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At Cedar Rapids forum, Iowa Senate candidates call for justice, unity and working-class change
Turek, Wahls and Sage connect faith, perseverance and justice to their campaigns for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat
Nov. 8, 2025 7:27 pm
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CEDAR RAPIDS — At a Cedar Rapids church, the 125-year-old hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing” became a political touchstone Saturday as three Democratic candidates for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat each reflected on a stanza of the song — using its lessons of perseverance, unity and justice to connect with voters ahead of the 2026 election.
The hymn, widely referred to as the “Black national anthem,” has been a powerful symbol of African American culture, resilience and the fight for civil rights. The NAACP adopted it as its national anthem in 1919.
The forum — hosted by US Iowa in partnership with the Iowa Democratic Black Caucus — featured Josh Turek, Zach Wahls and Nathan Sage, three Democrats running for the open U.S. Senate seat in Iowa in 2026.
Burlington Democrat, veterans advocate and former state legislator Bob Krause is also seeking his party's nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2026.
On the Republican side, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson of Marion and Sioux City lawyer and former state legislator Jim Carlin are running for the GOP nomination. The race is open following Republican Iowa U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s announcement earlier this year that she will not seek re-election to a third six-year term.
Turek, a state lawmaker from Council Bluffs, emphasized his commitment to health care. Wahls, a state senator from Coralville, highlighted his work on racial homeownership gaps and maternal health. Sage, a former chamber of commerce leader who lives in Indianola, shared his working-class roots and commitment to fighting for affordable health care and livable wages.
Turek ties resilience and health care to faith and perseverance
Turek, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist and disability rights advocate, spoke about his nonprofit work helping disabled Iowans access mobility devices and health care, as well as his commitment to defending Medicaid and improving care for the most vulnerable.
He also noted that he represents one of the reddest parts of Iowa — winning his state House seat in 2022 by just six votes and again in 2024 by five points, even as Pottawattamie County went for Donald Trump by 20 points.
He rooted his reflections in his own life story and the first stanza’s call to “march on.”
Turek is the first permanently disabled member of the Iowa Legislature and the son of a Vietnam veteran exposed to Agent Orange. Born with a spina bifida, he underwent 21 surgeries before the age of 12 and faced bullying as a child. His early years, he said, were shaped by both economic and physical adversity — growing up in a working-class family that relied on Goodwill clothing, free lunch programs and community aid to get by.
Turek emphasized how his experiences led him to fight for better access to care for the less fortunate.
“I fundamentally believe that health care is a human right,” he said, connecting the lyric “sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us” to his family’s experience battling cancer and his own work to expand health care coverage.
He said the first stanza’s theme of perseverance mirrored his campaign’s message of hope for working-class communities.
“With the right message and the right work ethic, we can win in these very adverse conditions,” he said, noting that his success in a deep-red district proves Democrats can connect with voters who feel unseen.
Wahls reflects on perseverance and fairness for working families
Wahls spoke about perseverance and the long march for freedom and justice — themes that echo through both the song and his life.
Wahls shared his personal story of growing up in a family raised by two mothers in Iowa City. When his mom Terry was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and his mom Jackie, a union nurse, was laid off during the Great Recession, Wahls said if it hadn’t been for Jackie’s union contract, “we would have had to choose between medical bills and mortgage payments.”
Those experiences, he said, grounded his understanding of fairness and opportunity — values he has carried into his work in the Iowa Legislature. Wahls reflected on the second stanza’s opening — “Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod” — as a reminder that progress is slow, hard and often resisted.
“These are words about perseverance, the long unbroken march for freedom and justice,” he said.
He discussed his legislative efforts to address health care access, economic inequality, and housing disparities, including his work at GreenState Credit Union to close Iowa’s racial homeownership gap. He also cited his legislation to make doula care more accessible to mothers in Iowa, where Black maternal mortality rates remain disproportionately high.
Wahls emphasized the need for leadership that listens to working people and represents their lived experiences.
“Freedom must be economic as well as political,” he said. “Freedom means a family is able to buy a home and actually get ahead. … Freedom means a Black mother in Iowa can carry her child to term and come home safely.”
Sage calls for unity and working-class leadership
Sage shared his personal journey from growing up in a trailer park on the west side of Mason City to serving in the Marine Corps and Army, including three deployments to Iraq. “We didn’t have money. We struggled every day to put food on the table,” he said. After losing both parents to cancer — his father at 54 and his mother at 67 — Sage said the fight for affordable health care and livable wages is deeply personal.
He emphasized the need for new leadership that represents the struggles of working-class people. “We need real leadership in Washington, DC, real working-class leadership,” he said. Sage recounted stories from his recent 99-county tour, during which he traveled 10,000 miles and spoke with Iowans worried about health care costs, housing, and stagnant wages. “Every person that comes out is fearful, every person is angry,” he said. “But more than anything … we all want to be brought together again.”
Calling for unity and reform, Sage argued that political division distracts from economic injustice.
“We should be pointing at the top — the people that have their thumb on the scale and control everything we see and do every day, the rich, the billionaires, the 1 percent,” he said. He urged support for raising wages, lowering health care costs, affordable housing, and removing corporate money from politics.
“If we can squash the divide, we can get somewhere in this world,” he said.
Affordable health care, racial justice resonate
Among those who came to hear the Senate hopefuls was Anthony Arrington, 56, a Cedar Rapids business owner. Arrington said he left encouraged by what he heard.
“They’re all very good candidates. I believe they’re all authentic people,” he said, adding that he was particularly drawn to Sage’s candor and lived experience.
“Nathan Sage was a strong candidate for me today,” Arrington said. “I hadn’t really paid close attention to him, but I’m going to be looking closer at him.”
Arrington said his top issues and priorities for candidates running for federal office in 2026 include racial justice, affordable health care and criminal justice reform.
He said racial justice must address both economic and social inequities and confront systemic efforts “to suppress the progress of Black people.” On health care, he emphasized the need to lower costs and eliminate disparities “between Black people and white people.” On criminal justice, he said candidates should focus on changing laws and legal systems to better protect marginalized communities.
He said he appreciated that candidates acknowledged those inequities and addressed “how the system has impacted the underserved.”
While Arrington said he felt “really good about Tuesday” — referring to the week’s encouraging election results for Democrats across the country — he urged caution heading into 2026. “ (Republicans) are livid about Tuesday, and they’re going to find every way … to try to block progress in 2026,” he warned.
“So we got to prepare for that, pick up the proverbial swords and fight back.”
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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