Let me start by saying thank you. Over the last two months, Chloe and I have been so moved by all the words of support and encouragement that we have received from our supporters in Iowa and across the country. I am incredibly proud of the campaign we ran and the movement we built.
That we did as well as we did considering what we were up against is an enduring testament to the incredibly generous support of so many people who share our unshakable belief that a better future is possible — and that there is nothing wrong with our state or our country that cannot be fixed by what is right with it. Thank you for sharing that belief and supporting my campaign.
After several weeks of winding down our campaign operation, a little more sleep, a lot more family time, and several home improvement projects… I am excited to share what’s next.
Today, I am launching Build the Barn PAC, which will continue the work we began together in my Senate campaign.
“Build the Barn” was the unofficial motto of my U.S. Senate campaign, a tribute to the classic line often attributed to Sam Rayburn: “Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.”
Like the campaign, our PAC will not accept or solicit a single dollar from corporate PACs, and every dollar we raise will be fully and transparently disclosed. I’m not interested in building the thing I spent a year running against.
We will formally launch this new endeavor at my eighth annual birthday brunch fundraiser on Sunday, August 16 at 11:00 AM in Coralville — you are invited to join us if you can be there in person — and if you cannot be there in person, you can support the effort online by donating securely online via ActBlue by clicking on this link or via the button below:
Josh won our primary, he can win this seat, and I was proud to give him my full support on the night of our primary election — and today, he is the first candidate we are endorsing and whose campaign we are supporting.
As I said on the night of our primary election, Josh and I competed hard against each other, as we should. We had real disagreements. Scripture tells us that iron sharpens iron — and while our primary made us both sharper, it didn’t make us colder. We got to know each other, even as we competed with each other. Josh is a good man. And he will be an infinitely better U.S. Senator than Ashley Hinson.
Between now and November 3, he needs doors knocked in places that are a long drive from wherever you live, and he needs money. So does Rob Sand, and so do the U.S. House candidates who can flip that chamber and put a check on the corruption and chaos in Washington.
That’s the work of the next eighty-five days, and if you’ve been looking for the right time to get involved, today is the day.
We drove tens of thousands of miles across this state, attending or hosting nearly 400 events — including 100 stops during our “Iowans Over Insiders” tour — and if you met me on the trail, there’s a good chance you noticed that I like to take notes. Over the course of the campaign, I heard more stories than I can count, and we carefully listened to Iowans describing the challenges facing their communities.
Those stories became the backbone of our campaign message:
Big investment companies jacking up the price of fire trucks, squeezing the budgets of small towns and big cities alike
Factories closing in places like Burlington, where CNH shuttered a profitable plant that had been open for a century
Young and next-generation farmers failed by a government that works great for the largest corporations but not Iowa family farms
Greedy investors taking advantage of Iowans living in mobile and manufactured homes with massive lot rent increases
Young families unable to afford the costs of childcare, renting, or homeownership
And unfortunately, I’ve got many, many more examples. But one of the core beliefs of my campaign was that there is nothing wrong with Iowa that cannot be fixed by what is right with Iowa — and what is right with Iowa is the people.
So we’re going to keep at it. Even if I won’t be addressing these problems from the U.S. Senate in 2027, I know that together we can move the needle.
In the coming weeks and months, I’ll be sharing more about what we heard on the campaign trail, and sharing opportunities about how you can join the grassroots efforts to build a better future for Iowa.
Come to my Birthday Brunch event this weekend — Sunday, August 16, 11:00 AM, Coralville. If you’ve been waiting for a good moment to get involved, this is it.
If you can’t be there, chip in online — you can donate securely through ActBlue to fund our support of our endorsed candidates.
Sign up here to volunteer for Josh Turek and Rob Sand through Iowa’s coordinated campaign.
I hope you’ll pick up a hammer and join us.
Onward!
ZW
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