We’ve written extensively at DJA about how responses to disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes tend to be inaccessible. That wasn’t the case this week after what political observers are calling a blue tsunami swept the American political landscape. The country woke up Wednesday with a Paralympian as a swing-state senator-elect, an outgoing wheelchair-using governor and the architect of attacks on nationwide disability rights banished to the political wilderness.
Let’s start with Josh Turek. The Iowa senator-elect — who won a Trump-leaning state House district by six votes in 2022 — is a moderate Democrat. Turek himself reportedly voted for some Republicans on his own ballot. In recent days, he has also leaned into anti-trans rhetoric about transgender athletes, and his voting record in Iowa suggests he won’t be seated with the progressive wing of the party come January. Turek voted against an anti-trans bathroom bill in Iowa but opposes using Medicaid to cover gender-affirming care.
Turek ran a campaign centered on his disability in a way arguably never seen before in American politics. Disabled politicians in the U.S. tend to either lean into how they became Disabled — especially veterans — or avoid the subject entirely. The idea that disability makes someone unfit for office, which wasn’t helped by both parties speculating about the health of President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden, still makes disability a difficult doorstep topic for politicians like Turek.
Or so we thought.
Turek’s campaign wove the nationalism at the core of most American political campaigns into its messaging in a new way. Although his ads noted that his disability was linked to Agent Orange, he was far more interested in championing his career as a Paralympian. He played H-O-R-S-E with former President Barack Obama and managed to make inspiration porn palatable while still tapping into an underdog ethos.
When we look at stories like Turek’s, it’s important to remember that Disabled athletes are not a monolith. Plenty of Disabled athletes are card-carrying Republicans or evangelical Christians, but there’s also a large contingent of LGBTQ+ athletes in the para sport world. Given that range, Turek’s stance on trans athletes isn’t surprising, especially from a moderate. The most vocal advocates for trans rights in para sport circles have tended to be women, and Disabled athletes often speak their minds fully only after they retire from elite competition. Many have biases to unpack once they leave the sport, and Turek is in the unusual position of doing that as a lawmaker. Whether the para sport community will be willing or able to push him further left remains an open question.
Remember: Disabled athletes are often lumped into the progressive camp, but former Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., was eager to play up his para sport acumen on the campaign trail before his career crashed and burned.
This election was clearly as much an indictment of Trump as an endorsement of Democrats. Turek has some predictable backers — the National Wheelchair Basketball Association reposted a campaign message the morning after the election, for example — but he’ll need serious community building to make an impact as part of this blue wave. As a legislator who has served mainly on health committees, he’ll likely be a leading voice on protecting Medicaid and other health care issues affecting Disabled people. How he works with caucus members further to his left will be fascinating to watch.
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