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‘Star Trek’ actor returns to Iowa to support Lindsay James’ congressional run
Mulgrew, a Dubuque native, says James has the ‘fire in the belly’ to flip Iowa’s 2nd District
Sep. 22, 2025 5:06 pm
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MARION — Actor Kate Mulgrew, a Dubuque native best known for her roles as Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager and as “Red” Reznikov on Orange Is the New Black, returned to Iowa on Monday to lend star power to state Rep. Lindsay James’ congressional campaign.
The two women toured Feed Iowa First, a nonprofit urban farm in Marion that grows produce for food pantries and partners with beginning farmers. The pair spotlighted food insecurity, the struggles of small farmers and the stakes of Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District race.
Mulgrew’s endorsement
Mulgrew said she came home to stand alongside James because she believes she has the “fire in the belly” to flip the Northeast Iowa U.S. House seat.
James, a Presbyterian chaplain from Dubuque, is one four Democrats seeking their party’s nomination for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District seat.
The seat is open after U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Marion Republican, announced she will run for U.S. Senate to succeed Sen. Joni Ernst, who is not seeking re-election.
The 22-county district spans Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dubuque, Decorah, Grinnell and Mason City.
Other Democrats running for the seat are longtime Cedar Rapids nonprofit leader Clint Twedt-Ball, retired Army nurse and former community college nursing dean Kathy Dolter of Dubuque, and former state park manager Don Primus of Steamboat Rock.
“I came here to stand by her side and to give it a little push, because I think she's going to flip this seat,” Mulgrew told The Gazette. “And it's crucial that she does it, because … there's suffering, and there's a struggle going on here (in Iowa), and it needs to be righted and it needs to be corrected. And she's got the passion and she's got the fire in the belly to do it.”
Mulgrew praised James for her ability to listen and speak with authenticity, qualities she said are often lacking in politics.
“She knows how to cross the stream without muddying the waters,” Mulgrew said. “She knows how to look into your eyes and talk to you straight, authentically, honestly and with great heart.”
Mulgrew said Iowa farmers have been left in “a kind of limbo,” caught between promises of federal subsidies that never fully materialized and the widening divide between large-scale and smaller operations.
“They were promised something, subsidies — some of which came, but very little,” she said. “As a result, there’s a kind of despair.”
The actor added that Iowa’s farming communities are caught between “big agriculture and little agriculture,” and argued that James is positioned to bridge the divide and “restart that conversation” in Washington, D.C.
“She’ll bring them together,” Mulgrew said, adding that renewed federal support is essential to keeping rural communities from further decline.
The National Republican Congressional Committee dismissed the event as a publicity stunt.
“Only an out-of-touch Democrat like Lindsay James thinks that a washed-up Hollywood actor could rescue her doomed campaign,” NRCC spokeswoman Emily Tuttle said in a statement. “Her desperate attempt at attention is showing and Iowans see right through it.”
Focus on farmers
James framed the visit as a chance to elevate the voices of farmers and organizations working to feed Iowans.
“Our farmers are the lifeblood of this community, and so making sure that they have the resources and the stability that they need is so crucial in terms of making sure that they maintain their strength in our state,” James said. “ … We talk about Iowa feeding the world, but we also need to feed Iowa. And this operation is a great example of innovative ways in which to make sure that people who are facing food insecurity, people who are hungry, have food and resources. So this is an incredibly important operation.”
James said federal farm policy must do more to support soil health, water quality and long-term sustainability. She criticized tariffs, calling them “a tax on our farmers,” and described the volatility of commodity markets as leaving farmers “gambling with every business decision.”
“We need an updated Farm Bill,” James said. “The biggest thing that farmers have said along the way is that we cannot put Band-Aids on the biggest challenges that our farmers are facing.”
She said farmers need regenerative ag subsidies, stability and assurance that “the numbers will work.”
“There are so many challenges that our farmers are facing when it comes to making the actual numbers work, and so we need a Farm Bill that is going to make sure that those numbers are working for our farmers,” James said.
Local farmer perspectives
Feed Iowa First, a nonprofit farm, raises fresh vegetables for food pantries and community distribution while also supporting beginning farmers through its Equitable Land Access Program. Emerging growers lease land through the nonprofit’s incubator, receiving mentorship and technical assistance to build their businesses.
