Democrat Ryan Melton says pipelines, corporate influence are pivotal issues in 4th District race

Democrat Ryan Melton, running for the U.S. House in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, says issues like carbon capture pipelines will motivate more voters in the conservative district to support his campaign in the 2024 election.

Speaking at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox on Sunday, Melton acknowledged that “the math is tough for Democrats” in the 4th District, an area that has long been a conservative stronghold in Iowa.

Melton is competing against incumbent U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra for the seat, a rematch from 2022. The Democratic challenger lost in 2022 with 30.4% of the vote to Feenstra in the midterm elections — but the Democratic challenger said he believes his campaign will have a better shot in 2024.

“There is a reason that a twice-elected incumbent congressman had a primary challenger on the Republican side in the 4th this session,” Melton said.

Feenstra, running for his third term in the upcoming election, was first elected in 2020 after defeating former U.S. Rep. Steve King in the Republican primary. The incumbent faced a challenge in the June Republican primary by Republican Kevin Virgil, who campaigned as an opponent to carbon dioxide pipeline projects — specifically opposing the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline plans in northwest Iowa. Though Feenstra won against Virgil with 62.7% of the vote, Melton said it was important to highlight how much support Virgil got as a candidate without financial or party support.

Melton said that while he and Virgil differed on many policy points, they shared the same views on top issues like opposing the use of eminent domain for building pipelines and criticizing the influence of corporations and Political Action Committees in politics.

At the state fair, Melton criticized Feenstra for taking funding from Bruce Rastetter, an agricultural executive who the Democrat described as “the godfather behind these pipelines” — a point Virgil also brought up on the primary campaign trail.

“Even though Kevin Virgil and I are rather different in many ways, … we align on some of the bigger issues that are facing our citizens in the district,” Melton told reporters. “And so I know a number of Virgil voters are either going to vote for me, write him in, or sit it out as a protest vote against the fact that they’ve been sold out by Republican Party leadership in the state.”

Though Melton said he shared opinions with Republicans like Virgil on some issues, the candidate said that Democratic policies, like a national single-payer healthcare system, often referred to as “Medicare for All,” would help communities in the 4th District that are facing workforce and health care provider shortages.

Some 4th District voters immediately dismiss his campaign after learning he’s a Democrat, Melton said, while adding that growing dissatisfaction with Feenstra is helping more voters consider his candidacy ahead of the upcoming election.

“Here’s the thing — this time Republicans are waking up and realizing that their own party’s leadership has sold them out to corporate interests,” Melton said. “And they’re much more open to conversation than they’ve ever been.”