# Iowa U.S. Senate 2026 ## Snapshot Open seat after Joni Ernst's 2025 retirement announcement (part of the 2025 GOP retirement cluster that also took out McConnell, Daines, Lummis). **The general-election matchup is set: [[Ashley Hinson]] (R) vs. [[Josh Turek]] (D)**, both nominated in the June 2, 2026 primaries. Hinson had Trump's endorsement and consolidated the Republican field so early that the primary was a formality. Turek beat state senator **Zach Wahls** on the Democratic side — notable because Wahls ran the explicitly anti-establishment campaign, rejecting Senate Democratic leadership with Elizabeth Warren's backing, and lost to the state representative anyway. April 2026 polling had *both* Democrats within the margin against Hinson (46–44 / 46–45), the first time in over a decade Iowa polled as a competitive Senate race. Cook rated it Likely R at that point; it moved to Lean R after the June 2 primaries and is now a **Toss Up** (Cook, Sept 23, 2026). ## Incumbent (retiring) - **[[Joni Ernst]]** (R) — senator since 2015; announced retirement 2025 amid the Trump-era GOP pressure cluster. Former Iowa State Senator and Army veteran. Rose to prominence with the 2014 "Squeal" campaign ad. Not running; has not endorsed a successor. ## Republican primary (June 2, 2026) - **Ashley Hinson** — U.S. Rep. (IA-02) since 2021; former state legislator and TV anchor. Clear favorite. Q1 FEC: raised $1.68M, **$6.5M cash on hand**. Trump alignment is total; campaigning heavily on federal spending and culture-war issues (including birth-control messaging aimed at 2022 Dobbs aftermath). - **Jim Carlin** — former state senator. Minor challenger; $46.7K cash on hand. Will not compete. ## Democratic primary (June 2, 2026) — Turek def. Wahls - **[[Josh Turek]]** — state representative since 2023; two-time Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball; self-described "commonsense prairie populist." **Won the primary** and is the nominee. Raised $677.8K Q4 2025. - **Zach Wahls** — state senator. Raised $742K Q4 2025. National profile from a 2011 viral video defending his two mothers before the Iowa legislature. Ran the outsider / anti-leadership pitch with Elizabeth Warren's endorsement — and lost. - Others filed but trailing. **April 2026 Echelon Insights poll** — Wahls 46, Hinson 44; Turek 46, Hinson 45. Margin of error ±6.6%. The *first time in over a decade* a Democrat has led a public Iowa Senate poll. The primary result is a useful counter-datapoint to the cycle's dominant story. In the same month that Maine Democrats handed a 70% primary win to an oyster farmer with no political office, Iowa Democrats picked the sitting legislator over the self-styled insurgent. "Democratic primary electorates are rejecting establishment picks" is too coarse a rule to survive both results. ## Ratings history - **2026-09-23 — Cook: Toss Up** (Cook print ratings, Sept 23) - 2026-06 — Cook: Lean R (after the June 2 primaries) - 2026-04 — Cook: Likely R - Pre-retirement announcement: Solid R > [!info] Rating re-checked 2026-09-28 > Verified against Cook's Sept 23 print ratings: Toss Up. Iowa is one of five Republican-held Toss Ups (with AK, ME, OH and TX). ## Key dates - 2026-06-02 — Iowa primaries (Hinson and Turek nominated) - 2026-11-03 — general election ## Money - Hinson: $6.5M cash on hand Q1 — well-capitalized - Wahls / Turek: combined Q4 raising over $1.4M — enough to stay competitive through primary - NRSC: expect major deployment if Democratic primary winner consolidates quickly - DSCC: Iowa was not initial priority-state; April polling likely triggers reallocation - Watch: super-PAC activity. Both Turek and Wahls have faced primary criticism over "dark money" super-PAC alignment. ### Outside-money log — FEC Form 24 notices ### Receipt date 2026-10-12 — $1,130,175.90, and Lower Costs Now is 99.66% of it Iowa took **$1,130,175.90** across **2 Schedule E lines** on e-file receipt date **2026-10-12**, and for the first time in several days the balance is positive: **$1,126,344.00 (99.66%) supports [[Josh Turek]]**. | Committee | File | Amount | Direction | Payee | |---|---|---|---|---| | **[[Lower Costs Now]]** | **2020164** | **$1,126,344.00** | **support** [[Josh Turek]] | Waterfront Strategies | | WinSenate | 2020139 | $3,831.90 | oppose [[Ashley Hinson]] | MPWR Media Strategies LLC | > [!tip] Added 2026-10-14 — the mailbox is shared, and the other two committees are in Kansas > 🔴 **PO Box 15845, Washington DC 20003 hosts three federal committees.