Warren to Campaign for Wahls in Iowa Senate Primary Fight

Elizabeth Warren is headed back to Iowa to campaign for state Sen. Zach Wahls, a move that puts one of the Democratic Party’s best-known progressives in the middle of a Senate primary that has become a test of the party’s future in red and purple states.

Warren will appear at a May 10 rally in Des Moines, just weeks before Iowa Democrats vote on June 2. Wahls is facing state Rep. Josh Turek in the primary, a contest many Democrats view as a proxy fight between a progressive outsider and a candidate closer to the party establishment. Turek is widely perceived as the favorite of Democratic leaders in Washington, while Wahls has leaned into an anti-corporate message aimed at activists and working-class voters.

The winner will go on to face Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson in November, giving the primary consequences well beyond Iowa’s borders. With control of the Senate in play, both parties are watching whether Democrats nominate a candidate who can energize the base or one who might appeal more broadly in a state Donald Trump has carried in recent presidential elections.

Warren already endorsed Wahls, and her return gives his campaign a national boost. She said Wahls is “running to shake things up” and argued that he is taking on “a corrupt system that’s rigged against working families,” including corporate money and super PACs that she says are helping candidates like Hinson. Wahls welcomed the endorsement and said Warren has spent her career standing up to corporate special interests, the same fight he says Iowans want their next senator to take on.

The race remains unsettled, with sparse polling offering conflicting snapshots of the field. A Vote Vets Action Fund poll in April showed Turek ahead by 20 points, while an earlier Teamsters local survey found Wahls leading by 18 points. That spread underscores how fluid the contest remains as both candidates work to define themselves before the primary.

For Warren, the trip also carries political memory. She campaigned in Iowa during her 2020 presidential bid and ultimately finished fourth in the Democratic caucuses, a result that left her with a loyal progressive following in the state but also a reminder of the limits of that lane in a competitive electorate.

This year, her appearance in Des Moines will be watched far beyond Iowa. It is another measure of whether Democrats can build a winning coalition around insurgent politics, or whether the party’s future still hinges on candidates who look safer to national leaders.