Pete D’Alessandro is co-founder of Campaign in a Box, a national consulting firm that specializes in progressive and first-time candidates. He lives in Des Moines. While he is not currently working for a U.S. Senate candidate in Iowa, he previously did work for Nathan Sage.
I am not usually part of the opinion carousel in Democratic primaries—for a lot of reasons. But I’m making an exception because I heard from more people than I ever have, inquiring about what I would be doing on June 2 in the U.S. Senate primary.
I start with a simple question: “What kind of candidate can rebuild trust with working people across this state?”
The simple answer is, not yet another Iowa Democrat cautiously depending on insider poll-tested talking points from Washington D.C. consultants and dark-money Independent Expenditure organizations influenced by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
What we need is someone willing to fight plainly, directly, and unapologetically for ordinary people. Iowans who feel like the economy and political system has stopped working for them.
That’s why State Senator Zach Wahls earns my support for the United States Senate.
For too long, politics in both parties has revolved around protecting the powerful while asking working families to settle for less: lower wages adjusted for inflation, rising health care costs, corporate consolidation, and a political culture where billionaires and PACs have more influence than people in their own communities.
Iowans are tired of hearing politicians say they “understand” these frustrations while continuing to defend the same economic system that created them. Voters are looking for authenticity—someone willing to challenge concentrated corporate power, reject cynicism, and make government work for the people again. Zach Wahls has made his entire campaign a challenge to the powerful insiders. That could be expected, actually, because it’s been the fight of his life and career.
His focus on affordability, political reform, and rebuilding an economy centered on workers rather than corporate donors reflects a broader populist tradition too often abandoned in modern politics. At a time when too many candidates trim their sails to satisfy consultants or donors, Wahls has shown a willingness to speak clearly about who the economy should serve.
Finally, a campaign deserving of our vote.
Wahls is bringing contrasts that go well beyond the surface personality, style and narrative distinctions saturating our politics today. He’s asking us to decide what kind of politics Democrats will embrace moving forward. What kind of party do we want to be?
His opponent, State Representative Josh Turek, is a good man with a compelling personal story that’s appealing to every one of us. He is a man of deep, unquestionable courage and integrity. From that place, Turek is letting us know he chooses to be part of the D.C.-driven belief system that has cost Democrats elections in Iowa and many states like ours.
And because I believe he is a man of integrity, I can’t write his actions off as just a cynical, momentary guise to be replaced by more progressive stances in the future. Taking a closer look is revealing.
First, there is the difference in support for Schumer to lead Senate Democrats. (I hope this will be a vote for Majority Leader.) Zach Wahls is clear: He opposes the failed leadership of the past and wants a different direction.
Turek works from the Schumer playbook and with the Schumer team. His actions tell the story.
Second, Turek broke with many Iowa House Democrats by voting for Senate File 2340, a terrible bill making “illegal reentry” into Iowa a state crime and expanding state immigration enforcement powers and threatening Iowa immigrants who are living legally in our state. The ACLU of Iowa described it as “one of the most extreme, discriminatory, and unconstitutional anti-immigrant bills in the country.”
The standard political excuses apply here: he’s from a tough district, he wanted to run for higher office, he needed to avoid showing weakness. But not one of those applies to Josh Turek. None of those reasons align with who he is.
Turek worked with Republicans because he is a rock-solid fighter for the policy. He agrees with it, and said as much at the “Iowa Press” Democratic debate on May 5.
Turek would never head-fake Iowa voters with a cheap cave-in on one of the most intense moral conflicts of this century. And as much as I truly respect his conviction that this policy is not un-American and does not appeal to our darkest impulses—I, like Zach Wahls and immigration experts, believe that is exactly what this law does.
Iowa Democrats understand what it takes to truly secure our borders, and because of that, they know expanding the police power of the state is not the answer.
A state whose economy depends heavily on agriculture, health care, food processing, and small businesses cannot afford politics rooted in division and fear. Immigrant families are part of Iowa communities, schools, workplaces, and local economies. Criminalizing desperation does not lower health care costs, raise wages, or help rural towns survive.
Zach Wahls offers a different vision—one grounded in dignity, pragmatism, and solidarity. Rather than exploiting cultural division, he has focused on the issues most working families actually discuss around their kitchen tables: wages, health care, housing costs, education, corruption, and whether their children will have a better future than they did.
Zach Wahls learned at a very young age what an uncaring government could mean to his family. I believe that life lesson would make him a unique and strong fighter for the less fortunate as a U.S. senator.
That is the conversation Democrats should want to have in this primary. Moving forward it is a conversation we must have.
The Democratic Party cannot rebuild in places like Iowa by acting as a softer version of Republican politics. It has to stand for something real: Medicare for All, raising wages, defending workers’ rights, confronting corporate power, protecting civil and human rights, and ensuring young people can build stable lives without the insecurity caused by crushing debt.
These are not fringe ideas. They are mainstream concerns for millions of Americans.
The challenge ahead is not just winning an election. It is restoring faith that politics can still improve people’s lives. That requires candidates willing to organize from the ground up, build broad coalitions, and fight for policies that materially help hard working families.
Zach Wahls represents that kind of politics.
And in a moment when too many Americans feel ignored by both parties, Iowa has an opportunity to send someone to Washington D.C. who always remembers the government is supposed to work for us.
Editor’s note: Bleeding Heartland welcomes guest commentaries by any Democratic candidate running for office in 2026, or by their supporters. Please read these guidelines and contact Laura Belin if you are interested in writing.