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Republican Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa has successfully defended her seat against Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan in the contest for the state’s 1st Congressional District, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
Since 2021, Miller-Meeks has been serving in the U.S. House, representing Iowa’s 1st Congressional District. This district covers southeastern areas of the state, including cities like Davenport and Iowa City.
In the 2020 elections, Miller-Meeks flipped the district from Democratic to Republican control, winning by an exceptionally narrow margin of just six votes. She further increased her lead in the 2022 elections. This year’s race, which had shifted from being considered a “likely” win for Republicans to a more competitive toss-up, ultimately resulted in her securing another term.
“There is no better conservative fighter for Iowa’s First Congressional District than Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks. I am proud to endorse and serve beside Mariannette to deliver for the American people and help claw back disastrous policies from the Biden administration,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said in his endorsement of Miller-Meeks earlier in the election cycle.
Miller-Meeks fended off a GOP primary challenger earlier in the cycle who accused her of voting “against you and the Republican platform over 40% of the time,” while she pitched herself to voters as a “proven conservative,” according to Fox News.
During her campaign, the Iowa Republican secured endorsements from key figures aligned with Trump, including former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, and former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Miller-Meeks is a physician and military veteran who served in the U.S. Army for 24 years, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Democratic candidate Bohannon is a law professor at the University of Iowa College of Law and previously served in the Iowa State House of Representatives from 2021 to 2023. Her campaign priorities include elevating Iowa’s public school system to a national standard, implementing “common-sense gun laws,” working to reinstate “Roe v. Wade” into federal law, and pledging to collaborate with all parties to secure the border.
During a debate last month, the candidates engaged in vigorous discussions on issues such as abortion, the economy, and immigration reform. Miller-Meeks, echoing Republicans nationwide, held the Biden-Harris administration responsible for the illegal immigration crisis, contrasting it with the border policies implemented during former President Donald Trump’s administration.
“Trump-era policies that reduced the amount of illegal immigrants coming across our border, that helped to keep down the amount of illegal drugs, illegal fentanyl, that our customs and border protections agents actually felt like they were doing their job,” Miller-Meeks said during the debate.
Bohannan contended that a bipartisan bill introduced this year aimed to address border issues but claimed that Republicans “killed it.” In response, Republicans argued that the immigration legislation would have exacerbated the crisis and maintained that the bill was effectively dead on arrival.
Miller-Meeks previously defeated Bohannan in the 2022 general election, 53% to 47%. The 1st district as a whole went for Trump in the 2020 election, voting for him by about three percentage points over President Biden.
Trump announced on Monday that he would sign an executive order upon assuming office to impose a 25% tariff on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada. He also pledged to implement further tariff increases on China, citing concerns over the influx of illegal immigrants and the trafficking of illicit drugs.
In a Truth Social post, Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, 2025, noted that thousands of people were “pouring through” Mexico and Canada “at levels never seen before.”
“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” he added. “Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem.”
Since then, however, the leaders of both countries have already addressed various issues the president-elect is concerned about.
