Thune Stumps for Hinson as Senate GOP Treats Iowa as Make-or-Break Battleground

On Friday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune sat down at a bar and grill in Sioux City, Iowa, alongside Rep. Ashley Hinson and about a half dozen local workers. It was his latest stop in an effort to shore up Republican candidates before Election Day, and he made the case plainly: the Senate majority, he said, must run through Iowa.

That is a notable thing to say about a state that has been reliably red in recent elections. Donald Trump won Iowa by 13 points in 2024. Yet Hinson is competing for an open Senate seat against Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek, and polls show the two locked in a dead heat. Democrats have not won a U.S. Senate race in Iowa since 2008. The source attributes the tightening to affordability pressures on Iowans, with farmers feeling extra strain.

At the roundtable, local business leaders described what that looks like. They included the head of a fertilizer distribution network and a restaurant owner. They raised high prices, the availability of childcare, supply chain problems, and housing and diesel costs. Hinson responded with a list of priorities: making the no-tax-on-tips policy permanent, focusing on housing, and lowering costs for farmers. In recent weeks she has also pushed for suspending the gas tax and pausing U.S. diesel exports.

Thune also laid out what he sees as the stakes of losing. If Democrats take the majority, he warned, the next two years would be spent on "nothing but investigations and impeachment trials and all that sort of thing," which he called not a good place for the American people to be. He said there is more to do and that Republicans are ready to get after it, but that first, "we've got to get through Nov. 3."

Hinson is a former local news anchor who has represented Iowa in the House since 2021. On the trail she has presented herself as a responsible hand at the wheel, talking to voters about being a minivan mom and joking that parenting teenagers prepared her to work with "unreasonable people" in Congress. She initially campaigned on her closeness to the White House, though the source notes she has pushed back in recent weeks on some unpopular administration policies. The president also visited one of the state's reddest areas to boost her candidacy; Thune, who is from neighboring South Dakota, did not attend that rally with him.

Thune told reporters he and Hinson had "a good full day" on Friday, which included a stop at a local air base where they heard about the need to complete a runway. He called the trip a chance to hear what is on the "hearts and minds" of Iowa voters, adding that, like in many places, it comes down to economic issues. As a senator from a neighboring state, he said, he shares common concerns with Iowans, including transportation, national security and water.

Asked by CBS News about the political environment, Hinson said she is focused on all Iowa issues and on driving down prices for everyone. Thune chimed in that she is going "border to border." Asked why the race has become so competitive, he pointed to "economic and political headwinds" for Republican candidates, and noted that a midterm in a non-presidential year carries its own factors.

Iowa is not alone. Republicans face tighter-than-expected contests in other Midwestern states, including Nebraska. Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, so Democrats would need to flip four and defend a handful of their own to take control. Democrats themselves acknowledge that nearly everything would have to go right, but the scenario is no longer unthinkable. Thune, for his part, said he is confident: "in spite of that, she's going to win." Election Day is Nov. 3.