‘Prairie Populist’ Dem Josh Turek Voted To Hurt One Of His State’s Biggest Industries

Iowa Democratic Senate candidate Josh Turek voted against legislation requiring labels for lab-grown meat and prohibiting schools from purchasing cultivated-protein products.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) signed the legislation into law in May 2024. The law requires lab-grown, plant-based, and insect-based protein products to include qualifiers such as “meatless,” “imitation,” or “fake” when marketed using terms associated with traditional meat. The legislation also prohibits Iowa schools, community colleges, and public universities from purchasing cultivated-protein products amid an ongoing scientific debate around the safety of immortalized cells.

Turek, a Democratic state representative squaring off against Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson in a competitive Senate race, voted against Senate File 2391 on April 3, 2024. The bill passed the Iowa House 60-34, with Turek and 33 other Democrats opposing it.

The vote could prove a political liability for Turek in a state where agriculture is a major economic driver, and broad opposition to lab-grown meat could give Republicans a potent line of attack. Critics argue Turek’s vote against the restrictions could hurt Iowa’s booming agricultural economy and put pressure on the state’s farmers and ranchers.

Craig Moss, a fifth-generation farmer and member of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, blasted Turek’s position in a letter to the N’West Iowa REVIEW.

“As part of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, we also fought for appropriate labeling for farm-raised beef and I even took my boys down to Des Moines where they testified on the importance of feeding our kids real food at school, not food grown in a lab,” Moss wrote. “But apparently to Josh Turek, he has no problem siding with fake meat activists over Iowa farmers.”

“For these reasons and so many more, my wife and I will be voting for Ashley Hinson to be our next U.S. senator,” he said.

Those concerns are shared across party lines, according to Jack Hubbard, executive director of the Center for the Environment and Welfare, whose organization’s polling found broad opposition to lab-grown meat.

“Our polling shows lab-grown meat is wildly unpopular on both sides of the aisle,” Hubbard said in a statement to The Daily Wire. “Supporting lab-grown meat is especially toxic in a state like Iowa, which is one of America’s leading agricultural producers.”

CEW’s polling found majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents opposed including lab-grown meat in their diets, while a bipartisan majority also opposed serving the products in school lunch programs. The group’s survey additionally found broad support for labeling requirements that distinguish lab-grown products from conventional meat.

Lab-grown meat is produced by taking animal cells and multiplying them in large vessels known as bioreactors, creating meat without raising and slaughtering livestock. The Biden administration embraced the lab-grown meat industry, with President Joe Biden directing federal agencies to advance biotechnology and biomanufacturing in September 2022.

Iowa aside, a 2026 peer-reviewed study found that, as of October 2025, 21 states have enacted laws with labeling requirements for cell-cultivated products. Seven states — Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, and Texas — have imposed outright bans on lab-grown meat.

Turek won the Democratic nomination for Senate in June and will face Hinson this fall in a race that could help determine control of the upper chamber. The Democrat describes himself as a “common-sense prairie populist” and emphasizes his record of winning in Republican territory.

His 2024 vote against lab-meat restrictions, however, gives Republicans an opening to question where the Democratic nominee stands on an issue that matters to many Iowa voters.

Billy Fuerst, campaign communications director for Hinson, argued that Turek’s record on agriculture should be disqualifying.

“Josh Turek would be a disaster for Iowa agriculture, and his support for fake meat over Iowa farmers is frankly disqualifying. But this is just one example of his radical positions on agriculture,” Fuerst said in a statement to The Daily Wire. “In the Senate, Josh Turek would put Chuck Schumer first, and Iowa farmers last.”

Turek’s campaign did not respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.

Casting himself as a centrist moderate, the Democrat flatly rejected the idea of former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigning for him. A reporter pressed the Senate hopeful at a Cedar Rapids event about whether he would welcome one of the Democratic Party’s top leaders on the stump.

“No,” the state representative firmly said.

With 61 days to go, Hinson holds a narrow 1.8-point advantage, according to RealClearPolitics polling. The Cook Political Report rates the race as a toss-up.

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