Davenport Democrats criticize Ashley Hinson's insurance ties after GOP event last week

Democrats held an event in Davenport Thursday to criticize Ashley Hinson's wealth and connections to the insurance industry.

The Iowa Democratic Party held a news conference in Davenport Thursday, where retiring state Rep. Monica Kurth, Democratic candidate for statehouse Adam Peters and union leader Simplice Kuelo, criticized Hinson, a congresswoman from Marion who is running for U.S. Senate.

The event came after an Iowa GOP event held in Davenport last week as part of a tour the state party dubbed the "Turek Too Liberal" tour in reference to the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Josh Turek.

The Democrats pointed to Hinson's net worth, which is estimated to be $5.53 million, according to Quiver Quant, a website that aggregates public finance disclosure records. Democrats also criticized her votes for the Big Beautiful Bill, which included tax cuts and cuts to social safety net programs, and her defense of the war in Iran.

"Ashley Hinson is a millionaire whose household wealth is now roughly 10 times what it was before she entered," Peters said. "You don't get to stand in front of working Iowans and pretend your life looks anything like the life of someone deciding which bill gets paid this month."

Hinson's campaign said her husband sold a business he built before Hinson was elected to Congress and retains private stock in that business. Hinson and her husband sold all public stocks shortly after she took office and they do not trade individual stocks, the campaign said, pointing to Hinson's vote to ban congressional stock trading and legislation introduced to ban members of Congress from betting on prediction markets.

The Democrats emphasized reporting by NOTUS that Hinson's husband held a government affairs role for an insurance lobbying group and organized meetings with Iowa's congressional delegation, including Hinson.

"Public service should be about serving the people, not yourself, not your donors, and not whichever special interest is writing your next check," Peters said.

The Hinson campaign pushed back on the characterization of her husband's position in the NOTUS article. The campaign said her husband's volunteer role was focused on state policy and the annually scheduled meeting was organized through proper channels and focused on changes in Iowa's insurance industry.

Hinson's campaign said the Big I of Iowa represents more than 500 independent insurance agencies and over 8,000 licensed insurance professionals in Iowa. The organization has regularly met with Iowa's delegation, Democrats and Republicans, including Tom Harkin, Leonard Boswell, Neal Smith, Dave Nagle, Dave Loebsack, and Cindy Axne.

Hinson's husband has been a member since 2003 and attended the annual D.C. fly-in to meet members of Congress before Hinson was elected, the campaign said. He became the volunteer chair of the government affairs committee in 2019.

Hinson's campaign supplied a statement from Bob Skow, a former Democratic member and assistant majority leader, who has been involved with Big I for the last 44 years, who said "any attempt to characterize these meetings as nefarious or unethical is completely untrue."

Billy Fuerst, Hinson's campaign communications director, said, "Democrats are desperate because they are losing."

"They are manufacturing pathetic lies about Ashley and her family because Josh Turek is too liberal for Iowa and they can't defend his record to voters," Fuerst said. "Iowans know Ashley is their champion and will never elect Josh Turek because he wants to give taxpayer-funded welfare benefits to illegal immigrants, let kids change their gender at school without telling their parents, and raise taxes on working families."