GOP’s Mariannette Miller-Meeks declares victory but faces recount

RIVERSIDE — Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Eastern Iowa’s resilient Republican congresswoman, appeared on her way to again defying the odds as she held a late lead in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District election.

It also looks like Miller-Meeks is destined for a case of deja vu, as for the second time in three elections her race appears headed for a recount.

As of early Wednesday, and with 19 of the 20 counties in Iowa’s 1st District reporting, Miller-Meeks led Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan by a mere 413 votes out of more than 407,000 cast.

Speaking at her campaign’s election results watch party at Riverside Casino & Golf Resort, Miller-Meeks said she expects her advantage to grow when the final votes are tallied. The lone remaining holdout, Washington County, in 2022 went for Miller-Meeks by more than 2,000 votes.

Miller-Meeks said she expects a recount. She told reporters she expects her advantage to survive it.

“I would expect us to get between 1,000 to 2,000 votes out of Washington County,” Miller Meeks said. “I expect that our lead will hold up.”

Miller-Meeks said there were “issues” in Washington County that caused elections officials there to start counting votes late.

Washington County Auditor Dan Widmer told the Southeast Iowa Union that there were “scanner issues” with absentee ballots, and that officials would resume the official count at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Bohannan, addressing supporters late Tuesday at Big Grove in Iowa City, said the race remains too close to call.

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“We owe it to Iowa voters to ensure every vote is counted and every voice is heard,” Bohannan later posted to X, formerly Twitter. “I’m so grateful to every volunteer, supporter, and voter who worked tirelessly to get us here.”

Miller-Meeks, 69, is a former ophthalmologist, state lawmaker and state public health director. She has a home in Ottumwa — which was moved into Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District after decennial redistricting in 2021 — and also claims a residence at an apartment complex in Davenport, which is in the 1st District.

Bohannan, 53, is a University of Iowa law professor and former state lawmaker. She lives in Iowa City.

The 20-county district includes Iowa City, Davenport and rural southeast Iowa.

Miller-Meeks was elected to Congress in 2020 on her fourth try and by a scant six votes. Her victory held up after a protracted recount, during which Democratic candidate Rita Hart briefly contested the outcome in the U.S. House.

Miller-Meeks then defeated Bohannan by 7 percentage points in 2022. During her remarks early Wednesday, she expressed frustration with what she said were lies during the campaign about her record in Congress.

“Despite all the lies, despite the disgusting, vile things that were said about me, despite the over $5.5 million that was spent to defeat — not me, to defeat us, we are going to make America great again,” Miller-Meeks said, using Donald Trump’s famous campaign slogan.

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At her campaign’s event in Iowa City, Bohannan thanked her campaign team, family, volunteers and supporters for their efforts in a challenging political race, highlighting the importance of issues like democracy, education funding, reproductive rights and the cost of living.

Bohannan highlighted the significance of young voters’ involvement in her campaign, encouraging them to remember their impact and to continue engaging in politics.

“As I said, we knew that this was going to be one of the most challenging races in the country, and there were pundits and people in Washington, D.C., who thought that we did not have a chance to win this race, and now here we are, this close, getting down to the wire, and just too close to call,” Bohannan said.

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She expressed pride in her grassroots campaign.

“We did it, friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor, door talking to people in our communities,” Bohannan said. “We have got to get back to that. We've got to get away from the divisiveness and everything. We've got to get back to talking to one another, and that is what we have done on this campaign, and I am so incredibly proud of what we have done and how we have done it.”

Iowa’s 1st District election was viewed from the start as one of the most competitive U.S. House campaigns in the country, thus magnifying its importance in the nationwide race to the House majority.

By the end of the campaign, most national forecasters had the 1st District election as a true toss-up, and some — including Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball — even shifted it to leaning Democratic.

As of Friday, there were 156,375 active Republican registered voters in the 1st District, 135,727 active registered Democrats and 134,823 active registered no-party voters.

House Republicans went into the election with a slim, 220-212 majority with three vacancies. As of early Wednesday, control of the U.S. House remained in doubt.

With those stakes, money poured into the campaign. As of Oct. 16, Bohannan had raised more than $5.8 million and Miller-Meeks more than $4.8 million, according to federal campaign finance records.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the political arm of U.S. House Democrats, poured more than $1.3 million into the election in hopes of flipping the seat.

Outside groups spent heavily on the campaign also. Groups spent nearly about $14.3 million on the campaign — $6.9 million to back Miller-Meeks and $7.3 million to back Bohannan, according to Open Secrets, the nonprofit that tracks money in politics.

Like many federal elections, the 1st District campaign largely was about abortion, immigration and economic policies.

Miller-Meeks said she believes there can be “consensus” around passing a federal law that would ban abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. She described herself as “pro-life” with exceptions for legal abortions in the cases of rape, incest or danger to the mother’s life.

Miller-Meeks argued Bohannan and Democratic candidates have “extreme” positions on abortion, pointing to a Minnesota law passed by Democrats that effectively has no limitations on abortions.

Bohannan criticized Miller-Meeks’ stance on abortion, pointing to Miller-Meeks’ previous support for federal legislation that states life begins at fertilization and would criminalize abortion, but would not allow women having the procedure be prosecuted. It has no exceptions for rape, incest or the woman’s life, and does not spell out protections for fertility treatments. Miller-Meeks cosponsored the bill in the 2021-2022 Congress, but not in the current Congress.

Bohannan said she wants to codify into federal law the provisions of Roe v. Wade before it was struck down by the Supreme Court. Under that framework, states could not restrict abortions before a fetus could survive outside the womb, which typically occurs around 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy.

On immigration, Miller-Meeks faulted Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration for ending two policies that started under then-President Trump’s administration: one that required some asylum-seekers to be sent back to Mexico during preliminary immigration proceedings and another that used a public health emergency law in the COVID-19 pandemic to prohibit border crossings to prevent the virus’ spread.

Bohannan said she would have voted for the bipartisan immigration enforcement bill that was negotiated by Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate but was shelved by Republicans after Trump encouraged its defeat. Bohannan also criticized Miller-Meeks and House Republicans for not taking up the Senate bill, although that choice is made by party leadership, not Miller-Meeks.

In campaign advertisements and on the campaign trail, Miller-Meeks attacked Bohannan over support for law enforcement and transgender policies. Miller-Meeks has focused on preventing transgender girls and women from competing in girls’ and women’s athletics. She also advocated for extending federal tax cuts implemented during Trump’s tenure.

Bohannan responded with her own ad featuring Iowa law enforcement officials expressing support for her campaign, and has alleged that Miller-Meeks has accepted campaign donations that influenced some of her votes in the House.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

Kalen McCain of the Southeast Iowa Union contributed to this report.