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Ashley Hinson’s Husband Used Shadow Lobby Role to Help His Insurance Lobbying Group Gain Access to Hinson and Other Iowa Lawmakers

Ashley Hinson’s Husband Used Shadow Lobby Role to Help His Insurance Lobbying Group Gain Access to Hinson and Other Iowa Lawmakers

In This Week’s Edition of the Ashley Accountability Alert, a New Report Revealed More Hinson Corruption While Iowans Across the State Called Her Out for Continuing the War in Iran and Blocking the Epstein Files

DES MOINES – This week, Ashley Hinson’s week went from bad to worse as a new report from NOTUS uncovered that Hinson’s husband, who holds a “government affairs post at a leading insurance industry lobbying group,” used his post to “gain access to Hinson and other Iowa lawmakers” and “blur the lines” as a shadow lobbyist.

Meanwhile, Iowa veterans came together in Cedar Rapids six months after the Iran war began to call Hinson out for voting to continue the war in Iran six times, and Iowa leaders and parents gathered outside Hinson’s 6th Annual BBQ Bash to grill her for blocking the release of the Epstein Files.

But there was even more that ruined Hinson’s week…

  • Then, a report from the Washington Examiner showed Ashley Hinson’s Senate campaign is in serious trouble with less than 10 weeks until Election Day. In Examiner focus groups, Hinson won zero of the six self-identified Independent Iowa voters, underlining her inability to win over voters across the political spectrum. 
  • Next, a bombshell report from NOTUS revealed Ashley Hinson and her husband, Matt Arenholz, used her office to grant her husband’s insurance lobbying group access to the Iowa Congressional delegation.
  • Meanwhile, the national insurance group’s PAC contributed more than $67,000 to Hinson’s campaign and PACs over the years as her husband was helping his insurance group gain access to Hinson and DC powerbrokers.
  • Ashley Hinson is facing increasingly more questions from Iowans on her decision to block the release of the Epstein Files. For months, Hinson publicly opposed a bipartisan effort to release the Epstein Files, calling the effort last year the “wrong way” and “not how we should be doing business” even as Iowans were demanding transparency.
  • To round out the week, Iowans across the state – in Cedar Rapids and Clive – called out Ashley Hinson for continuing to support the war in Iran and for blocking the release of the Epstein Files.
  • Iowa veterans came together in Cedar Rapids on the six month anniversary of when the war in Iran began to speak about the impact of Ashley Hinson’s support for continuing the conflict at great cost to Iowans and U.S. servicemembers.
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See What Iowans Were Seeing and Reading This Week: 

Washington Examiner: Iowa focus group’s warning to Republicans: Farm tariff pain could cost you the Senate

  • To test the terrain, J.L. Partners recruited a panel of six Independent voters — four men, two women; four who described themselves as “moderate,” one who said they were “somewhat left-wing” and one “somewhat right-wing” — to talk about the issues that matter to them.
  • Jessica, 44, of Grimes, said: “ For our state, I think the biggest issue — just from what I’ve seen online — is that the farming community’s been really messed with by this tariff situation. A lot of farmers are having trouble finding a market for the soybeans, but now that China’s backed out.”
  • “[Ashley Hinson’s] not doing anything for the tariffs, which are hurting our farmers… cutting Medicare and Medicaid, and we have outlying medical facilities shutting down because they can’t afford to stay open,” said Don.

