The current officeholder is retiring, so the seat will have a new winner. Forecasters say it’s too close to call — one of the most competitive races of the year. Ashley Hinson, a Republican, shows a record of donations linked to AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group, but the exact amount is still being confirmed. Thomas Laehn, a Libertarian, shows a record of donations linked to AIPAC, but the exact amount is still being confirmed. The November ballot lists 3 candidates: one Democrat, one Republican and one Libertarian.
Major issues facing Iowa, based on 2025–2026 reporting. Compare them with what each candidate says they focus on below.
FEC campaign finance data through Sep 30, 2026. Campaign dollars, by source.
| Ashley Hinson R | Josh Turek D | Thomas Laehn L | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raised | $13.5M | $20.2M | $60K |
| Individuals | $7.1M53% | $18M89% | $60K100% |
| PACs & parties | $2.7M20% | $607K3% | $0 |
| Self-funded | $0 | $0 | $1960% |
| Other | $3.7M27% | $1.5M8% | $0 |
| AIPAC-linked* | — | — | — |
| Outside spending† | — | — | — |
* AIPAC-linked money is already counted in the rows above — it flags the pro-Israel share, not extra money.
† Independent spending on ads for or against a candidate. It never goes to their campaign.
“Individuals” covers both small-dollar (under $200) and large donors.
Every donor ranked by how much they gave, from the candidate’s own FEC filings — individuals, PACs, and party committees all in one list. Expand a candidate to see theirs, then tap any name to learn more about the donor.
Why are so many gifts exactly $10,000? That’s the legal maximum a PAC can give one candidate for the whole cycle — $5,000 for the primary plus $5,000 for the general — so many PACs give the max. Individuals can give up to $3,500 per election.
Showing the 50 biggest of 4042 donors. The other 3992 gave $5.1M combined.
Plus $1.1M from small donors giving under $200 each — those aren’t itemized by name.
Showing the 50 biggest of 3452 donors. The other 3402 gave $3M combined.
Plus $2.8M from small donors giving under $200 each — those aren’t itemized by name.
Plus $7K from small donors giving under $200 each — those aren’t itemized by name.
These figures come from the candidate’s own itemized FEC reports (2026 cycle, through the coverage date above), with amendments applied and refunds netted. Joint fundraising transfers are left out of the ranking: they’re pass-throughs, and the individual donations behind them are listed above. Bank interest, vendor refunds, and other non-donation receipts are excluded. Donor names are as reported — the same person can appear twice if their name was recorded differently. Independent spending on ads is never included here — see the Outside spending column.
October 20, 2026
$658,930 more pro-Hinson outside money hits Iowa Senate: dark-money-funded PAC's true outlay tops $6.6M
Fight on Iowa, a hybrid PAC in a joint fundraising arrangement with Ashley Hinson's campaign, placed two new buys since Oct 19: a $630,180 TV/media placement opposing Josh Turek and a $28,750 dual-purpose mailer attacking Turek and boosting Hinson. Its cycle total is $6,605,678 in true outlay after collapsing dual-purpose ad pairs — and $4 million of its funding traces to the dark-money nonprofit American Advancement Inc., which does not disclose its donors. The roughly $1 million it raised in September stays hidden until its October Monthly donor report, due tonight.
Source: Des Moines Register →October 19, 2026
New Democratic super PAC runs $382.5K of dual-purpose ads across IA, OH, GA Senate races
Project Bullhorn PAC, a San Francisco-based Democratic super PAC registered in April 2026 ($1.5M raised; treasurer Laurie Van Hall of Bee Compliance, ex-Buttigieg 2020 finance operations), ran $382,500 in true-outlay comparative ads — reported as three dual-purpose pairs totaling $765K — for Josh Turek (IA-Sen), Sherrod Brown (OH-Sen), and Jon Ossoff (GA-Sen), against Ashley Hinson, Jon Husted, and Mike Collins. Its donors are disclosed in its Q3 FEC report.
Source: FEC →October 18, 2026
Labor group Working America pours $1.7M into Senate races in final weeks
Working America (C90011156), the AFL-CIO's community affiliate, reported about $1.66 million in new independent expenditures Oct 15–17: $500,250 supporting Sherrod Brown and $450,750 opposing Jon Husted in Ohio's Senate race; $307,206 opposing Mike Rogers and $182,206 supporting Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan; $125,250 opposing Ashley Hinson and $120,500 supporting Josh Turek in Iowa — plus smaller buys in Georgia and Minnesota. Its 2026 cycle total is about $2.2 million.
Source: FEC →October 16, 2026
Turek raises 4X more than Hinson; Iowa Senate race spending to top $150M
Democrat Josh Turek raised $13.9M in Q3 vs. $3.3M for GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson, bringing his cycle total to $20.2M vs. her $13.5M. AdImpact projects total spending in the Iowa Senate race will exceed $150M by Election Day, with the Senate Leadership Fund adding $20M to its Iowa buys, per the Des Moines Register.
Source: Des Moines Register →October 16, 2026
Israel, via Parscale's Clock Tower X, reserves $32K in Des Moines broadcast airtime ahead of Election Day
AdImpact Politics reports the State of Israel, through Brad Parscale's Clock Tower X LLC, is reserving broadcast airtime in the Des Moines market — $32,000 placed so far, with spots set to run in the days before the November 3 election. It escalates the same operation's Iowa push from mailers (Des Moines Register, Oct 14) to broadcast. Clock Tower X registered as a foreign agent (FARA #7649) in September 2025; filings put its Israel contract at $4.5M/month from April through October 2026. Iowa law bars foreign nationals from spending that advocates for or against candidates; the mailers named no candidates, and no ad content for the broadcast buy has been reported. The Register names IA-Sen (Hinson vs Turek) and IA-3 (Nunn vs Trone Garriott) as the watched races in range of the market. Separately — a different operation, not linked to Clock Tower X in any reporting — Citizen Lab reported Oct 15 that Israeli ad-tech firm Discover-Tech sold programmatic ads that delivered zero-click spyware (technique dubbed 'AdFection') through its 'Controlium' platform: merely rendering the ad could infect the device, no click needed. At least 45 Al Jazeera devices were infected in 2024–25 with Candiru spyware via these ads; Google and Comcast's Beeswax have since removed Discover-Tech from their platforms.
Source: AdImpact Politics via @TrackAIPAC; Des Moines Register; Citizen Lab →October 14, 2026
Pro-Israel mailers from Parscale-linked Clock Tower X land in Iowa ahead of hot Senate and House races
Des Moines Register staff received printed mailers from Clock Tower X LLC — the DOJ-registered foreign-agent firm of former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale — touting U.S.-Israel ties and Israeli trade benefits for Iowa. The mailers name no candidates, but the Register notes their distribution lines up with the hotly contested Iowa Senate race (Hinson vs. Turek) and IA-03 (Nunn vs. Trone Garriott). Filings show Clock Tower X has run $31.5 million in digital ads for Israel from April through October.
Source: Des Moines Register →