As Politico wrote Friday, “the Senate map suddenly looks a lot better for Democrats. But still not a slam dunk.” Democratic Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek sure hopes so, as he just announced his candidacy for the Senate seat currently held by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst. You may have seen his splashy campaign launch video in which he crawls up stairs to knock on doors because he was born with spina bifida as a result of his dad’s exposure to Agent Orange. Josh and Jon discussed many parallel interests (in addition to shared initials), like running as a Democrat in a red state, VA accessibility and rural America. The JTs even get in some basketball chatter, as Turek is a two-time Paralympic gold medalist for Team USA.

This conversation was recorded live on Substack!