Sioux City, Iowa (RI) — Democrat J.D. Scholten is ending his U.S. Senate campaign and endorsing a candidate who entered the race last week. Scholten, who’s from Sioux City, is in the middle of his second term in the Iowa House and has endorsed fellow Iowa House member Josh Turek of Council Bluffs.
In a written statement, Scholten said from the very beginning, he thought a prairie populist athlete from western Iowa would be the best candidate to win in the General Election. Scholten, who played professional baseball in seven countries, came out of retirement and has been pitching for the Sioux City Explorers since last summer. Turek was a member of Team USA’s wheelchair basketball team at four Paralympic Games and played wheelchair basketball in Europe.
Scholten says there’s no better Democrat than Turek to talk about health care issues in the 2026 campaign for Iowa’s U.S. Senate seat. He says he’s stepping aside to make sure Iowa has the best chance to elect a Democratic Senator in 2026.
Three other Democrats are campaigning for the U-S Senate. Nathan Sage of Indianola is executive director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, Zach Wahls is a state senator from Coralville and Jackie Lewis is president of the Des Moines School Board. Republican Senator Joni Ernst said, “Bring it on,” last week when discussing the field of Democrats lining up in hopes of running against her in 2026.
KIWA Staff Photo
