DES MOINES, Iowa – State Rep. Christina Bohannan, D-Iowa City, announced on Tuesday that she is running for the Democratic nomination in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. She is the first Democrat to announce plans to challenge the Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks from Ottumwa.
“I’m running to fight for better health care, better education, and better economic opportunity for Iowans because everyone deserves a fair shot,” Bohannan tweeted.
“I’m a proud Iowan, proud to have raised my daughter and served our community right here because Iowa’s values of decency, fairness and hard work are my values. But too often, I see families struggling, worrying; they’re just one bad break from not making ends meet,” she said in her introductory video (watch above).
“It’s why I stood up to run for office, taking on politics as usual, to fight for real change,” Bohannan added. “‘m running for congress because there’s so much at stake. And our kids, our families and our small businesses are worth fighting for.”
Miller-Meeks welcomed the Democrat to the race.
“I welcome State Representative Christina Bohannan into the 2022 contest for Iowa’s Second Congressional District. However, our approaches to the challenges facing working families, our communities, state and nation are vastly different – and I look forward to voters choosing between those two approaches,” she said in a released statement.
Bohannan is serving her first term in the Iowa House of Representatives representing Iowa House District 85 after defeating incumbent State Rep. Vicki Lensing, D-Iowa City, by 32 percent in the Democratic primary. She was unchallenged in the general election. She serves on the House Information Technology, Judiciary, and State Government committees.
She has been a law professor at the University of Iowa School of Law for 20 years, where she teaches and writes in several areas of law, including teaching constitutional law, torts, and intellectual property.
Miller-Meeks attacked her record during her first year in the Iowa House.
“Representative Bohannan’s votes in just one term in the Iowa House reveal a guiding philosophy that the government should have more – not less – control over our lives and personal liberties. She voted against a ban on mask mandates and in February voted against the reopening of schools harming both students and parents,” she said.
Miller-Meeks also criticized her vote against the “Back the Blue” legislation passed in the Iowa Legislature.
“She has voted against more funding for law enforcement that keeps us safe when she voted against the Back the Blue legislation. This legislation increased penalties for rioting, public disorder, blocking a roadway, harassing peace officers, damaging public property and disorderly conduct. That vote alone is disturbing and disappointing considering that Representative Bohannan, as a member of the University of Iowa faculty, would have seen firsthand the destructive aftermath of last year’s supposedly peaceful protesters that inflicted more than $1 million in damage on Iowa’s Old Capitol, the Field House and numerous other buildings on campus and dangerously blocked traffic on Interstate 80,” she stated.
Republican Party of Iowa Chair Jeff Kaufmann said Iowans are not looking to send a liberal activist to Washington.
“Bohannan represents the most liberal state house district in the entire state of Iowa and if she thinks she can connect with everyday Iowans, she should think again. Iowans aren’t looking to send an extreme liberal activist to Washington, D.C. Instead, they want a fighter, like Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who will stand up and defend Iowans against the radical agenda of Nancy Pelosi and AOC,” he said.
Miller-Meeks defeated former State Senator Rita Hart in 2020 by six votes to win her first term in one of the closest races in U.S. History. After a recount, Hart attempted to challenge the results in the U.S. House Committee on Administration but later dropped the challenge.
