Iowa Democrat Josh Turek skipped key water-quality votes to attend a Schumer-tied VoteVets event, even as he campaigns on the state’s cancer and water crisis.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that state Rep. Josh Turek, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Iowa, missed an Iowa House appropriations vote on May 1 while attending a “Veterans Happy Hour” in Des Moines hosted with VoteVets.
The House vote came 14 minutes after the event was scheduled to begin. Lawmakers approved the measure 65-21. State officials project the package will deliver nearly $320 million in water quality investments over 12 years, including roughly $3.5 million for statewide water quality monitoring.
Turek also skipped the next day’s vote when the House concurred with a Senate amendment on final passage. He is running to replace retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst and faces Rep. Ashley Hinson in a race the Cook Political Report moved from “lean Republican” to a toss-up in August.
On the trail, Turek has made water and cancer central to his pitch. His campaign site promises to “address Iowa’s unique cancer crisis and the water quality crisis that’s driving it,” and lists funding water quality sensors as part of the solution.
A March report from the Iowa Environmental Council and Drake University’s Harkin Institute found several types of cancer associated with high nitrate levels in Iowa drinking water. Iowa has the second-highest rate of new cancer diagnoses in the country.
A July poll found 60 percent of respondents ranked water quality and the environment among their five most important issues. That is the backdrop Turek chose when he left the floor for the Des Moines gathering.
His campaign spokesman did not address the missed water votes. Instead, the spokesman said Turek “is laser-focused on addressing Iowa’s water quality crisis” and “led the charge to invest in water quality sensors, and in the U.S. Senate, he will fight to crack down on the companies that pollute our water and make Iowans sick.”
The same spokesman accused Hinson of repeatedly voting “to weaken the Clean Water Act, loosen[ing] restrictions on the chemical companies that pollute Iowa’s water, and [taking] thousands from chemical companies that have been linked to cancer.” Hinson’s own reply is not in the reporting.
Voters weighing that exchange can also review how Ashley Hinson’s Senate bid has been framed on spending and biography in earlier coverage.
Days before the happy hour, Turek promoted it himself. On April 26 he posted that he comes from a long line of veterans, relies on the VA for care tied to his disability, and was “teaming up with @VoteVets to host a Veterans Happy Hour in Des Moines next week.”
“I come from a long line of veterans, and I rely on the VA for health care related to my disability. I’m teaming up with @VoteVets to host a Veterans Happy Hour in Des Moines next week. Join us,”
Turek is not a veteran. He uses a wheelchair because of spina bifida he attributes to his father’s Agent Orange exposure.
His spokesman called the happy hour “not a fundraiser but a meeting of veterans.” The event page told attendees they could “learn how you can help us organize across Iowa,” and the fine print listed VoteVets Action Fund while pointing to a VoteVets ad.
Federal records described in the reporting show VoteVets has spent nearly $9 million in outside money supporting Turek and given his campaign $10,000. The group’s nonprofit and political arms share a website. Senate Majority PAC, aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, has steered more than $30 million to VoteVets since 2014.
That outside help fits a wider pattern in which national Democrats have tried to steer Iowa’s Senate lane, including when Obama backed Josh Turek with a campaign video even as the state’s politics shifted from 2008.
In April, after a forum, Turek said he wanted “to see all dark money groups get out of politics.” He called VoteVets a “super PAC that has decided to support me” and said his campaign is “not allowed to engage... directly” with it.
Primary rival Zach Wahls accused Schumer and establishment Democrats of trying “to buy” and quietly shape the June 2 primary through VoteVets. Wahls lost by 25 points.
Turek has also kept distance from other national Democratic brands when convenient. Coverage of how Turek refused joint campaigning with Kamala Harris showed the same impulse to localize the brand while national money still flowed.
The Free Beacon had already reported Turek missed a separate May 1 appropriations vote on a bill allocating nearly $13 million to the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, including money for veteran nursing homes and housing assistance.
For that absence, his spokesman blamed rescheduling and a rush to the floor. For the water votes, the campaign offered no parallel explanation, only the water-quality talking points and the attack on Hinson.
Republicans are treating the seat as winnable. Trump-aligned support around Hinson has included pressure and messaging tracked when Trump-backed Senate candidates moved on foreign policy as polls tightened, and when cabinet-level travel hit the state fair circuit to lift GOP prospects.
Earlier reporting also detailed how the Trump administration sent cabinet officials to Iowa to boost Republican candidates ahead of the State Fair, a reminder both parties are playing this race nationally.
Turek asks Iowans to trust him as the candidate who will finally confront polluted water and the cancers tied to it. The record from May shows him off the floor for a VoteVets organizing event when nearly $320 million in projected water investments and millions for monitoring were on the board, then absent again on final concurrence.
He denounces dark money in April, rides nearly $9 million in VoteVets outside spending through a primary his rival said Schumer’s side tried to purchase, and labels a group-tied happy hour a simple veterans meeting while the page pushes organizing and ads.
Campaigns run on themes. Legislatures run on who shows up. Iowa voters now have both the theme and the attendance sheet in front of them.
When a candidate sells a water crisis and then misses the water votes for a Schumer-aligned group’s event, taxpayers should treat the brochure as optional reading and the roll call as the real platform.
