Former U.S. attorney launches bid to unseat Iowa’s Ashley Hinson

Former U.S. attorney Kevin Techau of Cedar Rapids hopes to do what Democrats have failed to in the last two election cycles — unseat Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson.

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Techau, 66, a Democrat, launched his campaign Thursday to seek his party’s nomination to challenge Hinson for Northeast Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District seat. The district includes Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dubuque and Mason City.

He said he is running for Congress to level the playing field for Iowa families, provide much needed relief for rising costs, fight to protect Social Security and Medicare, make health care more accessible and affordable and strengthen the middle class instead of “putting the whims of the richest man in the world first” — a reference to tech billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.

“I’m very optimistic we can take this seat and make this district work again for the people of Iowa — make Washington work for the people of Iowa, because that’s what people expect,” he told The Gazette. “And it’s just not working with her representation right now.”

Hinson, from Marion, has been seen as a rising star in the Republican Party since she flipped the blue seat red in 2020, ousting Democrat Abby Finkenauer from the seat by campaigning on kitchen-table issues and pledging to be a taxpayer advocate.

Hinson, 41, then won re-election in 2022 by 8 percentage points against Democratic former state lawmaker Liz Mathis of Hiawatha, and handily won re-election to a third term in 2024 against Democratic challenger Sarah Corkery of Cedar Falls and no-party candidate Jody Puffett of Delhi.

The former state lawmaker and former KCRG-TV news anchor faced vastly underfunded first-time candidates in a district where registered Republican voters slightly outnumber Democrats. National Democrats did not target the race in the same way they did in the 1st and 3rd districts, leaving Corkery with little outside support.

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The political arm of U.S. House Democrats, however, announced last week it considers Iowa’s 2nd District “in play” for the 2026 midterm elections and will dedicate resources to efforts to flip the seat as part a broader effort to reclaim the House majority.

Cook Political Report rates the Northeast Iowa U.S. House seat as “solid Republican.” Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates the race as “likely Republican.”

Techau was nominated by Democratic former President Barack Obama in 2013 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2014 as the U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Iowa. He was among 46 U.S. Attorneys across the nation appointed by Obama who resigned during Republican President Donald Trump’s first term in 2017.

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Techau was among hundreds of former federal prosecutors who signed a 2019 letter stating Trump should have been charged with obstruction of justice based on findings from special counsel Robert Muller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller did not recommend obstruction charges, and it is the legal opinion of the Department of Justice that sitting presidents cannot be indicted.

“It's not political,” Techau told The Gazette at the time, pointing out the signers served under Republican and Democratic presidents dating to the Eisenhower administration. “There were many who signed on who served at the pleasure of Republican presidents at much higher levels than I did.”

Hinson campaign manager Addie Lavis, in a statement, asserted Techau is running out of a vendetta against Trump.

“Kevin Techau is a radical Leftist who wants to return to Biden’s open border agenda and push the woke policies that Iowans rejected in November,” Lavis said. “Kevin is out of touch with Iowa values and would be a rubber stamp for AOC’s squad of radicals in Congress,” he said, referring to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. “ Iowans will reject a Hillary Clinton supporting, Obama appointee, Biden donor.”

Longtime Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley spoke in favor of Techau’s nomination to be U.S. attorney in 2014 in a floor statement.

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“Throughout his career, Mr. Techau has demonstrated his commitment to serving the people of Iowa and the United States,” Grassley said then. “Finally, let me just add that I have known the Techau family for decades and I know Mr. Techau personally. He has even been a running partner of mine from time to time. He is a man of fine character and commitment. I believe he will serve as U.S. attorney with distinction and honor. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this nomination.”

Techau’s campaign, in a statement to The Gazette,“ said: ”The reality of Kevin’s long record of service, commitment to protecting Iowans, and his dedication to upholding the rule of law throughout his career is a far cry from the fiction Ashley Hinson’s campaign is attempting to put out there.“

Techau said he worked third shift on an assembly line making circuit breakers at the Square D Company in Cedar Rapids and as a track laborer on the Chicago North Western Railroad to help pay for college at the University of Iowa, where he received his law degree in 1984.

He served in the U.S. Air Force as a judge advocate from 1985 until 1992, and then spent nearly 20 years as an officer in the Iowa National Guard, retiring as a colonel and receiving the Legion of Merit medal.

Under Democratic then-Gov. Tom Vilsack, Techau oversaw state law enforcement as Iowa commissioner of public safety. He implemented the Iowa Amber Alert system for missing and abducted children, and the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children program.

As U.S. attorney, his office prosecuted business corruption, immigration, health care fraud, drug trafficking and gun violence cases.

“I was proud to serve the people of Iowa and help keep families safe, and that’s what I intend to do now in Congress,” Techau said in an interview with The Gazette.

Techau said the non-stop policy changes, federal funding freezes and mass firings of federal employees under the Trump administration has caused turmoil while racking up major job losses for the middle class and creating economic instability.

He also criticized Hinson for voting for a Republican budget framework he argues will lead to cuts in health care coverage for Iowans, while providing billions in tax giveaways to big corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

The framework calls for at least $1.5 trillion in cuts to federal programs and services, and begins the process of drafting legislation to enact key elements of Trump's domestic policy agenda — including tax cuts and spending on defense, energy and mass deportations. Democrats argue the Republican plan will lead to massive cuts in entitlement programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

Hinson emphasized the importance of moving ahead with the process to extend and further tax cuts set to expire this year that Trump had approved in 2017 during his first term. If allowed to expire, she argues Iowans “will face a massive tax increase.”

Hinson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee's, said last week the House is not looking to cut benefits but to find savings with the elimination of duplicative programs and “waste, fraud and abuse” as well as “eligibility adjustments” through new work requirements for federal food assistance and Medicaid.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com