Follow Up: Ashley Hinson's "Reckless Spending" — The Facts and Numbers Confirmed. Josh Turek Is the Senator Iowa Actually Needs.

The Facts, The Receipts

By Christine Nath Cross

June 25, 2026

Josh Turek for U.S. Senate

We weren't expecting this kind of response.

In less than 24 hours, our post about Gary Kroeger's article on Ashley Hinson's "reckless spending" comments reached tens of thousands of people — most of whom had never seen Black Hawk County Democrats before. Thank you to everyone who read it, commented, or shared it. We hope you'll follow us to see more, join the conversation productively, and most importantly, we hope you vote for change in November.

Some skipped the substance entirely and went straight for insults. We're not interested in trading insults. Name-calling doesn't pay down a single dollar of debt, and it doesn't change the facts or what Ashley Hinson's own voting record shows: a clear contradiction between what she says about reckless spending and how she actually votes.

To be clear: we have real respect for Republicans, Independents, and every Iowan willing to engage honestly — disagreement is healthy, and democracy needs it. What we won't do is pretend the facts are negotiable. Opinions are always up for debate. A roll call vote with her name on it isn't an opinion — it's a recorded fact. And when there's no vote to point to, staying silent is also a fact.

"Reckless spending" is an easy phrase to say, and it sounds powerful — until your own votes, or your silence, show you supporting the exact spending you claim to oppose. So let the facts and record speak for themselves.

The $10 billion lawsuit → $1.776 billion fund

Trump sued his own IRS for $10 billion over leaked tax records, then dropped the suit in exchange for a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to compensate people — including January 6th defendants — who claim they were wronged. Straight from the DOJ's own announcement: justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-anti-weaponization-fund. After bipartisan backlash, the DOJ said it would not move forward "as currently structured" — but the plan was real enough that it nearly sank an unrelated immigration bill in the Senate. Ashley Hinson's position: silence.

The $200 billion Iran war

The Pentagon requested a $200 billion supplemental from Congress for the war with Iran, on top of tens of billions already spent. On June 3rd, the House voted on whether to pull U.S. forces out of that war under the War Powers Resolution. Ashley Hinson's position: voted no — see her name on the official record: clerk.house.gov/Votes/2026199

The $70 billion for ICE

Congress passed roughly $70 billion in new ICE/Border Patrol funding — on top of $170 billion already provided the year before — through the Secure America Act, 214-212, with zero Democratic votes. Ashley Hinson's position: voted yes: clerk.house.gov/Votes/2026214

The ballroom, the gold and the party

The White House says private donors are covering the roughly $400 million ballroom, but contractor estimates obtained by the Washington Post put the real cost near $600 million, with $300 million-plus coming from federal sources like the Secret Service. The 250th-anniversary celebration is even clearer: Congress set aside $150 million for the official bipartisan commission, but the Interior Department has steered at least $68 million more in taxpayer funds to a separate, Trump-aligned group running its own version of the party. And the gold? Nobody's claiming taxpayers paid for the paint. But a gilded Oval Office while Medicaid gets cut, premiums spike, and rural hospitals close is its own kind of statement about priorities — one Iowans are entitled to notice. Ashley Hinson's position: silence.

Every dollar figure here checks out, and you can verify all of it yourself. Hinson's full voting record is public: congress.gov/member/ashley-hinson/H001091

Why Josh Turek

Josh Turek represents the reddest district held by any Democrat in the Iowa legislature, and he's done it by being one of the most bipartisan members there — getting things done instead of scoring points.

His platform is built around the things Iowa families actually feel day to day: restoring the Medicaid funding cut by the bill Hinson voted for, protecting ACA subsidies, capping insulin and prescription drug costs, cutting taxes for first-time homebuyers, raising the minimum wage, and soil and water quality conservation. He's also refusing corporate PAC money and pushing to ban members of Congress from trading stock — accountability measures aimed squarely at the kind of Washington dysfunction this article is about.

That's the contrast that matters: one candidate with a voting record full of taxpayer-funded slush funds, wars, and ICE blank checks; one candidate with a record of lowering costs and working across the aisle to actually deliver for Iowa.

You can read Josh Turek's full platform yourself: turek4iowa.com/platform

That's the choice in front of Iowa this November. We'll keep showing you the facts. You can decide for yourself what to do with them.