Democrat Christina Bohannan vows to defend abortion in Iowa State Fair speech

Christina Bohannan, Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, focused on abortion rights and her opponent’s voting record during a speech Saturday at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair.

This is Bohannan’s second time running against Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District since 2022 when she lost by about 20,000 votes or 7 percentage points.

Bohannan is running again against Miller-Meeks as well as Libertarian Nicholas Gluba. The race is rated as “lean Republican” by election forecaster Sabato’s Crystal Ball.

Despite her previous defeat and predictions in Miller-Meeks’ favor, Bohannan said this time will be different.

“We are knocking thousands of doors every single week in this district to really get out the vote and we feel like we have very strong grassroots support in this election,” Bohannan said.

Bohannan previously worked as a University of Iowa law professor and state representative near Iowa City.

Bohannan said Miller-Meeks has routinely sided with corporate donors all the while she “sold us out.”

“Good people all over Iowa have lost faith in our government,” Bohannan said. “I am running for Congress to restore that faith.”

Bohannan tied Iowa’s six-week abortion ban to Miller-Meeks with the congresswoman championing the bill when she first ran for Congress. 

“In a lot of important ways, this is Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ abortion ban,” Bohannan said.

Miller-Meeks was not in the Legislature when the current legislation was enacted in 2023. Bohannan said Miller-Meeks’ support for abortion restrictions helped her win her seat in Congress.

“She has just supported the most extreme laws from the six-week ban that is now law in Iowa to the life of conception bill in Congress that would ban all abortions nationwide, with no exceptions,” Bohannan said.

On immigration, Bohannan criticized President Joe Biden’s delayed response to the border crisis but said the majority of the blame lies on congressional representatives who voted against a border security bill, including Miller-Meeks.

“What she has done is sold out our southern border to play politics because she had a golden opportunity to pass the strictest border security bill that our country has seen,” she said. “This is the bill that would have forced President Biden to shut down the border when it became overwhelmed.”

Bohannan also called out Miller-Meeks for voting against infrastructure investments that benefited Iowa and then “taking credit” for its successes.

While she said she was excited to see a Midwesterner in Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the presidential ticket, Bohannan emphasized that her focus was on Iowa.

Bohannan ended her speech with an appeal to voters who wanted a new type of politician to represent them.

“If you are tired of politics as usual, if you are tired of politicians who put you down, count you out and leave you behind, if you are tired of being an outsider, join us because I am running to put us first and together, we can put Iowa first,” Bohannan said.

Gluba spoke to fairgoers earlier on Saturday but Miller-Meeks is not scheduled to speak at the Iowa State Fair.

More soap box coverage:

U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn emphasizes bipartisan work, calls for border security at state fair

Libertarian Nicholas Gluba blasts eminent domain in pitch at Iowa State Fair