NOTUS: Rep. Ashley Hinson’s husband ‘arranged’ a meeting between lobbyists and Iowa lawmakers – including his wife

  • Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, a congresswoman pitching herself as a warrior against special interests in Iowa, and her husband, Matt Arenholz, have deep ties to the insurance industry, with Arenholz owning millions worth of interest in a private equity-backed brokerage.
  • Documents reviewed by NOTUS reveal Arenholz also held a government affairs post at a leading insurance industry lobbying group, which has not been previously reported. He helped arrange meetings with Hinson and other Iowa congressional delegation members, the documents indicate.
  • Arenholz, a longtime insurance executive, chaired the government affairs committee for an Iowa branch of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, an expansive national insurance trade association and lobbying group. Magazines published by the organization and reviewed by NOTUS reveal that officials at the insurance industry group credited Arenholz for helping them gain access to Hinson and other Iowa lawmakers.
  • Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a watchdog organization that tracks lobbying and political influence trends, told NOTUS that Arenholz’s position “blurs the line.”
  • InsurePAC, the political action committee of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, has supported Hinson throughout her congressional career.
  • Over the years, the PAC contributed a total of more than $67,000 to Hinson’s campaign and PACs affiliated with the Iowa Republican, according to data from the Federal Election Commission.
  • Separately, the national group has spent more than $5 million lobbying the federal government since Hinson was elected in 2020, according to Lobbying Disclosure Act reports.
  • Hinson’s annual personal financial disclosures reveal Arenholz retains a significant stake in the insurance sector. Hinson reported in 2025 that Arenholz held between $1 million and $5 million in High Street Insurance Partners, a large private equity-backed insurance brokerage. In 2021, Hinson reported that Arenholz sold interest in a private insurance company for over $1 million.

American Journal News: Hinson missed multiple votes on Epstein investigation

  • Now it appears [Hinson] also missed multiple House votes aimed at exposing Epstein and holding his coconspirators accountable.
  • While her absences likely did not affect any vote outcomes, they do raise questions about her commitment to protecting sexual assault survivors.
  • On Sept. 3, 2025, she missed two votes: one intended to speed up the release of the files and another to block public funds from being used to prevent the release of visitor logs for Epstein’s residences and private jet.
  • Hinson was present for other amendment votes on Sept. 10, 2025, suggesting that she was in Washington D.C., despite missing the Epstein-related votes. 

KCCI:

  • Anchor: Members of Iowa’s Democratic Party gathered to criticize her stance on the release of the Epstein Files. State Representative Jennifer Konfrst and multiple central Iowa parents are calling for more transparency in Washington. They’re also questioning why Hinson opposed an effort in Congress to release additional records.
  • State Representative Jennifer Konfrst: As a Mom, I can’t believe Ashley Hinson would sooner go to bat for the awful individuals named in the Epstein Files than the young survivors Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused. It is disgusting and it is disqualifying. 
  • Tiara Mays-Sims, Iowa Mom: I find Ashley Hinson’s decision to block the release of the Epstein Files deeply unsettling. She should’ve been everything in her power to hold him responsible and his co-conspirators accountable for the terrible crimes they’ve committed. But she backed down from that fight. She didn’t do enough to protect those young victims. 

Iowa Capital Dispatch:

  • Iowa Democratic leaders held a news conference before Hinson’s event, where speakers criticized Hinson for not voting to release the “Epstein files” — U.S. Department of Justice documents and information on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
  • Iowa Rep. Jennifer Konfrst said Hinson “has been fighting firmly on the side of the Epstein files, not Iowans.”
  • “For months last year, she publicly opposed and blocked the release of the Epstein files, she alone could have at any time decided to join the bipartisan effort in Congress to release the files, but she chose to stand in the way,” Konfrst said. “… As a mom, I can’t believe Ashley Hinson would sooner go to bat for the awful individuals named in the Epstein files than the young survivors Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused. It is disgusting, and it is disqualifying. It is not something we’re going to forget come November. Because while she was blocking the release of the Epstein files, she was voting to cut our healthcare and raise our prices. She was fighting harder for the Epstein class than for Iowans.”
  • Earlier in August, the Gazette reported Hinson was asked by three callers during a telephone town hall about not supporting the 2025 effort to force a House floor vote on the issue through a discharge petition. In the town hall, Hinson called the effort “a Democrat floor procedure” while saying she supported releasing the documents.

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