GOP gets Wiped Out in Shock Election Loss in Iowa!!

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0:30Ben Meiselas:Republicans just got wiped out yet again in another special election in Iowa. MAGA Republicans are getting crushed in Iowa. A Democrat by the name of Renee Hardman will go on to win Iowa State Senate District seat 16 with 71.5 % of the vote. She won by 43 points in this race against the MAGA Republican candidate Lucas Lofton. This is a 27-point Democrat overperformance from 2024. Kamala Harris won this district by 16. Now, Hardman's victory has major implications in the legislature as well. It blocks a GOP supermajority, and it makes history as the first black woman elected to the Iowa State Senate.

1:26Ben Meiselas:Now, this follows other big Democratic wins during special elections. You will recall back in January, Mike Zimmer flipped a plus 21 Donald Trump seat, and Zimmer went on to win that special election. That was a flip. Then there was another flip, you'll recall, back a few months ago where Democrat Caitlin Dre flipped Iowa's Senate District 1, a district that Donald Trump won by 11.5 points in 2024. She defeated Republican Christopher Proshk in a landslide special election, breaking the GOP supermajority. There, it wasn't even close. And now you had to have this Democratic hold for the Senate district seat 16 and the Democrat overperformed by 43 points.

2:22Ben Meiselas:Let's dig into it deeper. By the way, this is a photo right here of Renee Hardman who won this special election. Here's how the Hill reports it. Hardman is a West Des Moines mayor pro temp. She defeated Republican Lucas Lofton to fill the seat that has been vacant since state Senator Claire Celci died in October with Hardman's win. Iowa Democrats are closing out the year strong. Back in January, Democrat Mike Zimmer flipped the Iowa state Senate district that had overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2024. Back in August, Caitlin Dre flipped another open state Senate seat, breaking the GOP supermajority.

3:04Ben Meiselas:Then her win is also the last in a string of notable victories for the party nationwide. Democrats most recently saw success in a special election for a state Senate seat in Kentucky. Prior to that, the party overperformed in a special election in Tennessee and Democrats had a better than expected election in November, a blue tsunami when they overwhelmingly won the governor's mansions in New Jersey and Virginia, the mayor's office in New York City and a number of other notable down ballot races. Take a look at this chart that Chris previously posted. So far in 2025, Democrats flipped 25 GOP held state legislative seats, 25 flips for the Democrats, whereas Republicans flipped zero Democratic held seats.

3:58Ben Meiselas:This is via the down ballot. Let's dig deeper. Now, what do you think that the Democratic victor, Renee Hardman, was running on? Kitchen table issues, okay? She was running on issues of affordability. She was running on issues of healthcare. She was running on issues that matter to the American people while the MAGAs are talking about bathrooms and peepees and duties and vaginas and this bathroom and that bathroom and trans this and da-da-da-da-da and trying to harm marginalized communities. Renee Hardman has always been someone who's talked about Baking West Des Moines, just in general, a more inclusive place, bringing people together, attracting visitors, openness, diversity, inclusion, empathy, love, fighting for people, good health, good wages, good jobs, safe roads, like the things that people are actually talking about.

5:01Ben Meiselas:Let me share with you this clip right here. Here is a video of Renee Hardman when she was a West Des Moines city councilwoman. And here she is talking about just her platform in general and the types of things that she focuses on. Here, play this clip. How do we create a state that allows folks to thrive and live, earn good, livable wages, provide for their families, and protect public education? I'm just going to go up there and I'm going to be authentically Renee, you know, making sure there's transparency in state government, that we have affordable health care, we have affordable housing, child care, all the needs that affect how people live day to day.

5:41That's what they're most interested in trying to preserve and to protect. I fight the good fight. I'm not afraid to speak truth to power, even if there's others that feel differently. And that's what I'm going to bring to the district and to the state of Iowa, I hope.

5:55Ben Meiselas:Now I'll share with you when Mike Zimmer flipped that plus 21 Trump seat. Here's what he was talking about, what his focus was. This interview was back in February, but he flipped that seat at the end of January. Remember we were covering it here on the Midas Touch Network and we said, pay attention to what's going on in Iowa. Here, play this clip right here. But in Iowa, Mike Zimmer asked voters if they wanted better public schools for his community. Voters said yes. So joining us now is the former teacher, coach, principal, school board president, and Iowa State Senator-elect Mike Zimmer. He will be sworn in on Monday.

