Ashley Hinson

By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER

Published: 08:51 EDT, 17 October 2026 | Updated: 09:03 EDT, 17 October 2026

Nearly two-thirds of Iowans who spoke to the Daily Mail this week have no plans to vote in next month’s midterms.

Iowa had swung from battleground to Republican stronghold in the Trump era, but Democrats are suddenly competitive in key races here, including the Senate contest between Republican Ashley Hinson and Democrat Josh Turek.

The Daily Mail spent two days traveling in northern Iowa speaking not only with likely voters but also everyday citizens who repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the status quo in Washington.

Among likely voters, Democrats appeared much more energized, while Republicans were not automatically loyal backers of their party's candidate.

Hinson's supporters brought the energy at a get-out-the-vote bus tour stop at the Decker Truck Line corporate headquarters and terminal in Fort Dodge, which the Daily Mail attended.

But a few miles away, in the town’s hollowed-out downtown of empty storefronts, the mood was very different.

Travis Lawson, 36, lives on Social Security and disability.

Travis Lawson spoke with the Daily Mail in Fort Dodge on Wednesday

Mindy, a 49-year-old healthcare worker living in Fort Dodge, Iowa is not planning to vote this year

He’s a Trump fan who ‘likes the way that they do stuff’ and plans to vote Republican. Just not for Hinson.

Mindy, 49, a mother of two and a Fort Dodge resident who works in healthcare after graduating from a local two-year college program, told the Daily Mail that she is not planning to vote this year because when it comes to politicians, 'a lot of them are liars.'

She was also put off by the slew of negative advertisements that she has seen on TV this cycle, as were several other voters who spoke with the Daily Mail.

John Van Weef, from Waterloo, Iowa, who was in Fort Dodge visiting his children, told the Daily Mail that 'politicians are rigged,' and that the economy is 'poor' before gesturing to a crumbling alleyway behind him as evidence of mismanaged infrastructure investment.

Van Weef said he'd vote for himself rather than either party.

Democrats, by contrast, were noticeably out in large numbers on the first day of early voting on Wednesday, and the Daily Mail spoke to several of them outside polling sites in the cities of Nevada and Fort Dodge.

Bill Vogel, 84, told the Daily Mail in Nevada that 'President Trump's corruption' was the main reason he is supporting Democrats this year.

His wife, Mary Kate, 80, presented Trump's use of taxpayer money to 'build monuments to himself' as one example of the 'corruption.'

Bill and Mary Kate Vogel, both Democrats in their 80's voted on Wednesday on Story County hoping to take a stand against what they see as 'corruption' from President Donald Trump

Sydney Rose, 19, a native of Marion, Iowa, is a future educator backing Josh Turek for the US Senate because she appreciates his stance on 'public money going to public schools'

After the first day of early voting, more than 17,000 people had voted, with Democrats outpacing both Republicans and no-party voters.

Although tangible, the figure is not a shock, as Republicans do not typically vote early, even though the gap should increase before election day if more Democrats do.

While nationally Democrats look more enthusiastic to vote than Republicans, the trend reverses in Iowa.

When the sample moved from registered to likely voters, the Democratic lead also shrank in a recent Iowa poll conducted by Marist University.

CNN’s Iowa poll points the same way: likely voters in Iowa want Republicans to control the Senate, 53 percent to 46 percent, and CNN noted signs that Iowa offers a better playing field for Republicans than Ohio, where Trump has also won three times.

A three-term Congresswoman, Hinson is in a statistical dead heat with Turek.

A poll released by Marist University Wednesday found Turek leading his opponent 48 percent to 45 percent.

However, 59 percent of likely statewide voters believed that Hinson would be elected in November.

Turek told his supporters on Thursday in Cedar Falls that 'young people... union workers, people in rural communities and farmers' would make the difference in his race.

Sydney Rose, 19, a native of Marion, Iowa, shared that she is backing Turek because she appreciates his stance on 'public money going to public schools,' as an education major who plans to teach in the Hawkeye State after graduation.

As a younger voter, Rose also shared that she is 'trying to be optimistic' about the future, and believes that a vote for Turek is one to stop the United States from becoming a 'second or third-world country.'