** Besides > **[[Lower Costs Now]]**: **[[United Futures PAC]]** (C00960385), revealed on receipt date 2026-10-13 as > the source of **$6,250,000.00 — 93.69%** — behind the advertising against [[Roger Marshall]] in > [[KS-Sen-2026]]; and **[[New Path PAC]]** (C00963470), which **registered on 2026-10-13** and has > disclosed nothing. Three committees, three different treasurers, both spenders on **opposite sides** of > the partisan line in their own races. A shared mailbox is evidence of a shared compliance arrangement, > **not proof of common control** — see > [[PO Box 15845 DC Three Committee Cluster October 2026]]. All three Q3 reports are due **2026-10-15**. **[[Lower Costs Now]]** (C00961276, PO Box 15845, Washington DC 20003, treasurer Steven Mele) filed a single-line Form 24 (`F24N`, received 20:17:05), expenditure date **2026-10-10**, aggregate on the row **$4,503,062.91**. It is the third Iowa buy placed through **Waterfront Strategies**, which the vault now has on six committees. ⚠️ **Rule 9 note.** The filing names the candidate `Turek, Joshua`; this vault titles the page [[Josh Turek]], the name he uses in public. `Joshua Turek` is carried as an alias on that page. ⚠️ **First read.** From the 2026-10-12 tranche, swept at 21:00 ET with the receipt date still open (Rule 6, partial-day clause). ### Receipt date 2026-10-09 — $5,061,574.09, and SLF PAC takes over the anti-Turek buy Iowa took **$5,061,574.09** across **20 Schedule E lines** on e-file receipt date **2026-10-09** — **$4,579,226.60 (90.47%) negative**, **$482,347.49 (9.53%) positive**. **$4,532,615.03 of it is aimed at [[Josh Turek]]**, and **SLF PAC alone is $4,367,317.49 of that**. | Committee | File | Amount | Direction | |---|---|---|---| | **SLF PAC** | **2019082** | **$4,367,317.49** | oppose [[Josh Turek]] | | Government That Works PAC | 2019083 | $494,736.30 | **support** [[Josh Turek]] $448,400.74 · oppose [[Ashley Hinson]] $46,335.56 | | [[AFP Action]] | 2018837 | $132,850.79 | oppose [[Josh Turek]] | | [[America PAC]] | 2019090 | $64,893.50 | oppose [[Josh Turek]] $32,446.75 · **support** [[Ashley Hinson]] $32,446.75 | | [[WinSenate]] | 2019121 | $1,500.00 | **support** [[Josh Turek]] | | Neighbor Voices PAC | 2019039 | $276.01 | split, both sides | **Derived total: $5,061,574.09.** [[Flexpoint Media]] carried **$3,027,683.12** of the SLF position and Majority Strategies LLC a further $1,175,000.00. The [[Waterfront Strategies]] concentration recorded for receipt date 2026-10-08 does **not** repeat here: the day's anti-Turek money runs through SLF PAC's own vendor stack instead, and [[WinSenate]] — which put $5,706,524.68 into this race the day before — spends **$1,500.00**. On this one day the Republican-aligned side outspends the Democratic-aligned side in Iowa by roughly **9.4 to 1**. These rows are not summed into a race total. This is a **partial-day first read** of receipt date 2026-10-09, taken while that day's filings were still arriving, so the figure may rise as late filings post. Sources: `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2019082.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2019083.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2018837.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2019090.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2019121.