6:35Mike, welcome to the show. Congratulations on your victory. And thank you for joining us tonight. Ali, thanks for having me on. Pretty back to basics campaign. You were talking to people about what you believed they cared about most and something you had experience in. Tell me a bit about how this campaign went, considering that it was in the shadow of the sort of one of the most important campaigns we've ever seen in this country. Well, it's always interesting to run a campaign in Iowa in the middle of the winter in January when it's 10 degrees out. But we, when we made the decision to run, we had a lot of support.

7:16And quite frankly, I had no idea how to run a campaign. And without the support of the Democratic Party, Chair Rita Hart and Minority Senate leader Janice Weiner, they sent over some support. Tyler Redenbaugh basically coordinated the campaign, and it was just back to basics. It was door knocking. It was phone calls. It was postcard writing. And then every opportunity that I had to answer questions from our local newspapers or to conduct interviews with our local television stations, I took advantage of those.

7:53Ben Meiselas:Now, I want to also point out that the Democrats have two really incredible candidates who are running to become the next United States senators from Iowa. I want to remind you of this race because you have MAGA Republican Senator Joni Ernst, MAGA through and through. Remember the lady who said, who cares if we take away your Medicaid and Medicare and affordable care? Who cares if we take away your health care? you are going to die no matter what. So let us make you die sooner. That's what MAGA Republicans, when they're not talking about peepees and vaginas and doodies and whatever, they're talking bathrooms and whatever the hell they want to talk about, eating your dogs and cats, right?

8:40Ben Meiselas:When they want to distract and divide us and try to make us weaker when we're not shoulder to shoulder. That's what MAGA is. She was up there at a town hall. Remember this town hall back on May 30th, 2020, five thereafter she announced that she would be resigning after her term ends she's no longer going to be a united states senator but this is the republican platform in iowa y 'all it is you're going to die no matter what someday you will die so let's kill you sooner that's what the republican platform is play this clip so when you are arguing when you are arguing about illegals that are receiving Medicaid benefits 1.4 million 1.4 they're not they are not eligible so they will be coming off so people are not well we all are going to die

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11:02Ben Meiselas:So who's filling in for Joni Ernst? who is the lead candidate for the Republican Senate? That seat, who's the Republican pick? Someone by the name of Ashley Hinson. She's MAGA MAGA MAGA through and through. And here, this was the town hall with Ashley Hinson where the crowd boos her. This was at her town hall. By the way, around the same time as Joni Ernst did her town hall, Ashley Hinson, who's now the lead Republican running for the United States Senate said the following. Let's pull up this clip right here. The election, I think Americans overwhelmingly rejected the status quo for the country.

11:42We were seeing an open border, high inflation. We were seeing hardworking men and women in Iowa and our country feel like their voices were not heard. Families in Iowa have told me for the last four years that we want to make sure we have safe streets, we have affordable groceries and gas, and that kids have opportunity to be able to live out the American dream. And that is what President Trump is delivering for us. And the president is, I believe, fighting for you and fighting for me. I'm fighting alongside of him. And I think God saved President Trump's life in Butler. I think he saved his life in Butler, Pennsylvania for a reason.

12:20I think that he is helping us to save and redirect the future of our country. He is helping deport criminal illegal aliens rather than letting them roam our streets freely. He is ending the abuses of taxpayer dollars rather than treating your money like monopoly money. And he's unleashing America.

12:38Ben Meiselas:Now, as I mentioned, the Democrats have two incredible candidates going head to head in the primary. And this is one where it's going to be a tough one because one of these great candidates is going to win. Another one's going to lose. And they both, to me, are incredible people. You've got a guy by the name of Zach Walls and you've got a guy by the name of Josh Turek. And both of these people, in my opinion, if they no matter who wins the Democratic primary, I think either of them have a good shot of beating Ashley Hinson, especially with what we see happening with these special election races.

13:17Ben Meiselas:So here's a photo right here of Josh Turek. This was on Election Day yesterday. It's Election Day, Iowa. If you live in Senate District 16, don't forget to cast your ballot today for Renee Hardman. We need her energy and commitment for delivering for Iowans in Des Moines. Here's what Josh Turek said earlier this year. Iowans broke the GOP supermajority. And tonight we proved we aren't giving it back. Congratulations to my friend and our new state Senator Hardman for Iowa. Iowans are fired up and ready for change. There's no denying Iowa is in play. I had the opportunity to interview Josh Turek.

