Iowa Senate debate: Fact-checking Hinson, Turek on missed votes, ‘shadow lobbyist’ and farm bill

In the final debate of Iowa’s U.S. Senate election, the candidates drew on familiar attacks, with Democrat Josh Turek questioning Republican Ashley Hinson’s wealth, and Hinson targeting Turek for absenteeism as an elected official.

Hinson pointed out Turek’s missed votes on agriculture and rural healthcare bills in the Iowa House of Representatives this year. 

Turek accused Hinson of contributing to a “corruption crisis” in Washington, D.C., pointing out her husband’s work in political advocacy and her taxpayer-funded apartment in the capital.

WHO-13 hosted the debate in Des Moines. 

The candidates hashed out attacks that have blanketed Iowa’s airwaves as super PACs have paid tens of millions of dollars for advertising in the competitive race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst. 

PolitiFact fact-checked some claims from the debate.

Hinson: “42% of the time is all Representative Turek showed up to work this year, and that’s two out of every five days of work.”

We rated a similar version of this statement True. 

Turek missed 261 out of 445 House floor votes during the 2026 legislative session, which means he was present for 42% of the votes. (When counting actual days, Turek was present 43% of the time). That was the second highest absence rate among Iowa House members. The regular session ended in early May.

In previous years, he missed fewer votes: 9.8% in 2025, 12.2% in 2024 and 5.4% in 2023. 

Turek said he missed those votes because he has been campaigning.

“I’m out meeting Iowans all over all 99 counties,” he said. “I’ve done hundreds of in-person town halls.”

Turek: Hinson “missed 193 votes.”

Turek said this as a rebuttal to Hinson saying he missed votes, but it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.

Hinson counted Turek’s missed floor votes in 2026. Turek referred to all of Hinson’s floor and committee votes since she took office in 2021. 

Looking at just House floor votes, Hinson has missed relatively few. She missed 33 roll-call votes, or about 1.1%, since 2021. So far this year, she has missed five floor votes out of 314.

Hinson: Turek “didn’t even show up to vote for the Iowa Farm Bill.”

This is accurate. 

Hinson appears to be referring to SF 2465, named the Iowa Farm Act. The National Republican Senate Committee similarly mentioned Turek’s missed vote on the “Iowa Farm Bill” in a Sept. 30  press release and linked to a vote count for SF 2465. Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the comprehensive agricultural policy package into law June 1. 

The vote was held May 2, and the House journal lists Turek as “absent or not voting.” The House journal also says he was granted a leave of absence during voting. He filed a comment saying he would have voted for the bill if he had been present. 

Turek: “She also took $50,000, even though she’s a multimillionaire, in taxpayer dollars to give herself a luxury (Washington) D.C. apartment.”

This needs context. 

Hinson used a congressional program that covers certain living costs, taking $50,000 over three years to pay for an apartment that is priced very close to the current average cost of housing in Washington, D.C.

The Daily Mail reported in July that Hinson rents an apartment at a Washington, D.C., complex that describes itself as “upscale Capitol Hill Living” and “luxury.” The building includes a sports court, pool and game room.

The Daily Mail reported Hinson has used $50,000 in taxpayer money since 2023 to pay for lodging. U.S. House members receive an annual taxpayer-funded congressional office budget, which they can use to pay for housing while in Washington.

The rent for the unit was $2,254 a month in 2023, the Daily Mail reported. The current average rent in Washington, D.C. for a one-bedroom apartment is $2,100, according to Zillow.

Turek: Hinson “had her husband operating as a shadow lobbyist.”

This is misleading. 

Hinson’s husband, Matt Arenholz, is an insurance agent. 

As of 2025, the most recent information we could find, Arenholz was chair of the government affairs committee for the Iowa branch of the professional advocacy group Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America. 

Archived issues of the association’s magazine show that Arenholz helped the group arrange a meeting with Iowa’s congressional delegation, including Hinson, in 2023. The meeting was first reported by the Washington Sun, formerly NOTUS. A member of Defend the Vote, a Democratic advocacy group, filed an ethics complaint in September alleging that the meeting violated House ethics rules. 

The available evidence doesn’t show that Hinson used her position to benefit the insurance organization or her husband’s position. It’s not unusual for professional advocacy groups to meet with Iowa’s congressional delegation. 

Hinson’s spokesperson told the Sun the meeting didn’t violate ethics rules, and the campaign told the Quad-City Times that Arenholz’s advocacy role is unpaid.

A lobbyist is defined in federal law as someone who is paid by clients, spends at least 20% of the time on lobbying activities, and makes at least two contacts with a covered federal official seeking to influence policy.

Hinson: “I’m banned from Russia because of my stance on being tough on them and supporting Ukraine.”

This is accurate, but needs context. 

Hinson was not singled out by Russia; 398 members of the U.S. House of Representatives were banned at the same time.

On April 22, 2022, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a permanent travel ban for Hinson and at least 1,000 Americans, including 8 Iowans, as retaliation for U.S. sanctions following Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.