By Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in Des Moines Sunday, called for Iowans to bring state Sen. Zach Wahls to the U.S. Senate to help Democrats take on “corruption” in Washington.
Warren said she first met Wahls in 2019 on the Democratic presidential campaign trail, when he “insisted” she come to visit a North Liberty mobile home park, where residents faced major rent hikes for their space on the property after the park was bought by Havenpark Capital. She met with residents like Candi Evans, who was at the Des Moines rally, who told the Massachusetts Democrat about her and her neighbors’ fight to create more protections for mobile home residents during ownership changes.
Warren said during this visit, she “didn’t just hear the story about what it means when private equity buys out housing here in Iowa — I saw it. I saw it firsthand.”
After that trip, Warren said, she came away with two major impressions of Wahls. First, that he was “a guy who was determined to get stuff done,” and that he was someone who was willing to “take on one of the richest industries that walks the face of this earth and make a lifetime enemy out of them” as he was starting his political career.
“Zach knows what he’s in the fight for, and he has the courage to stand up, and he draws his courage from Candi, and from people like Candi, from his neighbors here in Iowa,” Warren said. “Zach is in this fight because he genuinely believes we can make this a country that works better for working people, and that we can do that together. And that’s why I wanted to be here, to be able to support Zach.”
Wahls said the issue he shared with Warren in 2019 was closely tied with his run for the U.S. Senate in 2026. The Iowa senator representing Coralville said he worked on a bill in 2019 at the state Legislature to provide protections for mobile home owners after hearing from constituents impacted by the price spikes in his community. He said the Senate passed a bill on the issue unanimously. But when the proposal was sent to the Iowa House, he said, it stalled.
“Everyone thought it was a done deal, and then I got a text message asking me to a closed-door meeting about my bill, and I will never forget walking into that room,” Wahls said. “The first person I saw was the lobbyist for the big companies, and he’s smirking at me. The second person I saw sitting next to him was a state representative holding my bill, shaking her head. That state representative is now a member of Congress, and she is my Republican opponent in November, Ashley Hinson.”
Hinson, the U.S. representative in Iowa’s 2nd District, is considered the frontrunner to become the GOP Senate nominee in the 2026 election. She has a fundraising lead and endorsements from prominent Republicans including President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, whose seat Hinson aims to fill. Hinson also recently brought national support to Iowa for her campaign as U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune held an event with her in Des Moines Friday touting support for GOP economic policies in the 2025 “One Big, Beautiful Bill” Act.
Wahls said “what made me the angriest” about Hinson’s involvement in the mobile home owner bill was that the campaign funding she received from this lobbyist and affiliates was $1,500, but added, “you will never guess who wrote some of the biggest checks for her campaign for the U.S. House, or who is funding her campaign right now.”
“Is one of the things that this campaign is about, ending the political career of the woman who sold out us for $1,500? You’re damn right it is,” Wahls said.
Wahls also brought up his mothers, Terry Wahls and Jackie Reger, at the event on Mother’s Day, and how his family background led him into politics. Wahls first gained prominence when he spoke on the Iowa House floor in 2011 against a proposed constitutional amendment to ban recognition of same-sex relationships. He said remembering the fear and shame he felt as a child when leaders spoke about “the threat of gay marriage” motivated him to advocate on behalf of his own family and others and to run for office.
“I couldn’t go back in time and reassure that scared eighth-grader in 2004 that everything was going to be OK,” Wahls said. “Can’t do it. What I could do is make sure that every Iowan who feel scared, silent or afraid of the government coming for their family never has to fight that battle alone. That is what this campaign is all about.”
Also read: Iowa City Attorney Isaac Medina Builds Immigration Law Practice with Purpose
Warren endorsed Wahls’ campaign to become the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee in March. He is competing against state Rep. Josh Turek, D-Council Bluffs, in the June 2 primary election.
Some of the discussion on the Democratic primary race has centered on U.S. Senate Democratic leadership. Wahls has stated he would not vote to reelect current Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to lead the Democratic caucus if he wins the U.S. Senate seat in 2026. He has linked Turek’s campaign to Schumer, pointing to the campaign receiving support via third-party ads from the Super PAC VoteVets, which has previously received financial support from other groups affiliated with Senate Democratic leadership.
Wahls directly spoke against Schumer at the event, criticizing his comments in 2016 stating the Democrats could afford to lose rural, working-class voters and win elections through picking up moderates in suburbs, and for spending “$7 million and counting trying to buy this nomination for my opponent.”
Turek has not been endorsed by Schumer — he received the endorsement of former Sen. Tom Harkin, the last Democrat to hold the state’s U.S. Senate seat, on Friday. At a Tuesday debate, Turek criticized Wahls as the “dark money” candidate in the race, pointing to his former position as the executive director of The Next 50, based in New York.
Though the two candidates share the same opinions on many policies — including opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration policy, support for limiting the influence of corporate influence on politics and making healthcare more affordable — Wahls has been positioned as the more progressive candidate in the primary because of his stance opposing Schumer and current Senate Democratic priorities. During the Sunday event, Warren did not bring up Turek or Schumer by name, but said “corruption, plain and simple,” is the reason why elected officials are not addressing any of the problems voters sent them to Washington, D.C. to solve.
“The only way we are ever going to beat it back is to call it out and to turn down the money,” Warren said.
Republicans have called the Iowa Democratic Senate primary a “proxy war” between progressive and moderate Democrats in Congress. A statement from the National Republican Senatorial Committee linked Warren’s support for Wahls in Iowa to Democrat Graham Platner’s victory in the Maine Senate primary in April.
“The next battle in the Schumer vs. Bernie Sanders wing proxy war is being fought in Iowa as Elizabeth Warren spends Mother’s Day with Zach Wahls and his two moms,” NRSC Regional Press Secretary Samantha Cantrell said in a statement. “Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren’s candidates are building clear momentum, and it will be up to Chuck Schumer to get Turek over the finish line.”
Even after Iowa lost its first-in-the-nation spot in the Democratic presidential nominating cycle in 2024, politicians visiting Iowa bring implications beyond the 2026 election cycle. Warren was a regular visitor to Iowa in the 2020 nominating cycle. and came in third place in the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses behind former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, garnering more support than former President Joe Biden who eventually won the Democratic nomination and 2024 general election.
Warren and Wahls are also holding a healthcare roundtable in Des Moines Monday.
Stay in the know with stories that matter — visit HolaAmericaNews.com for the latest news, culture, and community updates!
Facebook Comments