Democratic Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek and Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson disputed their attendance records during a debate Tuesday night in the contest for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat. The exchange followed a question about the state’s rising cancer rates, with Hinson arguing that lawmakers need to attend votes on measures such as pediatric cancer research.
Hinson said she had supported legislation aimed at directing resources toward research into the cancer crisis. She then criticized Turek’s attendance in the state legislature. According to figures reported by Fox News Digital, Turek missed 261 votes between Jan. 12 and May 3, 2026, representing nearly 58% of votes during that period.
Asked by the moderator to explain the missed votes, Turek said he had traveled across Iowa, visiting all 99 counties and participating in hundreds of public forums. He contrasted his campaign activity with Hinson’s, claiming she had not held an in-person town hall since running for Senate. He also said his attendance during his first three years in the legislature was above 90%.
The moderator pressed him again specifically about the votes he missed. Turek repeated that he had been campaigning and meeting Iowans, and again criticized Hinson’s town hall activity.
Hinson rejected his characterization. She said Turek had attended work about 42% of the time that year, and argued that voters would not promote an employee who failed to show up regularly. She also said she had a 99% attendance record in Congress while running a statewide campaign and described her record as bipartisan.
Turek responded that Hinson had missed 193 votes. A Hinson campaign spokesperson later told Fox News Digital that this number covered Hinson’s entire congressional tenure, whereas the 261 votes attributed to Turek applied only to the 2026 legislative session.
The campaign also disputed Turek’s claim that Hinson had not held in-person town halls. Communications director Billy Fuerst said Hinson had conducted 47 in-person town halls and more than 30 telephone town halls since entering Congress.
Fuerst said Hinson’s lifetime voting record was 98.8%, while Turek’s voting record in the Iowa House for the year was 42%. He further said Hinson missed 94 of 553 committee amendment votes, or 16%, during her time in Congress, but had attended every final-passage vote on the Appropriations Committee since 2021, covering 70 bills. The spokesperson said final-passage votes include the amendment language.
The figures cited by the campaigns cover different periods and types of votes, and the debate exchange did not establish a single directly comparable measure. Turek and his campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. The debate took place as the two lawmakers seek their parties’ nominations for the open Senate seat.
