Democrats in Iowa’s competitive 1st, 3rd Districts release first campaign ads of 2026

Iowa Democrats running in two of the country’s most competitive U.S. House districts have released their first television campaign ads of the 2026 general election cycle.

On Thursday, state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democrat who is running in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, released an ad titled “Quick.” The 30-second ad from Trone Garriott will begin airing on broadcast television in the 3rd District this week, according to a news release, as part of a six-figure ad buy.

In the ad, Trone Garriott, a Lutheran minister, says she works as a faith leader and a state senator, “I make listening a priority, and what I hear is people are hurting.”

“In scripture, it’s taught to be quick to listen and slow to speak,” Trone Garriott said in the ad. “Well, Congress could stand to hear a verse or two.”

The Democratic candidate then criticizes current leadership in Washington, D.C., and said if elected, she would support implementing term limits, requiring town halls and banning stock trading for members of Congress. In a statement, Trone Garriott criticized her opponent in the race, incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, for not holding public town halls — one of the goals she highlighted in the ad.

“It’s not complicated, but too many politicians in Washington have forgotten who they work for,” Trone Garriott said. “Zach Nunn hasn’t held a single town hall while in Congress, and Iowans deserve a representative who answers to them.”

Trone Garriott also criticized Nunn for not holding public town halls in 2025. Nunn’s campaign staff maintained the congressman was “consistently accessible to Iowans” through public events, though the Republican had said in August he did not want to hold taxpayer-funded events so that “a Democratic-funded protest group can just hijack it.”

Nunn has voted in support of a ban on stock trading in Congress, supporting the “Stop Insider Trading Act”, which passed in 2026, as well as sponsoring similar measures in previous years. The Republican also stated “I support term limits to make sure good ideas are always cycling though D.C.” on his congressional website. His campaign launched its first ad of the season in June, where a narrator introduces Nunn as a father of six and an Air Force officer.

“At home, he’s a husband and a dad doing the same things families across Iowa do every day,” the narrator says in the ad. “And in Congress, he’s doing what he’s always done, serving, working across the aisle, fighting to lower costs, taking on fraud and corruption and delivering results for families, dedication and hard work.”

The race for the 3rd Congressional District is marked as a “toss-up” by political forecasters like the Cook Political Report. It’s expected to play a critical role in determining which party controls the U.S. House after the 2026 midterms. But it’s not the only highly competitive race in Iowa: the 1st Congressional District, where incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks faces Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan is also expected to be a highly contentious race.

On Wednesday, Bohannan announced her first ad of the general election cycle with “Proud,” a seven-figure buy airing on television, streaming, and digital platforms in the 1st District through Election Day.

Bohannan, who is running in her third election facing off against Miller-Meeks, talks in the ad about growing up in a mobile home in small-town Iowa, and about how her father lost his health insurance after getting ill.

“I waited tables to help out, but it wasn’t enough,” Bohannan said. “Washington has forgotten the hardworking people who built this country. … I’ll fight for Iowa families, not insurance companies. I’ll never forget that I work for you.”

Bohannan, a University of Iowa law professor and former state lawmaker, narrowly lost to Miller-Meeks in the 2024 general election with 800 votes, confirmed through a recount she requested. Miller-Meeks had released her first ad in May, titled “The Doctor in the House,” describing her work in the U.S. Army as a nurse and later as a doctor.

“In my practice, I took care of patients from all walks of life. Now, I fight for Iowans in Congress,” Miller-Meeks said.