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2019039.fec` ### Receipt date 2026-10-08 — $9,079,883.56, and 98.17% of it is negative Iowa took **$9,079,883.56** across **17 Schedule E lines** on e-file receipt date **2026-10-08** — **$8,913,292.44 (98.17%) negative**, against **$166,591.12** positive. **$8,720,924.44 of it is aimed at [[Ashley Hinson]]** from two committees sharing one vendor. | Committee | File | Amount | Direction | Payee | |---|---|---|---|---| | **[[WinSenate]]** | **2018482** | **$3,256,524.68** | oppose [[Ashley Hinson]] | [[Waterfront Strategies]] | | VoteVets | 2018369 | **$2,847,580.69** | oppose [[Ashley Hinson]] | [[Waterfront Strategies]] | | **[[WinSenate]]** | **2018482** | **$2,450,000.00** | oppose [[Ashley Hinson]] | Trilogy Interactive LLC | | [[America PAC]] | 2018497 | $192,368.00 | oppose [[Josh Turek]] | The Baker Group LLC | | CFFE PAC | 2018580 | $157,166.20 | oppose [[Ashley Hinson]] | Agency | | CFFE PAC | 2018580 | $112,500.00 | support [[Josh Turek]] | The Outreach Team Inc. | | Progressive Turnout Project | 2018317 | $42,716.11 | support [[Josh Turek]] | Merrimack Services LLC | | CFFE PAC | 2018580 | $11,375.01 | support [[Josh Turek]] | The Pivot Group, Inc. | | VoteVets | 2018369 | $9,652.87 | oppose [[Ashley Hinson]] | MPWR Media Strategies LLC | **Derived total: $9,079,883.56.** Arithmetic checked line by line against the filed documents. 🔴 **[[Waterfront Strategies]] placed $6,104,105.37 against [[Ashley Hinson]] on this date for two different committees** — [[WinSenate]] and VoteVets — on the same expenditure date, **2026-10-06**. The [[WinSenate]] portion is recorded at [[WinSenate 19.2M Senate Map IE October 2026]], where Iowa is the largest of six Senate positions. The aggregate columns on these rows are not summed into an Iowa race total. These are a **first read** of receipt date 2026-10-08. Sources: `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2018482.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2018369.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2018497.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2018580.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2018317.fec` ### Receipt date 2026-10-07 — $2,734,004.40, [[AFP Action]] escalates against [[Josh Turek]] | Committee | File | Amount | Direction | Payees | |---|---|---|---|---| | **[[AFP Action]]** | **2017989** | **$1,553,429.50** | oppose [[Josh Turek]] | [[In Pursuit Of]] | | **[[AFP Action]]** | **2017989** | **$678,429.50** | support [[Ashley Hinson]] | [[In Pursuit Of]] | | **[[AB PAC]]** | **2018051** | **$422,497.99** | **support** [[Josh Turek]] | [[AdQuick]] / [[Lamar Companies]] / Target Platform | | [[AFP Action]] | 2017989 | $53,608.98 / $26,038.43 | IA-01 support Miller-Meeks / oppose Bohannan | [[In Pursuit Of]] | | [[High Plains PAC]] | 2017843 | *$257,500.00 / $257,500.00* | support [[Ashley Hinson]] / oppose [[Josh Turek]] | [[Advocacy Architects]] | **Derived total, new money: $2,734,004.40.** Anti-Turek $1,579,467.93 · pro-Hinson $732,038.48 · pro-Turek $422,497.99. ⚠️ **The [[High Plains PAC]] $515,000 is NOT new money** — Q3 report file 2017843 identically restates Form 24 **2014017**, logged 2026-09-19, both unflagged originals. See FEC Back-Sweep Standard **Rule 4h**. Excluded from the total. See [[AFP Action 16.2M Senate Map IE October 2026]] and [[AB PAC 22.8M Billboard IE October 2026]]. ### Receipt date 2026-10-06 — $1,957,743.69 across 28 lines, and Hinson's side outspends by 2.2x | Committee | File | Amount | Direction | Payee | Lines | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | [[Fight On Iowa]] | 2017369 | **$1,104,195.00** | support [[Ashley Hinson]] | Flexpoint Media $1,084,195.00; Something Else Strategies LLC | 3 | | [[Fight On Iowa]] | 2017369 | **$9,500.00** | oppose [[Josh Turek]] | Something Else Strategies LLC | 1 | | [[America PAC]] | 2017609 | **$369,838.84** | oppose [[Josh Turek]] | part of a 114-line national notice | 6 | | [[America PAC]] | 2017609 | **$20,267.72** | support [[Ashley Hinson]] | part of the same notice | 4 | | other committees, not read at file level | — | **$453,942.13** | mixed | — | 14 | **Derived from the day's full Schedule E tranche: $1,341,299.93 supporting [[Ashley Hinson]] across 8 lines, and $616,443.76 against [[Josh Turek]] across 12 lines** — plus a separate $369,838.84 / $246,604.92 split the FEC's own candidate-name coding breaks into two Turek entries, which the derivation above treats as one candidate per Rule 9. Pro-Hinson money outran anti-Turek money by **roughly 2.2 to 1**. **[[Fight On Iowa]]'s notice runs 99.1% positive**, the inverse of the split-to-the-cent pattern the 2026-10-05 sweep documented across four other committees and the inverse of its own 2026-09-29 notice. **Flexpoint Media took 97.3%** of the positive money — the same buyer that has placed 85.1% of [[Texas PAC]]'s $133.6M. Expenditure date on the notice is **2026-10-07**, forward-dated by a day. **Nothing new arrived against Hinson on this date.** The three-committee anti-Hinson cluster recorded on 2026-10-04 and 2026-10-05 — [[Fight On Iowa]]'s opponents, [[Project Bullhorn PAC]] and [[American Meat Producers PAC]] — filed nothing here. **That trigger did not fire again.** The aggregates ($6,553,650.24 / $6,563,150.24 / $1,991,872.98) are **not** published as race or committee totals. This is a first read of receipt date 2026-10-06, checked twice on 2026-10-07 with identical results. Sources: `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2017369.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2017609.fec` ### Receipt date 2026-10-05 — $1,708,500.00 against Hinson in a single line, and a third committee **[[American Meat Producers PAC]]** (C00929828, 12774 Wisteria Dr #1088, Germantown MD, treasurer Justin Phillips) disclosed **$1,708,500.00 in one Schedule E line opposing [[Ashley Hinson]]** — the **largest single independent-expenditure line on receipt date 2026-10-05** anywhere in the country. | Committee | File | Amount | Direction | Payee | |---|---|---|---|---| | **[[American Meat Producers PAC]]** | **2017130** | **$1,708,500.00** | **oppose** [[Ashley Hinson]] | Lever Communications | | [[Fight On Iowa]] | 2017022 | $57,500.00 | support [[Ashley Hinson]] | not read at file level | | not read at file level | — | $245,872.10 | oppose [[Ashley Hinson]] | — | | not read at file level | — | $98,552.02 | oppose [[Josh Turek]] | — | The American Meat Producers row carries expenditure date **2026-10-03**, election code `G2026`, and a running aggregate of **$1,708,500.00** equal to the row amount — a first reported expenditure under Rule 4. 🔴 **The anti-Hinson trigger fires a second time, and the money is an order of magnitude larger.** The 2026-10-04 run set "a second notice opposing Ashley Hinson, from any committee" and recorded [[Project Bullhorn PAC]] at $127,500.00. This is the third committee in two receipt dates: | Committee | Receipt date | Against Hinson | |---|---|---| | [[Fight On Iowa]] | 2026-10-04 | $287,447.50 (split to the cent with $287,447.50 **for** her) | | [[Project Bullhorn PAC]] | 2026-10-04 | $127,500.00 | | **[[American Meat Producers PAC]]** | **2026-10-05** | **$1,708,500.00** | > [!warning] No source beyond the filing, and no motive established > A targeted press search for this expenditure returned nothing. An agriculture-named committee spending > $1.7M against a Trump-, Thune- and Reynolds-endorsed Republican nominee is not a pattern the vault has an > explanation for, and it does not invent one. The committee's funder is undisclosed and its quarterly > obligation may place that disclosure after election day. Figures are a **first read** of receipt date 2026-10-05 per Rule 6. Sources: `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2017130.fec` ### Receipt date 