DES MOINES, Iowa – U.S. Rep. Mariannettte Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, announced that she will run for re-election in 2022 in the newly drawn Iowa 1st Congressional District. The new redistricting map passed by the Iowa Legislature and signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds placed Ottumwa, where Miller-Meeks lives, in the new Iowa 3rd Congressional District.
She committed to run for re-election after the map but needed time to consider what congressional district she would run in.
“The real question has never been, ‘Where is she going?’ but ‘Where are we going?’ Are we going to continue down the Biden-Pelosi plan of more reckless spending, more runaway inflation and more government intrusion into our lives or are we going to espouse policies that create more economic freedom, better wages for working families, a better tax system for Main Street businesses, farmers, and the industries that power our country, and more educational opportunities for our children and grandchildren?” Miller-Meeks said during a press conference in Davenport on Thursday. “I’m running because we need to stop the destructive, tax-and-spend policies of the Biden-Pelosi team and restore economic sanity and good old common sense to our government.”
Running in the 3rd Congressional District would have muddied an ongoing three-way Republican primary. Also, the new 1st Congressional District makes up much of the 2nd Congressional District that she currently represents. In contrast, a lot of the 3rd Congressional District has a lot of new territory, something Miller-Meeks acknowledged.
“The newly drawn First Congressional District encompasses the bulk of the current Second Congressional District (16 of 24 counties) and includes more than 85 percent of the constituents that I currently represent. While Wapello County, where my current home is located, is not part of the new district, the counties that will become the new First Congressional District next year have been home to me for many reasons,” she explained.
“Before I was elected to Congress, I practiced ophthalmology at Great River Eye Specialists in West Burlington. I taught at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. I know the concerns of business owners, working families, farmers and others who make their local communities what they are. And I have a special connection with so many people throughout the new First District,” Miller-Meeks said. “It is for those reasons that I have decided that I will seek my second congressional term as a candidate in Iowa’s First Congressional District.”
Recalling her 2019 announcement that she would run for Congress, Miller-Meeks added, “I said too many people were quitting on Iowans and that my campaign was about securing a better future for Iowans. Those words are just as true today as they were 26 months ago. My candidacy is about never quitting on the promise that Iowans can achieve so much more when we are not under the thumb of one-size-fits-all Washington, D.C. politicians.”
She continued, “While the liberal Democrats have given up on Iowans and their fight for the American dream, I never will. I will continue to fight for affordable and accessible health care, a stronger economy, better jobs and higher take-home pay, skills training, fair trade deals, and an education that works for our kids, not the teachers’ unions. As I announce today that I am running in the First Congressional District, I will never give up on Iowans, our future, the American dream, or the conservative values that have made our country the beacon of hope and freedom that it is.”
State Senator Zach Nunn, R-Bondurant, who is running for the Republican nomination in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, applauded Miller-Meeks for her decision.
“Iowa is dead center in the race to win back Congress. All of Iowa’s four new Congressional districts can be won by Republicans because we fight for every day Iowans with actions over words, economic growth over fear and inflation, and lower taxes to help families over political spending for out-of-state interests,” he said. “I applaud and support my friend and fellow veteran, Marianette Miller Meeks as she continues to honorably serve Southeast Iowa.”
