laehn · 45Q / 45Z · Summit Carbon · September 6, 2026
Laehn is right that federal tax credits are important to carbon-capture economics, but “billions into Rastetter’s accounts” and guaranteed project collapse go beyond the evidence
The claim: At the Iowa State Fair, Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Thomas Laehn said Ashley Hinson supports the federal 45Q and 45Z tax credits, said 45Q would mean billions of taxpayer dollars “will be deposited into the accounts of Bruce Rastetter and his investors,” and said repealing 45Q and 45Z would make Summit Carbon Solutions funding evaporate so “the project collapses.”
What 45Q actually does: The IRS says the carbon-oxide sequestration credit generally starts at $17 per metric ton for qualifying carbon captured and securely stored, with the amount increased fivefold for qualifying facilities/equipment that meet prevailing-wage and apprenticeship requirements — effectively $85 per metric ton in that circumstance. The credit belongs to qualifying taxpayers and can be transferred under federal rules; it is not written as a personal payment to one named investor.
How dependent is Summit? Reuters reported in December 2024 that Summit Carbon Solutions attorney Christina Brusven told Minnesota regulators the project would need to be reassessed if 45Q were repealed, and Reuters described the $85-per-ton credit as central to the project’s financial model. That is strong evidence that 45Q materially affects project economics. It is not the same as proof that repeal automatically or immediately kills the project.
What about 45Z? The IRS describes 45Z as a clean-fuel production credit for qualifying domestic transportation fuel. Iowa lawmakers, including Hinson, signed a March 2026 letter urging federal guidance that would make 45Z workable for agriculture and biofuels. That documents Hinson’s support for making 45Z function for producers, but 45Z is a producer credit with its own eligibility formula; it is not simply a direct pipeline subsidy.
IA Fact Check assessment:Core project-dependence claim supported; personal-payout and certainty language overstated. Federal 45Q incentives are plainly important to Summit’s economics, and eliminating them could force a major reassessment. But the evidence reviewed does not show that “billions” are guaranteed to be deposited personally into Bruce Rastetter’s accounts, and Summit’s own attorney described repeal as requiring reevaluation rather than establishing certain collapse. Laehn’s broader critique of federal subsidies is a policy position; the beneficiary and inevitability assertions are factual claims that require narrower wording.
Suffolk statewide poll keeps Iowa governor and U.S. Senate contests inside sampling error
Suffolk University Political Research Center's Aug. 20–23 survey of 500 likely Iowa midterm voters found Rob Sand 48% / Zach Lahn 44% for governor and Ashley Hinson 45% / Josh Turek 41% for U.S. Senate, with Libertarian Thomas Laehn at 4% in the Senate contest. The reported margin of error is ±4.4 percentage points, so both major-party margins are within the survey's sampling error.
A separate 300-person Suffolk survey in Muscatine County, fielded Aug. 17–19 with a reported ±5.6-point margin of error, showed Sand 48% / Lahn 44% and Hinson 44% / Turek 40%. IA Fact Check treats that county sample as local bellwether context rather than a statewide estimate and does not combine the two samples into a single topline.
IA Fact Check treatment: one independent poll snapshot, not a Hogwash verdict, election forecast or proof of a durable lead. Polling results should be read alongside other public surveys, field dates, samples and methodology.
Iowa Secretary of State live State Fair straw-poll snapshot
Source: Iowa Secretary of State · Snapshot: August 22, 2026
Current U.S. Senate tally: Ashley Hinson (R) 1,700 — 64.22%; Josh Turek (D) 878 — 33.17%; Thomas Laehn (L) 69 — 2.61%.
How to read it: This is an official tally from the Secretary of State’s State Fair participation exercise, but it is unscientific and unofficial. Fairgoers self-select into the poll; it is not a representative sample of Iowa voters, has no reported margin of error and should not be used as a forecast or substitute for scientific polling. Totals can change while the fair remains open.
