Hecklers disrupt Hinson rally ahead of Tuesday primary

CEDAR RAPIDS — Hecklers repeatedly disrupted a get-out-the-vote rally Wednesday for Republican U.S. Senate candidate and U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson in downtown Cedar Rapids, interrupting the congresswoman as she spoke about her efforts to ban members of Congress and congressional staff from using insider information to trade stocks and bet on prediction markets.

The disruptions occurred inside the Veterans Memorial Building as Hinson addressed supporters alongside Republican Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate ahead of Iowa's Tuesday primary election. Some protesters shouted over Hinson and blew whistles before being escorted from the event by law enforcement officers.

Hinson's campaign declined to comment following the incident.

"You may have heard a little bit about this lately because there's a lot of talk around prediction markets … and people trading on outcomes of things around the world that maybe they have insider information on," Hinson told the crowd before the interruption. "I think that's wrong. I don't think Congress should be a casino.

I don't think members of Congress should be trading stocks. I'm working to ban it, and I certainly don't think they should be trading on prediction markets either."

After the disruption, Hinson continued speaking, saying, "I know the loudest voices are not the most, but they are the most extreme."

One of the demonstrators escorted out, 24-year-old Cedar Rapids resident Nell Mari Barrios, said afterward she interrupted the rally because she believed Hinson was being dishonest about congressional stock trading and healthcare policy.

Barrios criticized Hinson's support for the Republican-backed "One Big Beautiful Bill," calling it "one of the biggest healthcare cuts in American history."

According to Hinson's latest financial disclosure report filed Aug. 13, 2025 — with the exception of stock held by her husband valued between $1 million and $5 million as part of ownership interest in a privately held partnership involving his business — Hinson and her husband do not directly hold or actively trade individual corporate stocks. Their reported investments consist primarily of mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, retirement accounts and variable annuities.

The Marion congresswoman has made banning congressional stock trading a key issue in her U.S. Senate campaign, featuring the proposal in her primary television advertisements.

But critics and Democratic opponents have noted that Hinson did not sign onto a 2025 discharge petition aimed at forcing a House vote on the bipartisan Restore Trust in Congress Act, a broader proposal that would ban members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from owning or trading individual stocks.

Hinson is seeking Iowa's open U.S. Senate seat following Republican Sen. Joni Ernst's decision not to seek re-election. She is running against former state Sen. Jim Carlin of Sergeant Bluff for the GOP nomination in the Tuesday Republican primary.

Early voting is underway.

Hinson touts Senate priorities

During the rally, Pate, a former Cedar Rapids mayor, urged Republicans to turn out for the primary election and praised Hinson's record in Congress.

"She actually did what she said she was going to do," Pate said. "She went in there and she told them what Iowans wanted, what Iowans needed. She fought for those things as a congresswoman, and that's special about her."

Hinson framed the Senate race as a choice between continuing Republican policies under President Donald Trump or returning to what she described as the economic failures of former President Joe Biden's administration.

"Democrats still want to spend more, they still want to regulate more, they still want to tax more, and I think that's wrong," Hinson said. "I don't want to go back to that."

The congresswoman argued Republicans have continued advancing Trump's agenda despite opposition in the U.S. Senate, criticizing Democrats for what she called efforts to block the president's nominees and policy priorities.

"They have done everything they can to try to stall out President Trump's agenda, his nominees, they're trying to halt all the good policy and moving forward," Hinson said.

"But despite all of that blockade, we've still managed to get some really good things done, including passing the working families tax cut bill last summer."

She pointed to Republicans' tax and spending cuts package as one of the party's key accomplishments, highlighting provisions reducing taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits she said would benefit working families and small businesses.

Hinson also emphasized lowering healthcare and prescription drug costs, expanding workforce participation and supporting Iowa agriculture as central priorities of her Senate campaign.

"We need to continue to return as many dollars as we can back to you, cut taxes wherever we can, because guess what, it's your money," Hinson said.

"We need to make sure we're making life more affordable, but I can tell you this: that the liberal agenda is not only wrong for our state, it's wrong for our country, and it takes us backward and makes life more expensive."

Dems cite rising costs, Hinson votes

Outside the Veterans Memorial Building, several dozen demonstrators gathered Wednesday afternoon at Plaza Park and lined First Avenue ahead of the rally. The group criticized Hinson's support for Republican-backed policies they said have increased costs for Iowa families. Protesters carried signs reading "Hinson Hurts Iowans" and "Country Over Party," while passing motorists frequently honked in support.

At a news conference before the rally, state Sen. Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Marion, said Iowa families are "facing a huge cost of living crisis."

"From rural Iowa to our growing cities, working families are struggling to afford the basics," Donahue said.

She accused Hinson of backing policies that have driven up health care, grocery and energy costs for Iowans.

She criticized Hinson's votes against extending Affordable Care Act tax credits and against the Inflation Reduction Act, arguing those decisions increased costs for families and senior citizens. Berleen Wobeter, a rural Tama County farmer who said she and her husband operate a small cowcalfherd, said many farm families are struggling to navigate rising costs and industry consolidation.

"People who have been farming for 50 years can't find their way through this chaos," Wobeter said.

"We are losing local control," she said. "Our ag businesses are consolidating. This is what it looks like right now, right here, we are losing competition."

The Iowa Democratic Party also challenged claims made in Hinson's recent television advertising, arguing her voting record and campaign fundraising undercut her message on health care affordability, veterans' services and congressional ethics.

According to campaign finance data compiled by OpenSecrets, Hinson has accepted tens of thousands of dollars from HMO corporate political action committees, health insurance industry PACs, and from pharmaceutical manufacturers' PACs since launching her first congressional campaign in 2020.

Democrats also pointed to Hinson's opposition to the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which authorized Medicare drug price negotiations and capped monthly insulin costs at $35 for Medicare recipients, among many other provisions.

The congresswoman voted against the legislation, instead backing an alternative Republican proposal that would have set a higher cap for seniors. That proposal ultimately did not become law.

Democrats also criticized Hinson's response to federal cuts affecting veterans' services after Trump's Department of Government Efficiency moved to cancel Veterans Affairs contracts in Iowa and targeting tens of thousands of agency employees for layoffs. in 2025.

During an April 2025 town hall in Mason City, Hinson said it was "absolutely critical" to have veterans working in the VA system but argued the agency had become a "huge, huge bureaucracy" with "a lot of bloat at all of our federal agencies." Hinson said she wanted to ensure veterans received services "in a very targeted way and efficient way," while also "respecting taxpayers in this process."

Tom Barton covers state government and politics.Comments: (319) 398-8499 or tom. barton@thegazette.com.