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Campaign Almanac: In first TV ad, Bohannan hits Miller-Meeks on abortion
Also, Zach Nunn launches new TV ad touting bipartisan work
Iowa Democratic U.S. House candidate Christina Bohannan aims to make abortion rights a central issue for voters in her renewed bid to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
Bohannan launched her first campaign ad of the election cycle, attacking Miller-Meeks over abortion. Bohannan, a former state lawmaker and University of Iowa law professor vying for Southeast Iowa’s 1st Congressional District seat, began airing her ad, "Imagine," on Tuesday as part of a "multimillion dollar TV and digital campaign," according to her campaign. The 20-county district includes the cities of Davenport, Iowa City, Burlington and Indianola.
The ad comes a week after an Iowa law backed by Republicans took effect banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
"Iowa now has one of the strictest abortion bans in the country because of Mariannette Miller-Meeks," Bohannan says in the 30-second ad. "And in Congress, she's pushing to ban all abortions nationwide with no exceptions for rape or incest."
A former Iowa state senator, Miller-Meeks did not serve in the Iowa Legislature when lawmakers last year during a rare special session passed a law banning abortions once cardiac activity can be detected.
Bohannan contends Miller-Meeks “laid the groundwork to ban abortion in Iowa.” While in the Iowa Senate, Miller-Meeks voted for anti-abortion rights legislation, including a constitutional amendment declaring there is no right to abortion in the state.
The former practicing ophthalmologist and licensed physician from Ottumwa has applauded the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling the overturned Roe v. Wade, putting abortion regulations back into the hands of the states.
In Congress, Miller-Meeks co-sponsored the 2021-22 Life At Conception Act that states life begins at fertilization, banning all abortions. It has no exceptions for rape, incest or the woman’s life, and does not spell out protections for fertility treatments.
Miller-Meeks did not sign on as a sponsor of the resolution in the current Congress. She has said she supports a national 15-week ban on abortion with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.
“Christina Bohannan is blatantly misrepresenting my record,” Miller-Meeks said in a statement to The Gazette. “I am pro-life with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.”
She called Bohannan an “extremist” who, if elected, “will vote to force taxpayer funding of abortion — and for wide-open abortion laws like they have in China and Russia.”
Bohannan has vowed to put Roe v. Wade back into federal law and restore reproductive freedom for all Iowans.
She outraised Miller-Meeks in the latest fundraising quarter, taking in $1.23 million to Miller-Meeks' $847,000. Bohannan, as of July 1, also surpassed Miller-Meeks in cash on hand by more than $200,000.
National Democrats have placed the 1st District on their list of targeted seats in their quest to regain control of the U.S. House in the November election.
Nunn launches new ad
Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, of Bondurant, is up with a new TV ad touting his bipartisan work in Congress.
The ad, “Dirty Job,” features clips of Nunn working alongside volunteers at the Iowa State Fair cleaning up trash, shoveling manure and scrubbing a grill.
“One team working together to get the job done,” Nunn says in the ad. “ … That’s the Iowa way. And I’ve taken our spirit to Congress, working with Republicans and Democrats to solve problems.”
Nunn, a combat veteran, is seeking re-election to a second term in Iowa’s competitive 3rd Congressional District.
National Democrats have placed the district on their list of targeted seats in their quest to regain control of the U.S. House in the November election. The district covers 21 counties in Central and Southern Iowa, including the Des Moines metro area, Osceola and Ottumwa.
Nunn faces Democrat challenger Lanon Baccam, an Army veteran and former U.S. Department of Agriculture official, in the November general election.
Nunn recently was named by the non-partisan Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University as one of the top 10 most bipartisan members of Congress. The bipartisan index measures the frequency with which a member co-sponsors a bill introduced by the opposite party and the frequency with which a member’s own bills attract co-sponsors from the opposite party.
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