Jill Shudak is mayor of Council Bluffs.

Every election cycle, the same thing happens. Washington insiders look at Iowa from 1,100 miles away, pick the candidate who looks best on paper to them, and tell the rest of us who can and can’t win. And every cycle, Iowans are reminded that the people who’ve spent the least time in this state somehow believe they understand it best.

It’s happening again in the 2026 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Josh Turek, the pick of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, has built his entire campaign on a single argument: that he’s the most electable Democrat to take on Ashley Hinson. It’s a clean pitch. It’s also wrong.

The actual data tells a different story.

“I think it really speaks to the changing of the times,” Jill Shudak told me on November 6, two days after she became the first woman elected mayor of southwest Iowa’s largest city. Council Bluffs is “moving forward, and they’re ready for a forward thinker.”

Amid many Democratic victories from coast to coast in the November 2025 election, Shudak’s accomplishment stayed mostly below the radar. But she beat the odds in two ways. As a first-term city council member, she defeated a well-known, long-serving incumbent. Council Bluffs voters had elected Matt Walsh mayor three times; he had previously served on the city council since 1996.

It’s also notable that a Democrat won a mayoral race in a city that has trended red. (While local elections are nonpartisan in Iowa, area Democrats and labor activists were supporting Shudak, and Walsh is a Republican.) Bleeding Heartland’s analysis of results from the 2024 general election show voters across the 22 Council Bluffs precincts preferred Donald Trump for president by a margin of 53.6 percent to 44.7 percent for Kamala Harris, and preferred Republican Randy Feenstra to Democratic challenger Ryan Melton in the Congressional race by 55.3 percent to 44.1 percent.

Unofficial results from the 2025 election show Shudak received 3,641 votes (43.9 percent) to 3,524 votes (42.5 percent) for Walsh. City council member Chris Peterson likely received most of the 1,130 write-in votes (13.6 percent) in the mayoral race.

Shudak made time to talk about her campaign despite a “whirlwind” of activity since the election, including conversations with the city’s department heads and a round table discussion about property taxes with Governor Kim Reynolds. Here’s the full video from our interview.

Lisa Lima is an organizer, activist, and advocate who chairs the Pottawattamie County Democrats.

In 2019, Iowa was buzzing with presidential hopefuls. Campaigns filled community centers, volunteers hustled to make their voices heard, and voters were at the heart of it all. I was one of those volunteers, working with the ACLU of Iowa to protect civil rights and gather petition signatures. It was exhilarating, but also overwhelming.

That’s when I first met Jill Shudak. I was struggling to collect enough signatures. Jill noticed, stepped in, and without hesitation made sure I had the support I needed. That simple act gave me more than signatures; it gave me the confidence to raise my question, ensure it was answered, and even get it on camera. In that small but powerful way, Jill did what she has always done: she lifted up someone who needed it.