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Former state Rep. Christina Bohannan announced Tuesday that she’d seek a rematch against Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who beat her last year 53-47 in Iowa’s 1st District. Bohannan, who is the first notable Democrat to launch a campaign for any of the Hawkeye State’s four House seats, is trying to flip a southeastern Iowa constituency that supported Donald Trump by a small 51-48 margin in 2020.
The former state representative, who is a law professor at the local University of Iowa, launched her second effort days after the New York Times ran a story detailing Democratic pessimism about a rebound anytime soon in a one-time swing state that’s moved hard to the right over the last decade. “It’s difficult even to recruit people to run when we’re so far down,” said former Rep. Dave Loebsack, who represented previous versions of this district back when it was still numbered the 2nd. (Loebsack beat Miller-Meeks in 2008, 2010, and 2014; she finally won the 2020 race to succeed Loebsack after he retired by just six votes.)
Bohannan, though, has an angle of attack that wasn’t available to her last time. Upon her entry into the race, she immediately emphasized her opposition to a state law banning most abortions after just six weeks, a bill that GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law in July. “My view is we should go back to Roe v. Wade,” she told the Des Moines Register. “No more, no less. That’s what people support.”
Bohannan also highlighted Miller-Meeks’ cosponsorship of a proposed constitutional amendment that, without exception, calls for a “right to life of each born and pre-born human person.” The Republican, who identified herself as “pro-choice” during her successful 2018 bid for the state Senate, last year told the Quad-City Times, “I’m pro-life with exceptions for life of the mother, rape, and incest.”
Bohannan told the Register she intends to carry her “message out far and wide and reach people that maybe didn’t hear from us last time” and likely is hoping she’ll receive considerably more outside support to accomplish that task than she got in 2022. Pro-Miller-Meeks groups, led by the Congressional Leadership Fund, spent $2.7 million on the congresswoman’s behalf last time, compared to less than $100,000 for Bohannan’s side.
Democrats had every reason to be pessimistic going into 2022. Two of Iowa’s best-known Republicans, Sen. Chuck Grassley and Reynolds, were heading toward decisive wins, and Hawkeye State Republicans caught the red wave that so many of their fellow travelers elsewhere waited for in vain. Grassley carried the 1st 53-47 as he was beating Democrat Mike Franken 56-44 statewide, while Reynolds did even better.
The midterms also saw Zach Nunn narrowly unseat 3rd District Rep. Cindy Axne, who was the state’s only remaining Democratic member of Congress, on the same night that a pair of 10-term incumbents, Attorney General Tom Miller and Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald, also fell to Republican challengers. About the only bright spot for state Democrats was the reelection of Auditor Rob Sand, whose 50.1-49.9 victory made him the party’s most prominent elected official by default.
Bohannan is counting on 2024 to be a far better year for her party, but it remains to be seen whether other potentially vulnerable Republicans in Iowa’s House delegation earn credible challenges. Axne likely removed herself from contention two months ago when she accepted a post in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and no serious Democrats have publicly expressed interest in taking on Nunn in the 3rd. Inside Elections reported in June that unnamed Democrats were trying to recruit Dave Price, who recently retired as political director for the station WHO 13, but we’ve heard no new developments since about this 49.3-48.9 Trump seat around Des Moines.
Things have been even quieter in northeastern Iowa’s 2nd District, where Rep. Ashley Hinson remains unopposed for a constituency that favored Trump 51-47. Rep. Randy Feenstra, though, will almost certainly remain secure in his dark red 4th District even if 2024 turns into a strong cycle for Democrats.
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