Jody Josten, the group’s executive director, said uncertainty in federal funding has created challenges for nonprofits like hers.
“You can’t hit your strategic goals if you don’t know where your funding is coming from,” she said. “We need more stability.”
One incubator farmer, Mari Hunt Wassink of Black Earth Gardens, a small-scale, diversified vegetable farm that grows culturally significant crops such as okra, collard greens and heirloom peppers for Black communities. Wassink said she grows about 30 different varieties of vegetables, herbs and fruits that she sells to schools, food pantries, and through mobile farmers markets and CSA farm box subscriptions.
She said land access remains the biggest barrier for new farmers who do not inherit property, and needs to be a priority for the next federal Farm Bill.
“We really need two big things,” Wassink said. “We need an investment into helping beginning farmers get access to long-term farmland in order to resource the next generation of farmers. And then we also need to make the local food purchasing assistance and local food for schools programs a permanent part of federal policy.”
Wassink said those programs are essential for keeping dollars circulating locally, addressing food insecurity and helping young farmers build sustainable businesses.
She described her conversation with James as encouraging.
“I really heard her talk about wanting to make sure people are financially secure in our communities, that they have all the resources they need and don’t have to make impossible choices about eating or keeping their home,” Wassink said.
She called the visit “meaningful,” noting it was her first time meeting James and that she has long admired Mulgrew for portraying strong women on screen.
“It’s very important to me that legislators learn about the most important issues facing us as a community, especially around food, since that’s a universal need,” Wassink said.
Challenges for nonprofits
Josten told James and Mulgrew that uncertainty around federal funding has been a major challenge. Executive orders earlier this year temporarily paused U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs, leaving nonprofits unsure if money would come through. Recent changes to USDA definitions of underserved farmers also raised concerns about whether certain grants would remain accessible.
“You can't set your measures of what you're going to establish — you can't hit your strategic goals — if you don't know where your funding is coming from,” Josten said. “So that has been a challenge for us. … We need more stability. We need to be able to know where our public funds are coming from and that they're going to continue to flow.”
She said she appreciated James’ willingness to listen and Mulgrew’s choice to use her platform to spotlight the nonprofit’s work and efforts to support emerging farmers, expand food access and reduce food insecurity.
Politics in play
The race for Iowa’s 2nd District shifted last week when former Republican U.S. Rep. Rod Blum announced he is running for the open seat and pledged $250,000 of his own money to jump-start his campaign.
State Sen. Charlie McClintock of Alburnett, a former Cedar Rapids police officer, and former state lawmaker Joe Mitchell of Clear Lake, who founded an organization to recruit young conservatives to run for office and became one of the youngest members ever elected to the Iowa Legislature at age 21 in 2018, have declared bids on the Republican side.
Republican state legislator Shannon Lundgren of Peosta also has said she is “seriously considering” entering the race.
Asked about Blum’s entry, James said her campaign is about families, not party labels.
“This race isn’t about Democrat or Republican,” James said. “It’s about everyday working families who are forced to make impossible choices — whether to pay the utility bill or buy their child a winter coat, put food on the table or cover rent. We need to rewrite our story so families don’t have to make those choices.”
Mulgrew was more pointed, questioning whether Blum’s personal wealth made him “up to the game,” and warning that Iowa voters are tired of being left behind.
Mulgrew: ‘We're in a moment of authoritarianism’
Mulgrew also weighed in on the national debate over free speech after ABC briefly suspended talk show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel over remarks about conservative activist Charlie Kirk's murder. ABC announced Monday that Kimmel will return to his late night show on Tuesday.
Mulgrew called it a “dangerous time” for artists.
“This is all political, and it's coming from (Trump), and he's going now for the artists,” she said. “If you take away your comedians from any culture, you're hitting them where they live, where they thrive. Laughter is life affirming, right? One by one, he's taking them down. And next he's going to come for me, and actors will be persona non grata. … So it's a very dangerous, dangerous time. We're in a moment of authoritarianism and it has to be stopped.”
For Mulgrew, the visit was more than politics. Touring rows of vegetables and talking regenerative farming brought her back to Iowa roots.
Calling Feed Iowa First “novel,” “clever” and “productive,” Mulgrew said the work inspired her.
“It’s uplifting,” she said.
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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