House Speaker Mike Johnson rallies with Miller-Meeks in contentious 1st District race

DAVENPORT — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson asked Iowans at a Davenport rally Friday to send U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks back to Congress — telling the crowd, “I gotta have her,” as she runs in one of the nation’s most competitive U.S. House races in November.

Miller-Meeks running for reelection against Democrat Christina Bohannan, who also ran for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District in 2022 and 2024. While Miller-Meeks defeated Bohannan in those two elections, and political forecasters and polls predict the Democratic candidate could pull ahead in the Nov. 3, 2026 election.

Earlier Friday, Cook Political Report moved their race ratings for Miller-Meeks’ seat, as well as for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, currently represented by Rep. Zach Nunn, from “toss-up” to “leans Democrat.” The political forecaster’s move for these Iowa seats — as well as shifting Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District from a “leans Republican” to a “toss up” race — were three of 18 race ratings to shift in Democrats’ favor with less than a month before the election.

Cook Political Report editor Erin Covey wrote in an analysis about the race rating changes, “In the final weeks of the election, Republicans have hoped that a massive ad campaign effort could dent Democratic candidates’ images and shore up Republicans struggling to free themselves of the anchor of President Donald Trump. With less than four weeks to go, that heavy spending has yet to move the needle.”

Miller-Meeks and Johnson both noted the high amount of spending going into this year’s midterm elections, as well as the spending happening in Iowa alone — Punchbowl News reported Tuesday Iowa’s 1st District had reached $37.4 million in ad spending. Johnson said he believed the 1st District race “is going to be a $50 million dollar race” leading up to Election Day.

“This is not what the founding fathers intended, OK, but this is what we got,” Johnson said. “We have to put the resources onto it. We have to make sure that our warriors like Mariannette Miller-Meeks get reelected, because we’re in the battle for saving the future of the republic.”

The Davenport visit was one of Johnson’s many campaign stops leading up to Nov. 3 as he and Republicans aim to keep control of the U.S. House. The speaker said he had been to “40 districts, 22 states this month alone” supporting Republicans. He said Miller-Meeks’ district was one of the “top five districts” in the country that will determine which party gains majority control of the House.

There are several reasons why GOP candidates are facing tougher election odds in states like Iowa, which supported President Donald Trump and Republicans in 2024. High fuel costs driven in part from the war with Iran, the impacts of tariff policies and concerns about Medicaid cuts through the 2025 “One, Big Beautiful Bill Act” amid rising healthcare costs and rural hospital closures are all issues Democrats say are top concerns for Iowans on the campaign trail, and reasons voters are frustrated with GOP majorities.

While Johnson highlighted tax cuts, immigration enforcement and some of the “pro-growth” policies supporting U.S. businesses in his speech, he focused on Democrats running in the 2026 election, who he said were “radicals” and “communists.”

“The insurgent left is taking over the Democrat Party, and it is a very dangerous thing,” Johnson said. “The Marxists, the communists, the socialists are on the rise, and they are winning races all around America. They’re putting people like Bohannan in this race. … Now in the campaign right now, they’re trying to pretend like they’re moderates, but we all know the truth.”

Miller-Meeks claimed her opponent was “OK with the Socialist Party,” and said Bohannan’s voting record as a state politician and her work as a law professor at the University of Iowa on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion shows her positions are out of touch with most Iowans. She contrasted this with her own support for the $15 billion Mesabi Metallics steel mill project announced by Trump earlier in October, which has a planned location in the 1st District.

“Would you rather have someone that delivered the largest tax cut in American history and the largest steel mill in American history, or would you rather have someone that’s perfectly OK with the Socialist Party before it even became hip to be elected as a socialist in the Democrat Party?” Miller Meeks asked.

Miller-Meeks and Republicans have linked Bohannan with movements like the Democratic Socialists of America. But a September campaign event, when Bohannan was asked if she supports or is a member of DSA, she responded, “I’m not a socialist. I don’t support that.”

“It’s a laughable charge,” Bohannan campaign manager Dan Driscoll said in a statement responding to Johnson’s visit.  “Christina criticized President Biden for failing to secure the southern border and disagreed with him on college loan forgiveness. She’s an advocate for small business, innovation and competition, and she has worked extensively in rural economic development.

“What’s out of touch with voters is Rep. Miller-Meeks’ record of siding with billionaires, corporations, special interests and party bosses like Speaker Johnson, who is stumping in Iowa in a sad attempt to rescue her flailing campaign.”

Johnson had also come to Iowa in support of Miller-Meeks, as well as Nunn, during the 2024 election cycle as they were expected to face tight reelection races. The House speaker said Miller-Meeks’ victory in 2024 by less than 800 votes after a recount — as well as her initial 2020 win by a margin of six votes — shows the importance for Republicans to get out the vote.

“This district, more than any in America — when we say close election, we mean close election,” Johnson said.