13:55Ben Meiselas:Here's what he told me about his Senate run. Here, play this clip. Hello, my friend, and thank you for having me. I love seeing that video. It's even inspiring me. I'm Iowa State Representative Josh Turek. As the video said, born with spina bifida, 21 surgeries by the age of 12. Gone on to play in four Paralympic Games, won two gold medals representing my country. been the director of a nonprofit organization where we provide free summer camps to disabled kids and ran originally for my race because of what privatized Medicaid was doing in Iowa to the disabled population and representing the reddest part of the state that any Democrat has been able to win in.

14:37Ben Meiselas:Well, Josh, tell us first about how you won in that area, because it does provide, pun intended, a blueprint for what you can do nationwide. So how'd you do, how'd you win that house seat originally when no one said that was possible? Love that. It is the blueprint. And the blueprint is hard work, grit, determination. It was, I went out every single day from June all the way until November, crawling those stairs, knocking doors, dragging my wheelchair up, having face-to-face conversations with, it did not matter the party, with Republicans, with Independents, with Democrats. I was out there as a common sense prairie populist is what I would call myself, of going out there and talking about the kitchen table issues.

15:28And I would always hear two things when I would get up on people's doors. the very first thing they would say is, how in the world did you get up here? And I would say, I crawled up here. I drug my wheelchair up here. That's how important it is to have a conversation with you. And then I would tell them about my story and why I'm running and kitchen table issues. And by the end, they would say, you know, I'm not gonna vote for every Democrat, but I'm gonna vote for you because I like the kind of Democrat that you are.

15:53Ben Meiselas:Now, last night, here is what Zach Walls had to say about the overperformance by Renee Hardman. Here, play this clip right here. Hey, folks, we've got major breaking news out of Iowa. Democrats have won another special election with a 20 plus point over performance. That is five 20 point over performances relative to 2024. For those of you keeping track at home and six this year where we have exceeded our 2024 margins by 10 points or better. This time, Senator-elect Renee Hardman over in West Des Moines held on to a Democratic state Senate seat, ensuring that Republicans do not regain the supermajority, and making sure that folks across our state and all over the country know that Iowa is squarely in play when we get to 2026.

16:37I want to personally say thank you to everybody who volunteered for Senator-elect Hardman's campaign, so many folks who contributed from across our state and across the country to make sure that we had the resources that we needed to win. This is what winning feels like, and I want you to think about this moment as you think about how exciting 2026 is going to be. I'm Zach Walz, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. If you've been looking for your sign to know that Iowa is in play this next year, this is it. We'll see you on the other side.

17:03Ben Meiselas:And Zach Walls commented to Ashley Hinson's post where Ashley Hinson's like, look, everybody, we're giving you$209 million through the Rural Transformation Program in Iowa. And Zach Walls is like, seriously, offering Iowans pennies when you just robbed the bank is almost as soulless as Senator Ernst saying, we are all going to die. That's MAGA's new playbook right here, you know, in their disastrous budget bill, like they took away$200 billion from rural hospitals, but then they gave back 50 billion. And rather than be like, we stole 150 billion, they brag that they gave you 50 billion. It'd be like, if I stole a thousand dollars from you, and then I returned$200 for you.

17:52Ben Meiselas:And I bragged, look, I returned$200. You would still be like, hey, Ben, you stole 800 of my dollars. Just because you gave me 200 back, you still stole my money. You're still a crook. That's what MAGA is doing. And MAGA wants to divide with their culture wars through and through. And at the end of the day, the Democrats are talking about affordability, affordability, making people's lives better, protecting people's healthcare, trying to get people the jobs that they deserve, the pay for the jobs that they deserve with dignity, focus on better working conditions, focusing on trying to make housing more affordable.

18:29Ben Meiselas:That's what Democrats are talking about. And MAGA and Trump are talking about his golden ballroom and I don't know, helping Trump get new private jets and the arc, the triumphant Trump or whatever the hell they're talking about. That's what's going on. Big win for the Democrats in Iowa. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Thanks for watching.