Economy, immigration focus of Mariannette Miller-Meeks campaign

DES MOINES — Mariannette Miller-Meeks in 2020 became a congresswoman on her fourth try, winning her election by a historic margin of just six votes out of more than 400,000 cast.

Two years later, Miller-Meeks won re-election by roughly 7 percentage points. Now, the Republican’s bid for a third, two-year term in the U.S. House features a campaign rematch against that opponent — Democrat Christina Bohannan.

It could be another close one. Recently, national elections forecasters have changed their classification of Southeastern Iowa’s 1st Congressional District election to a toss-up — after previously projecting the campaign with a Republican lean.

The Cook Political Report, Fox News and Inside Elections now consider Iowa’s 1st District a true toss-up. But some forecasters, like Sabato’s Crystal Ball, still have the 1st District leaning Republican.

“This is always going to be a tight race. It’s a swing district. So this is not a surprise to me,” Miller-Meeks told The Gazette recently during an interview at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, where she attended a fundraiser for Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

“It’s barely a Republican district right now. So I expected this to be a competitive, tight race, and I think it will play out that way,” Miller-Meeks said.

As of Oct. 1, there were nearly 150,000 Republican active registered voters in Iowa’s 1st District and more than 129,000 Democratic active registered voters, according to Iowa Secretary of State data. Another 126,000 active voters in the district claim no political party. The 20-county district includes Iowa City, Davenport and rural Southeast Iowa.

Outside groups believe Iowa’s 1st District is competitive and worth investing in: They have spent more than $4.2 million on the campaign, according to Open Secrets, a nonpartisan and nonprofit news site that tracks political spending.

Of that outside spending, $2.3 million has been spent to support Miller-Meeks or oppose Bohannan, while $1.9 million has been spent to support Bohannan or oppose Miller-Meeks.

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.

Miller-Meeks said she believes economic considerations and concern about federal immigration issues and policies will sway voters in the Nov. 5 election. Like most of her Republican colleagues, she blames high inflation from 2021 through 2023 and historic increases in crossings at the southern U.S. border on Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

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Immigration

Miller-Meeks faulted Biden for ending an immigration policy started under then-President Donald Trump’s administration that became known as “remain in Mexico.” It required some asylum-seekers to be sent back to Mexico during preliminary immigration proceedings.

She also pointed to Title 42, another program started under Trump that used a public health emergency law in the COVID-19 pandemic to prohibit border crossings to prevent the virus’ spread.

Migrant encounters reached a record high by the end of 2023, but have fallen off sharply this year, according to federal data compiled by the Pew Research Center.

“We have a record number of people coming across our borders, both north and south. We don’t have operational control of our border. The cartels have control. They’re sending record numbers of people over, people on the terror watch list (from) over 150 different countries, and also fentanyl and drugs,” Miller-Meeks said.

Miller-Meeks declined to say whether she would have voted for a 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. Miller-Meeks said she would have been willing to look at the bill but could not say whether she would have voted it because she did not read it. She also declined to say whether she feels Trump was right or wrong to encourage the bill’s defeat.

Instead, Miller-Meeks pointed to immigration enforcement legislation written by U.S. House Republicans, which was never considered in the Democrat-majority U.S. Senate.

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Abortion

A 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned decades of precedent and eliminated what had been a federal right to an abortion up to roughly 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy. The court’s ruling cleared the way for states to pass their own abortion laws.

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.

“That has long been my policy,” she said.

However, Miller-Meeks in the 2021-2022 Congress cosponsored the Life At Conception Act, which states life begins at fertilization and would criminalize abortion, but would not allow the woman having the procedure to 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 declined to co-sponsor similar legislation in the current Congress.

When asked why she changed her support for that legislation, Miller-Meeks said, “I can admit, as a scientist and a doctor, that life begins at conception and still have exceptions for any abortion restrictions, for rape, incest and life of the mother. Those things are, to me, compatible.”

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

Miller-Meeks argued that means Democrats advocate for abortion up until birth, even though only 1 percent of abortions occur after the 20th week of pregnancy, according to federal data.

Miller-Meeks also argued the Minnesota law says “you cannot resuscitate or give emergency care to a baby that survives an abortion,” which is false. The Minnesota law does not prohibit emergency care in such situations, but does allow families to choose comfort care so they could spend time with their infant if lifesaving measures would not succeed.

Bohannan said she wants to codify into federal law the provisions of Roe v. Wade before it was struck down. 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.

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Economy

Miller-Meeks said the best way to limit inflation is to limit federal spending. She is also calling for Congress to extend temporary federal tax reductions that were approved during Trump’s tenure, as well as extending a doubling of the child care tax credit.

She also advocates for expanding domestic energy production as a means of reducing gas prices.

U.S. total annual energy production has exceeded total annual energy consumption since 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“Very important for us to bring down food costs and to bring down gas prices is allowing domestic energy production,” Miller-Meeks said, “and then growing the economy, pro-growth policies on our regulatory format, that we can reduce regulations where they are no longer needed, let them sunset, not overburden our farmers, our agricultural economy, our small businesses.”

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Foreign policy

Miller-Meeks criticized multiple foreign policy decisions by the Biden administration and said continued support for Ukraine after it was invaded by Russia in 2022 should be contingent upon measurable progress. She also said she does not want the United State to send troops into Ukraine.

“We don’t want boots on the ground in Ukraine, but Republicans have asked for, consistently throughout this year, that we want to have outcomes. We want to have metrics,” she said. “We want to know what is considered a win and we also want there to be ongoing negotiations for peace.”

As for Israel’s war against Hamas, Miller-Meeks said Israel has a right to defend itself after the October 2023 attacks by Hamas, and that she believes humanitarian aid should be delivered to Palestinians via other countries in the region.

When asked about calls for the United States to pull back on its military aid to Israel, Miller-Meeks said, “It’s horrible what has happened to the Palestinian people. We understand that. We have compassion for that. But we also understand that Hamas was elected by the Palestinian people. They have used humanitarian aid to build tunnels under hospitals, under schools, and they have bought weapons and armaments with humanitarian aid.”

“So at this point in time, I think we want to continue to try to get humanitarian aid in, working with Jordan, who has good relations with both Israel and Hamas, with Egypt, with Qatar, in order to get humanitarian aid in,” Miller-Meeks said. “But Israel has to be able to defend itself, and that means the eradication of Hamas. Hamas cannot be a governing body at the end of this.”

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