2026-10-04 — $832,955.65, and the second notice against Hinson | Committee | Amount | Direction | Vendor | Lines | File | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | [[Fight On Iowa]] | **$574,895.00** | $287,447.50 support [[Ashley Hinson]] / $287,447.50 oppose [[Josh Turek]] | [[Flexpoint Media]] $571,375.00 · Something Else Strategies LLC $3,520.00 | 4 | 2016818 | | [[Project Bullhorn PAC]] | **$255,000.00** | $127,500.00 support [[Josh Turek]] / $127,500.00 oppose [[Ashley Hinson]] | Influist, Inc $130,000.00 · Taskforce $125,000.00 | 4 | 2016771 | | SLF PAC | $3,060.65 | oppose [[Josh Turek]] | Creative Direct; FCG Media Strategies LLC | 1 | 2016717 | Expenditure date **2026-10-02** throughout. **Pro-Hinson $287,447.50 · anti-Hinson $127,500.00 · pro-Turek $127,500.00 · anti-Turek $290,508.15.** 🔴 **The anti-Hinson trigger has fired.** The 2026-10-04 watch item asked for *"a second notice opposing Ashley Hinson, from any committee"* after WinSenate's $1.5M on 2026-10-03 — the first dollar spent against her recorded anywhere in this vault. [[Project Bullhorn PAC]] (C00947374, 490 Post Street Ste 500 #3072, San Francisco; treasurer Laurie Van Hall) is that second notice, and it is a different committee using different vendors — digital and field, not broadcast. Two committees in two days is an entry, not a probe. > [!important] Fight On Iowa files from Texas PAC's mailbox > [[Fight On Iowa]]'s Form 24 header gives **#134-7415 SW Pkwy, Bldg 6 Ste 500, Austin TX 78735**. > [[Texas PAC]] — the $133.6M anti-[[James Talarico]] committee — is registered at **7415 SW Pkwy Bldg 6 > Ste 500-134, Austin TX 78735**. Same building, same suite, same mailbox number, differently formatted. > The treasurers differ (Nancy Rennaker here, Cabell Hobbs there). > > This is almost certainly the Hobbs compliance operation's address rather than a funding link, and the > vault already applies that limit to the Hobbs network (treasurer of record for 299 committees). It is > recorded because it is a harder fact than the shared [[Flexpoint Media]] buyer already noted on > [[Fight On Iowa]], and because the two committees filed on the same receipt date. The aggregates on these rows are not race or committee totals. Sources: `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2016818.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2016771.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2016717.fec` **Receipt date 2026-10-02 — $4,918,099.89 across 6 lines, 100% of it opposing [[Josh Turek]].** Figures derived from the raw filings; memo-flagged rows excluded per FEC Back-Sweep Standard Rule 4d. | Committee | Amount | Direction | Lines | File | |---|---|---|---|---| | SLF PAC | **$4,794,569.23** | oppose [[Josh Turek]] | 4 | 2016506 | | [[America PAC]] | $123,530.66 | oppose [[Josh Turek]] | 2 | 2016516 | Prior tranche, receipt date 2026-09-25: SLF PAC **$4,623,590.77** opposing [[Josh Turek]] across 4 lines (file 2015242). **SLF PAC alone has placed $9,418,160.00 against him across two notices nine days apart** — see [[SLF 22.5M Senate IE October 2026]] and [[SLF 23.6M Senate IE September 2026]]. No committee has filed a notice supporting him in either tranche. The aggregate column on these rows ($23,439,876.64 on the October filing) is **not** to be read as an Iowa race total. A daily figure is a first read of that receipt date and may rise as late filings post. Sources: `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2016506.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2016516.fec` ### Receipt date 2026-10-03 — $3,590,899.88 across 15 lines, and the first money against Hinson | Committee | Amount | Direction | Vendor | Lines | File | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | [[WinSenate]] | **$1,500,000.00** | oppose [[Ashley Hinson]] | Trilogy Interactive LLC | 1 | 2016676 | | [[AFP Action]] | **$1,214,974.49** | oppose [[Josh Turek]] | In Pursuit Of, LLC and mail houses | 8 | 2016600 | | [[AFP Action]] | $875,925.39 | **support** [[Ashley Hinson]] | In Pursuit Of, LLC and mail houses | 6 | 2016600 | **Totals: $1,500,000.00 against [[Ashley Hinson]]; $1,214,974.49 against [[Josh Turek]]; $875,925.39 for [[Ashley Hinson]]; $0.00 for [[Josh Turek]].