Inside Iowa’s critical midterm Senate race

NBC News devoted nearly six minutes of its Nightly News broadcast on October 21, 2026, to the Senate contest in Iowa, which the network frames as a critical race in the midterm elections. Anchor Tom Llamas sat down with the Democratic candidate, Josh Turek, and the Republican candidate, Ashley Hinson, and also talked with Iowa voters.

Two shorter pieces from the same reporting were published alongside the main segment. In a clip of about half a minute, Turek says he would not seek to impeach Trump. A separate one-on-one conversation with Hinson, lasting about a minute, offers her side of the matchup in her own voice.

Together, the three videos give viewers a direct look at both nominees and the Iowans interviewed. No polling, fundraising figures or forecasts for control of the Senate accompany the segments, so what is on offer is the candidates' own presentation and voter impressions rather than any assessment of who is ahead.

Summarized by PolitiKool from NBC News’s reporting. Read the full story at NBC News →