DES MOINES, Iowa – U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, filed her nomination papers with the Iowa Secretary of State on Friday, making her candidacy in the Republican primary in the newly drawn Iowa 1st Congressional District official.
Miller-Meeks, who is seeking her second term, is the only candidate in the race to submit qualifying signatures in all 20 counties in the district, including receiving more than 100 signatures in every county.
“More than 250 volunteers came forward to help gather the 3,195 signatures that Congresswoman Miller-Meeks submitted, reflecting the broad base of enthusiastic support she enjoys across the district,” said campaign manager Elliott Husbands.
The new Iowa 1st Congressional District encompasses the bulk of the current Iowa 2nd Congressional District and includes more than 85 percent of the constituents that Miller-Meeks currently represents. Redistricting occurs every 10 years to ensure balanced representation in response to population shifts reflected in each U.S. Census.
The new district consists of Cedar, Clinton, Des Moines, Henry, Iowa, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Keokuk, Lee, Louisa, Marion, Mahaska, Muscatine, Scott, Van Buren, Warren, and Washington counties.
Miller-Meeks is from Ottumwa, a city in Wapello County, that is now in the new Iowa 3rd Congressional District. She announced she would move into the new Iowa 2nd Congressional District to run for re-election.
Miller-Meeks is an ophthalmologist who served 24 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves, retiring at the rank of lieutenant colonel. She is a former state senator, former director of the Iowa Department of Public Health and served as president of the Iowa Medical Society. She and her husband, Curt, have two adult children.
Miller-Meeks will have a primary challenger. Kyle Kuehl, a business owner and combat veteran from Bettendorf, also filed his candidacy for the June 7 Republican primary last Thursday.
State Rep. Christina Bohannan, D-Iowa City, is the likely Democratic challenger. She filed on February 28, and is the only Republican to file paperwork thus far.
