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October 23, 2026 / 10:09 PM EDT / CBS News

Sioux City, Iowa — Senate Majority Leader John Thune campaigned with GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson in Iowa on Friday in his latest effort to prop up Republican candidates on the campaign trail, emphasizing how the Hawkeye State, reliably red in recent elections, now may hold the key to control of the Senate.

“The majority in the United States Senate must run through the state of Iowa,” Thune said.

Iowa is one of several states that entered the midterm conversation in recent months, with a number of Senate races appearing in play for Democrats despite being unthinkable at the start of the cycle. And in the final sprint to Election Day, Republicans are doing everything they can to hold the line.

Speaking at a roundtable event at a bar and grill alongside Hinson and a half dozen local workers, Thune warned that if Democrats win the majority, the next two years will be spent doing “nothing but investigations and impeachment trials and all that sort of thing.” He said, “That’s not a good place for the American people to be.”

“There’s a lot more to do. And we look forward to rolling up our sleeves and lacing them up and getting after it,” Thune said. “But we’ve got to get through Nov. 3.”

Hinson is facing off against Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek for an open Senate seat. Democrats haven’t won a U.S. Senate race in Iowa since 2008, but as affordability issues squeeze Iowans, with extra strain on farmers, polls have shown Hinson and Turek locked in a dead heat.

Hinson, a former local news anchor who’s represented Iowa in the House since 2021, has emphasized the need for someone responsible at the wheel for Iowans, speaking to voters about being a minivan mom and joking that her experience parenting teenagers has prepared her to work with “unreasonable people” in Congress. And although she initially campaigned on her close proximity to the White House, she’s pushed back in recent weeks over the unpopular war in Iran and high energy prices. But she still appeared alongside President Trump on Thursday at a rally just a few miles down the road.

Thune, who hails from neighboring South Dakota and did not attend the rally with the president, told reporters that he and Hinson had “a good full day” campaigning on Friday, including a visit to a local air base, where they heard about the need to complete a runway, along with the roundtable later on.

Speaking to reporters after the event, Thune called it “a great opportunity” to hear the issues on the “hearts and minds” of Iowa voters.

“And I think, like a lot of places, it’s economic issues,” he added.

At the event, local business leaders, including the head of a fertilizer distribution network and a restaurant owner, spoke of high prices, the availability of childcare, supply chain issues and housing and diesel costs. Hinson outlined a list of priorities, including making the no-tax-on-tips policy permanent, focusing on housing and lowering costs for farmers.

In recent weeks, Hinson has pushed for suspending the gas tax, pausing diesel exports from the United States and offering diesel relief to farmers and truckers.

Thune said as someone who represents a neighboring state, “we share a lot of common issues that we deal with — whether it’s transportation or whether it’s national security issues, water, a whole bunch of things that kind of bind us together.”

Asked about the political environment, as the president and the Senate majority leader made visits to one of the state’s reddest areas to boost her candidacy, Hinson told CBS News that she’s “focused on all Iowa issues and driving down prices for everyone.”

“She’s going border to border,” Thune chimed in.

Questioned about why the race has grown so competitive in Iowa more broadly, in a state that the president won by 13 points in 2024, Thune cited “economic and political headwinds” for GOP candidates.

The picture extends to other Midwestern states, like Nebraska and Kansas, where Republicans are locked in more-competitive-than-expected contests. With 53 Republicans in the Senate, Democrats would need to flip four seats, and defend a handful of others, to take control of the chamber. And while Democrats still acknowledge that nearly everything would need to go right for them to secure the majority, it’s no longer an unthinkable scenario.

But at least in Iowa, Thune expressed confidence that Hinson will pull it off.

“You’re talking about a midterm election, a non-presidential year, those are all factors that, you know, sort of weigh into what the overall environment is,” Thune said. “But in spite of that, she’s going to win.”