(Radio Iowa) – Zach Wahls of Coralville — one of two Democrats running for the U.S. Senate — says 10-thousand people signed his nominating petitions for the Primary ballot — and 15 percent of them are registered Republican or independent voters. “I think it’s a good example of the coalition that we are building as we’ve been traveling across Iowa,” Wahls says. “A lot of the issues that we’re facing are not just Democrat versus Republican or left versus right. They’re about bottom versus top and Iowans trying to put our state first rather than just the status quo out in Washington.” Wahls says he’s done 250 campaign events in 66 of Iowa’s 99 counties — and voters tell him they’re most concerned about the economy.

“We’re hearing a lot of concern right now about the war in Iran and the impact that’s going to have on costs, whether it’s gasoline, diesel, fertilizer and a lot more,” Wahls said. “It’s time for us to have someone in the Senate who is going to fight for us and not just toe the party line.” Wahls started his campaign last June, a few months before Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican, announced she would not seek reelection. “Everywhere we’ve gone, whether we’re in big cities, small towns, rural communities, there’s a lot of excitement at the prospect of real change in the United States Senate,” Wahls said. “People understand that we have an economy right now that’s working great for Elon Musk and the billionaires but so many Iowans — working class Iowans, middle class Iowans, retired Iowans — are really struggling with what’s going on right now.”

Wahls was first elected to the Iowa Senate in 2019 and reelected in 2022. ) “I’m really proud to have represented small town and rural Iowa, to have won elections in swing counties like Cedar County and Muscatine County,” Wahls said, “and I think that the lessons that I learned from representing those communities is it’s really important for Democrats to show up, to listen, to have a positive vision for the future of small town and rural Iowa.” Wahls spoke with reporters in the Iowa Capitol’s rotunda this (Wednesday) morning.

Josh Turek, a member of the Iowa House, is also running for the Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate nomination, but has not yet filed the paperwork to get his name on the June 2nd Primary ballot. Friday at 5 p.m. is the deadline for federal and state candidates to submit nominating petitions for this year’s Republican and Democratic Party Primaries.