** 🔴 **This is the first independent expenditure opposing [[Ashley Hinson]] recorded on this page.** Every prior tranche in this file is money spent against [[Josh Turek]] — SLF PAC alone has placed $9,418,160.00 against him across two notices. [[WinSenate]]'s single $1,500,000.00 line through Trilogy Interactive LLC is the Democratic side entering the race in the general, five weeks out, in a state no Democrat has won a Senate race in since 2008. [[AFP Action]]'s Iowa position is **$2,090,899.88** of its $10,490,289.14 notice, split $875,925.39 support / $1,214,974.49 oppose — a mail and field program, 90.3% of the notice through In Pursuit Of, LLC with the United States Postal Service as second-largest payee. See [[AFP Action 10.5M Senate Map IE October 2026]]. The aggregate column ($14,811,374.57 on the WinSenate row, $8,987,086.54 on the AFP Action rows) is **not** to be read as an Iowa race total. These are **first reads**. Sources: `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2016676.fec` · `docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/posted/2016600.fec` ## Intel notes - **Farm economy is the structural story**: tariff-driven soybean and corn price pressure has created sustained economic anxiety in rural Iowa counties, which Hinson needs to win comfortably in the general. Democrats are framing Hinson as a Trump-tariff apologist; Hinson is framing her opponents as coastal-elite cultural outsiders. - **Birth control as wedge**: Hinson has moved to preempt Democratic attacks on reproductive rights by pushing federal legislation to explicitly protect contraception access. The move is defensive but calculated. - **Post-primary consolidation**: Turek won without the Warren-backed insurgent lane, which should make consolidation easier than a bitter ideological split would have — but he also spent the primary raising against a well-funded rival while Hinson banked a $6.5M head start. - **Historical baseline**: No Democrat has won an Iowa Senate race since Tom Harkin in 2008. Every statewide office is currently held by Republicans. ## Related KB entities - [[Joni Ernst]] — retiring incumbent - [[Ashley Hinson]] — Republican nominee - [[Josh Turek]] — Democratic nominee - [[Troy Jackson]] — the parallel labor-populist Democratic nominee in [[ME-Sen-2026]] - TBD: Iowa Farm Bureau / agricultural ecosystem map - TBD: 2025–2026 GOP retirement cluster (Concepts/ entry across Ernst, Daines, McConnell, Lummis, Tillis) ## Content leads - **Blog**: Iowa's tariff-economy realignment — is rural-blue-ness coming back? - **[[YouTube]]**: Zach Wahls's decade-long arc from 2011 viral video to 2026 Senate bid — a Gen-Z Democratic case study - **Breaking**: June 2 primary night is the highest-stakes night of the Super Primary - **Merch**: hedge merch opportunities in both directions; wait for primary winner ## Sources - [Iowa Capital Dispatch — Hinson/Wahls file petitions (March 2026)](https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2026/03/11/u-s-senate-candidates-ashley-hinson-zach-wahls-submit-petitions-for-iowa-primary-ballot/) - [Newsweek — Dems lead Hinson in April poll](https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-edge-out-republican-ashley-hinson-in-iowa-senate-race-poll-11858851) - [NBC News — Wahls/Turek debate and super-PAC dynamic](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/democrats-fighting-iowa-senate-seat-tussle-over-chuck-schumer-and-super-pacs-rcna266891) - [The Hill — Hinson and birth control framing](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5841194-hinson-iowa-senate-race-birth-control/)