Rep. Ashley Hinson voted against legislation to lower costs for Iowans

Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson has consistently voted against legislation that would have helped Iowans, including bills with bipartisan support.

Hinson, the Republican nominee to replace retiring Sen. Joni Ernst, will face Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek in the Nov. 3 general election.

After winning the GOP Senate nomination in June, Hinson committed to work across the aisle to pass legislation. But her record in the United States House of Representatives paints a different picture.

“Voters sent me to Washington to share their stories and be their voice in the fight to make life more affordable, safer, and easier for their families,” Hinson said in a statement after her primary election victory. “My record is one of delivering bipartisan results for Iowans, and that’s exactly what I’ll do in the United States Senate. I’ll work with anyone, from any party, to get things done for Iowa.”

In the House, Hinson has voted with her fellow Republicans on 98.23% of votes this term, as of June 28, according to CQ. This was higher than Iowa Republican Reps. Randy Feenstra (97.33%), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (95.72%), and Zach Nunn (94.81%).

Hinson voted against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a bipartisan 2021 law that invested billions of dollars in roads, bridges, public transit, water systems, electrical grids, and broadband infrastructure. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley was one of 19 Senate Republicans who voted in favor. In a 2022 press release announcing funding in Iowa, he said, “When I voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, I was voting for exactly this type of federal support for critical infrastructure that Iowans depend on.”

Hinson called the legislation “the biggest leap toward socialism this nation has ever seen,” but later claimed credit for its funding for Iowa infrastructure. A spokesperson told media outlets in 2022: “Congresswoman Hinson opposed the infrastructure package because it was tied to trillions of other spending in the House. Since the bill was signed into law, this money was going to be spent regardless. If there’s federal money on the table she is, of course, going to do everything she can to make sure it is reinvested in Iowa.”

Turek, in comparison, has voted for at least 775 bills in the Iowa Legislature supported by members of both parties, including several to lower costs for Iowans, earning him recognition as one of Iowa’s most effective lawmakers.

Hinson voted against a 2022 bill to cap out-of-pocket payments for insulin at $35 a month for Medicare Part D subscribers and Americans enrolled in private health insurance plans. Hinson said the bill would raise insurance premiums and set “a dangerous precedent here that the government should be able to control in the private sector the price of medications that Americans need,” according to a RadioIowa report. 

She also voted against a 2026 bill to extend for three years an expired enhanced premium tax credit that helped individuals afford Affordable Care Act marketplace insurance plans. Since its expiration, at least 21,000 Iowans have dropped their plans. 

On Feb. 11, Hinson voted against a resolution to end President Donald Trump’s tariff on goods imported from Canada. This and other tariffs imposed by Trump amounted to an average tax increase of $1,000 per U.S. household, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax foundation, and will increase average costs by another $900 in 2026.

A Hinson campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

The independent nonprofit Lugar Center publishes an annual Bipartisan Index, a scorecard of how well members of Congress work with members of the other party, based on bill sponsorship and co-sponsorship. For the last Congress, between 2022-2023, Hinson received a score of -0.07836, putting her below average for a member of the majority party, compared to a 20-year baseline, and below Feenstra, Miller-Meeks, and Nunn.