Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson found her opponent, Democrat Josh Turek, misleading voters about his record in the legislature on several hot button issues in his campaign’s most recent advertisement.

In the ad, Turek, who has served as an Iowa state representative since 2023, painted himself as a candidate opposed to men playing in women’s sports and sex change surgeries for children. 

But in a post responding to the ad, Hinson brought the receipts. As it turns out, Turek’s legislative history does not align with his recent claims.

Turek said he faced his “share of bullying” growing up and said that is why he believes “no Iowan should face discrimination.”

In an attempt to paint himself as a moderate, Turek made a claim that goes against his voting record, saying he opposes taxpayer-funded sex changes.

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“I’m against taxpayers paying for sex changes,” Turek said. “Anyone who tells you any different is lying.”

But in 2025, Hinson noted, Turek voted against a bill that would prohibit Medicaid covering the costs of sex change operations.

“You voted to allow taxpayer-funded Medicaid coverage of sex-change surgeries,” Hinson said of Turek.

Hinson also noted that in a 2023 vote on a bill that would ban sex change surgeries for minors, Turek was marked absent. 

“You couldn’t even be bothered to show up to vote to ban gender transition surgeries for kids,” Hinson wrote. 

The bill was signed into law later in 2023.

Turek said he is against “males competing in female sports,” which he notes is “something that is already illegal in Iowa.”

But what Turek didn’t mention was that in March 2023, he voted against a bill that would require public school students to use bathrooms corresponding to their biological sex.

Hinson pointed to an April 2023 vote in which Turek voted in favor of preventing public schools from alerting parents of their child’s change in gender identity. 

“You voted to let kids secretly change their gender pronouns at school without telling their parents,” Hinson said.

Turek finished the ad by calling for the end of “nonsense” on both sides of the aisle and focusing on what he believes matters most: affordability.

“It’s time to stop the nonsense from both extremes and start to focus on lowering costs for Iowans,” Turek said.

But, as Turek has voted to raise taxes and increase regulations dozens of times, Hinson wasn’t having any of Turek’s pandering.

“Josh,” Hinson told Turek, “you lie like an East Coast Liberal and vote like one too.”