U.S. Senate candidate Josh Turek and three of the four Democrats running for U.S. House in Iowa raised more money than their Republican competitors during the most recent campaign finance reporting period, according to reports published by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) this week. The reports are for the FEC’s second quarter, which covers the period from April 1 to June 30.
Turek’s campaign reported raising $2,813,428 during the latest reporting period, while the Republican candidate Ashley Hinson reported raising $2,059,828. This is the first time Turek, who launched his campaign last August, has raised more money than Hinson during a reporting period.
For almost all the time covered in the new reports, Turek, a two-term state representative from Council Bluffs, was running in a competitive race against state Sen. Zach Wahls of Coralville for the Democratic nomination for Senate. During this year’s first FEC campaign finance reporting period (Jan. 1-March 31), Turek raised $1,122,303, which was $222 more than Wahls raised. In the June 2 primary, Turek defeated Wahls, winning 63 percent of the vote and carrying 96 of the state’s 99 counties.
In the Republican Senate primary, Hinson, who is in her third term representing northeast Iowa in Congress, faced Jim Carlin, a long-shot candidate best known for being the long-shot candidate Chuck Grassley defeated by a landslide in the 2022 Republican Senate primary. Hinson beat Carlin by 1 percentage point more than Grassley did, winning 74 percent of the vote. During Q1 this year, Hinson raised $2,375,039.
Hinson has raised substantially more money overall during this election cycle than Turek. Hinson has raised $10,262,866, while Turek has raised $6,276,527. Hinson finished the reporting period with $6,749,491 on hand. Turek had $2,362,314.
Both major party candidates for Congress in Iowa’s 1st District faced long-shot candidates as well in the primary, but three-term Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democrat Christina Bohannan, who is challenging Miller-Meeks for the third time, focused on the general election, not engaging with their primary opponents. As she did in the Q1, Bohannan raised more money than Miller-Meeks.
During the three-month period covered by the new reports, Bohannan raised $1,405,505 and Miller-Meeks raised $1,027,858. The Bohannan campaign also finished the reporting period with more cash on hand: $5,425,318 compared to Miller-Meeks’ $4,691,481.
Sarah Trone Garriott, the Democrat challenging two-term Republican incumbent Zach Nunn in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, raised more money than Nunn for the second straight reporting period. In Q1, Trone Garriott raised $1,692,441 and Nunn raised $1,267,750. In Q2, Trone Garriott outraised Nunn, $1,401,027 to $722,310. The three-term Iowa state senator also finished the quarter with more cash on hand than Nunn. Trone Garriott’s campaign reported having $3,859,683 as of June 30, while Nunn had $3,568,369.
While the Democrats in the 1st and 3rd Districts have outraised their Republican opponents all of this year, that didn’t happen in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District until Q2. In the first quarter, Joe Mitchell, a former Trump administration appointee with ties to Turning Point USA, easily outraised all of Republicans and Democrats running for the open seat in the district Ashley Hinson currently represents. Mitchell, who received an early endorsement from President Trump, collected $627,083. State Rep. Lindsay James, the leading fundraiser among Democratic candidates in the district, raised $288,009. Mitchell and James won their respective primaries on June 2.
In Q2, James raised $755,587 and Mitchell raised $377,769. Mitchell, however, still had the advantage when it came to cash-on-hand at the end of the quarter. As of June 30, Mitchell reported $895,564 in the bank, while James had $755,838.
Iowa’s 4th District, which covers the western part of the state, is one of the most solidly Republican congressional districts in the country. It is the only one of the state’s congressional districts not considered competitive in November’s election. In Q2, Republican Chris McGowen raised $43,221 and Democrat Dave Dawson raised $37,364. McGown finished the quarter with $328,850 on hand, while Dawson had $49,762.
Since the race for Iowa’s open Senate seat and the races in three of the four congressional districts are considered competitive, it’s possible that Libertarian and independent candidates may play a role in determining which of the major party candidates wins in November. Mariannette Miller-Meeks famously won her first term in Congress by a margin of six votes. In 2024, Miller-Meeks beat Christina Bohannan by only 799 votes.
The potential importance of the third-party candidate was highlighted last month when Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy called the Libertarian candidate in the 2nd District on behalf of the White House and tried to persuade him to drop out of the race. Rick Stewart recorded Kennedy suggesting he could have a job in the Trump administration if he ended his campaign. (It would be illegal for Kennedy to explicitly offer Stewart a job, as the secretary acknowledged during the call.) Stewart refused, and shared a recording of Kennedy’s phone call with the Washington Post.
Stewart remains in the race, although he did not file a campaign finance report for Q2 by the July 15 deadline.
Thomas Laehn, the Libertarian candidate for Senate, did file a report. Laehn is the Greene County Attorney, and the first and only Libertarian candidate in Iowa ever to be elected to any office. He launched his campaign for Senate last October. In Q1 he raised $4,070, and in Q2 he raised $11,485. Laehn’s campaign had $8,334 in the bank as of June 30.
There are independent candidates running for Congress in the 1st and 2nd District. Michael Bridgford, who entered the 1st District race in April, reported raising $189,523 in the quarter, ending it with $124,859 on hand. Dave Bushaw, who is running in the 2nd, raised $12,555 in Q2, almost half the total $26,117 he has raised since launching his campaign last November. He reported having $11,570 in the bank as of June 30.
The only independent candidate ever elected to Congress from Iowa is Albert Raney Anderson, who won in the state’s long-gone 8th District in 1886. He was defeated in the next election.
