PolitiFact rated two attack ads targeting Iowa Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson (R-IA) as “mostly false,” finding that the Democratic Senate Majority Political Action Committee’s WinSenate made misleading claims about her personal finances and voting record related to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein documents.
PolitiFact reviewed the following ads defendant Hinson, who increased his fortune by $8 million during his five years in Congress, voted against the release of Epstein documents.
The first ad, dated Oct. 19, accuses Hinson of significantly increasing his wealth since taking office.
“After just five years in Washington, she’d made $8 million more,” the ad’s narrator says. “Ashley Hinson got rich. Iowa was left behind.”
While text on the ad screen qualifies the figure as “up to” $8 million, its voiceover ignores the distinction.
Turek made similar accusations, suggesting Hinson’s wealth had increased as much as 15-fold since taking office. One of his campaign ads reiterated claims that Hinson’s wealth is as high as $8 million.
PolitiFact found that WinSenate arrived at this number by comparing the lowest estimate of Hinson’s assets in 2020 to the highest estimate in 2025, rather than using a consistent measure.
Hinson reported assets worth between $726,000 and $2.4 million and debts between $65,000 and $150,000 in 2020, according to financial disclosures reviewed by PolitiFact. She disclosed assets between $2.3 million and $8.8 million in 2025, with no debt.
WinSenate calculated the increase of approximately $8.2 million by subtracting Hinson’s maximum reported debt from her minimum reported assets in 2020 and then comparing the resulting figure of $576,000 to her maximum reported assets in 2025.
“It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison of the low-end estimate from one year to the high-end estimate from another year,” Michael Beckel, research director at the campaign finance advocacy group Issue One, told PolitiFact.
PolitiFact found that by comparing the average of the reported financial ranges, the projected increase was about $4 million, about half the amount highlighted by WinSenate.
The group also found that much of the growth has to do with Hinson’s husband, Matt Arenholz, who sold the local insurance agency to Highstreet Insurance Partners in 2021.
Arenholz’s ownership stake in the agency was valued at $250,000 to $500,000, according to Hinson’s 2020 disclosure. After the sale, Arenholz received shares in Highstreet’s parent company, which Hinson spokesman Billy Fuerst said came in the form of private stock options.
The investment valuation Hinson disclosed in 2025 ranged from $1 million to $5 million.
“This has nothing to do with Ashley’s service in Congress, and the sale occurred before Ashley was elected to Congress,” Fuerst told PolitiFact.
PolitiFact concluded that the WinSenate comparison showed the greatest possible increase in Hinson’s reported wealth while ignoring the significance of her husband’s business dealings, rating the claim “mostly false.”
Another WinSenate ad, dated September 25, defendant Hinson voted against releasing documents related to Epstein while accepting campaign donations from individuals named in the documents.
“Her top donors appear more than 700 times in Epstein’s dossier,” the ad reads.
“In Congress, Hinson voted against releasing the documents,” the narrator continues. “When given another chance, she skipped the vote. Instead, she raised money from a billionaire who appears in Epstein’s dossier more than 20 times.”
Another WinSenate ad accuses Hinson of accepting nearly $90,000 from individuals named in the Epstein documents and voting to keep the documents secret.
PolitiFact found that Hinson supported a 2025 procedural motion that would have blocked legislation to release Epstein documents from moving forward, but noted that the ads ignored her subsequent vote on the Epstein Documents Transparency Act.
On July 15, 2025, Hinson joined other Republicans in supporting a procedural motion, which passed 211 to 210. Defeating the motion would allow further consideration of an amendment proposed by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) requiring the attorney general to release Epstein’s documents within 30 days.
PolitiFact also identified two other procedural votes in July and September 2025 in which Hinson supported motions to block the advancement of legislation related to the release of documents. She also refused to sign a recall petition led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) in an effort to force a House vote.
However, Hinson voted in favor of the bipartisan Epstein Documentation Transparency Act introduced by Massie and Khanna when the bill was introduced to the House in November 2025.
The bill, which requires the Justice Department to release records related to the Epstein investigation, passed the House in a 427-1 vote after President Donald Trump directed lawmakers to support the bill.
Fuerst pointed Hinson’s yes vote to PolitiFact and described the July vote cited by WinSenate as a “procedural motion to advance multiple bills, including the defense appropriations bill.”
Fact Check also examined WinSenate’s allegations against Hinson’s campaign donors.
PolitiFact reports that Federal Election Commission records and news reports show Hinson received donations from individuals whose names appear in Epstein-related documents, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Stephen Schwarzman and Apollo Global Management CEO Mark Rowan.
PolitiFact emphasized that these individuals have not been accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein’s crimes, and that the individuals mentioned in the documents do not prove that they committed wrongdoing or had close ties to Epstein.
The organization also cited daily beast The report said Hinson and its affiliated political action committees received nearly $90,000 across three campaigns from donors named in the filings, but PolitiFact could not independently verify the total.
PolitiFact further noted that Turek himself received donations from venture capitalist John Doerr, whose name also appears on documents related to Epstein. Doerr has not been accused of wrongdoing, and the records do not reflect direct communications between him and Epstein.
While acknowledging Hinson’s opposition to early procedural efforts, PolitiFact argued that WinSenate’s characterization of her records was misleading because it ignored her eventual support for legislation requiring the release of documents.
The organization rated the claim as “mostly false.”
These two PolitiFact ratings were obtained after Turek himself Bad link Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) and Randy Feenstra (R-IA) approved the Dignity Act, immigration legislation that would create a path to legal status for certain illegal aliens. “I agree with Reps. Nunn, Miller-Meeks and Feenstra in the Dignity Act that there should be a viable path for you if you’re willing to go through a background check,” Turek said in an interview with NBC News anchor Tom Lamas, when Lamas told When he asked if illegal immigrants were deported, Turek responded, “Not immediately.” However, neither Miller-Meeks nor Feenstra was a co-sponsor of the legislation, which was introduced by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL).
October 23, Turek participated in The San Francisco fundraiser hosted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental group that advocates for reducing red meat consumption, opposes proposals to sell year-round E15 ethanol and supports a $1.6 trillion Green New Deal proposal for public schools. Tickets for the fundraiser cost up to $10,000, and Turek received at least $19,500 from NRDC leadership. The organization advocates cutting back on beef by a quarter pound per week to reduce global warming and reducing red meat purchases by 30 percent. Iowa ranks second in the nation in red meat production, leads the nation in ethanol production and supports approximately 42,000 jobs across the state. Turek also opposed permanent estate tax relief for more than 2 million family farms, missed a vote on the Iowa farm bill and voted to allow fake meat labels on products in Iowa public schools.
In a Senate debate on October 8, Hinson critical Turek missed 58% of legislative votes this year and collected more than $20,000 in taxpayer-funded per diems. “I think it’s noteworthy that my opponent decided not to go to work 58 percent of the time this year because of policies that could have helped support Iowans and Iowa farmers, including the Iowa Farm Bill, and chose not to vote for that bill,” Hinson said.
Turek, meanwhile, proposed requiring members of Congress to hold at least one in-person town hall meeting per year, arguing Hinson did not hold such a meeting during his Senate campaign. Hinson responded: “I have attended 47 town hall meetings during my time in Congress, so those of you who are here already know many of them and have a clear understanding that I am a transparent and approachable representative.”
Returning to Turek’s per diem, Hinson said, “So you took the per diem; you stole money from the taxpayers. You should give that money back.”