Iowa Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Josh Turek, who calls himself a “common-sense” moderate Democrat, has centered his campaign around — as he puts it — “cost, corruption, and cancer.”
On cost, he promises to focus on bringing down the high cost of necessities for Iowans, like groceries, gas, electricity, rent, car insurance, and health insurance. He proposes banning private equity firms from buying up single-family homes and farmland; speeding up the approval process for affordable housing; raising the minimum wage; and passing legislation to expand and protect collective bargaining rights for workers.
He does not have to say it, since it is obvious to almost everyone, that the current affordability crisis is considerably worsened by Trump Administration tariff policies and the war against Iran.
On corruption, he focuses on campaign finance reform to limit the influence of wealthy donors on elections; supports a ban on stock trading for members of Congress; and proposes ethics reforms for both the federal courts — especially the Supreme Court — and for members of Congress. He draws a direct connection between government corruption and the affordability crisis affecting the people of Iowa.
On cancer, he has focused on Iowa’s rising cancer rates. Iowa is one of two states, along with Tennessee, that has seen rising rates of cancer, which Turek blames on environmental degradation and failures of the healthcare system. He supports expanding rural healthcare access, a public healthcare option, restoring the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, and reversing the Medicaid cuts enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (see the DFA Op-ed by Dr. Dwight Michael in the 10 September issue of the Gettysburg Times).
Meanwhile, Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed campaigns on the same issues of cost, corruption and healthcare.
On costs, he, like Turek, focuses heavily on the need to reduce costs of basic necessities. He also supports policies aimed at raising wages so people can make ends meet without having to hold down multiple jobs; and supports expanding and protecting workers’ collective bargaining rights.
On corruption, he also, like Turek, wants to get the money out of politics. He proposes policies that stop the blatant self-dealing and corruption of President Trump and his cronies. He also supports overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that removed all limits on corporate donations to political campaigns.
On healthcare, the only difference between his policy positions and Turek’s is that he supports moving to an improved Medicare for All single-payer insurance system. He also would like to see programs that cancel burdensome medical debt.
Neither Turek nor El-Sayed identifies himself as a Democratic Socialist. This has not stopped their Republican opponents from claiming that their policy positions are “too extreme,” “Communist,” or “radical,” sometimes using all three characterizations in the same sentence. It has been astonishing to watch over the past couple of months, though, how it is El-Sayed and not Turek who has come to be for Republicans the face of the “Socialism” they claim has taken over the entire Democratic Party. Why is this so, you may ask, since their positions on the issues of cost, corruption, and healthcare that are the main drivers of this election are nearly identical?
It is because, for Trump and the Republican Party faithful now remade in his image, differences in policy positions are not driving this election. The only thing that matters to the MAGA faithful is that El-Sayed is a Muslim. Many Republicans seem to believe that El-Sayed’s faith not only disqualifies him from holding elective office, but even disqualifies him from being an American citizen, and further disqualifies him from both life and liberty. How else can we explain the rising calls from Republicans that he should be shot (said by delegates at the Republican midterm convention), or, at the very least, deported?
Republicans have engaged in a reprehensible campaign of demonization, attributing to El-Sayed — and by association to all Democrats — positions he does not, nor has he ever, held, like wanting to destroy Western civilization, open the borders to terrorists, impose Sharia Law on the country, and abolish prisons.
Experience has taught me that religious bigotry is joined at the hip in this country with racism. Russia expert Tom Nichols explains in an April 2026 Atlantic article how the modern Republican Party has been taken over by far-right extremists who believe that the U.S. is in a religious war with the unbelievers, and how these views have been mainstreamed by Trump. Nichols, a long-time conservative Republican, makes a compelling case that “the GOP has a Nazi problem.”
His solution for this problem is spot on: Republicans need to be punished at the polls. He urges everyone to join him in doing this. I am.
