🔻From former model to Paralympic athlete and news anchor; candidates competing for victory in Iowa

🖋Jack Gallop, BBC journalist in Des Moines, Iowa

🔻Iowa is another of the states where the Republicans’ traditional and long-standing stronghold is facing the risk of being lost.

Donald Trump has won in this state in three consecutive presidential elections by a significant margin. Since 2008, the people of Iowa have not sent any Democratic candidate to the U.S. Senate, and they have also not elected a Democratic governor since 2007.

But Donald Trump’s trade tariffs have increased the costs for farmers in this state, who depend on imported products and inputs for their activities. The war with Iran has also harmed Iowa residents by raising the price of diesel fuel.

🔻Who is running in this election?

◾Governor’s election: Rob Sand, the Democratic candidate who previously worked as a model and is now the Iowa state auditor, is running against Zach LaLone, the Republican candidate. Zach LaLone is a farmer whose family has lived in Iowa for six generations. To win the Republican Party’s nomination, he defeated the candidate supported by Donald Trump.

◾U.S. Senate election: Josh Turek, the Democratic candidate, a former and well-known Paralympic basketball player and the current member of the state legislature, is running against Ashley Hinson. Hinson previously worked as a television news anchor and has been in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2021.

Ashley Hinson is backed by Donald Trump, but after the start of the war with Iran, she criticized the U.S. president’s decision to enter the war.

The outcome of the contest for the Senate seat in Iowa could, by itself, change the balance of power in the U.S. Congress.