(KIWA Staff Photo)Iowa (RI) — Former Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O’Malley is in Iowa this week, campaigning with Democrats running for the U.S. Senate and in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.
O’Malley, who led the agency during the Biden Administration, says Social Security is a defining issue in the U.S. Senate race between Democrat Josh Turek and Republican Ashley Hinson.
Turek supports raising the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes to stabilize the system beyond 2032.
Turek and O’Malley are criticizing a 2024 vote Hinson took to cut Social Security’s budget by $452 million. Hinson’s campaign says the 4% reduction targeted excessive adminstrative costs and overhead.
O’Malley and Turek spoke Wednesday morning at a Des Moines retirement community. O’Malley told the crowd that while he was commissioner, he focused on increasing staff to reduce wait times — but since 2025, about 12% of the agency’s staff has been forced to retire early or leave.
Turek began his remarks by again pledging to eliminate the cap that applies Social Security taxes only to the first $184,000 of annual income.
O’Malley is campaigning Wednesday afternoon in Cedar Rapids with Lindsay James, the Democrat running for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. O’Malley says Iowa Democrats have nominated candidates who represent a new generation of leadership.
O’Malley ran for president in 2016, holding 173 campaign events in Iowa before finishing third in the Democratic Caucuses behind Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
