Christina Bohannan came up just about 800 votes short of unseating two-time Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in a nail-biter recount election last November.
Months later, Bohannan said she is picking up right where she left off — trying to win what the Cook Political Report has dubbed one of the closest toss-up races in the country. But this time, she is angling against proposed cuts to Medicaid and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts to gut Social Security in hopes of becoming a lynchpin in flipping the U.S. House’s Republican majority.
“From cutting Medicaid to siding with DOGE’s devastating cuts to Social Security to enabling unelected, unaccountable billionaires like Elon Musk — Miller-Meeks has forgotten about us,” Bohannan said in a news release issued Tuesday. “It’s time to put Iowa first.”
Bohannan said if she is elected, she will vote to repeal President Donald Trump’s tariffs and reverse the proposed Medicaid cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, both of which Miller-Meeks supported. Bohannan’s announcement comes amid U.S. Senate deliberations on the bill, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cut hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid spending over the next 10 years.
“Rep. Miller-Meeks refuses to talk to people, refuses to talk about their concerns about some of the votes she’s taken on tariffs, on Medicaid, on the reconciliation bill, on things that are going to increase costs for Iowans dramatically,” Bohannan said.
Constituents in Miller-Meeks' district have been holding what they call “empty chair” town halls, using an empty chair to highlight the representative’s absence. Miller-Meeks has yet to hold a public, in-person town hall since resuming office, which is in line with Republican leadership’s advice to avoid holding public gatherings.
Iowa's 2nd District Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley have all faced intense scrutiny at town hall-style meetings in recent months.
Miller-Meeks has not yet said she will seek reelection. She announced in April that she will not be running for governor after Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds' said she would not seek another term.
Bohannan is a constitutional law professor at the University of Iowa. She previously worked as an engineer and served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 2021 to 2023.
Despite two failed attempts to flip the seat, Bohannan said her campaign has been building momentum over time and she feels energized about its launch.
“I have been out there doing this work for the last four years,” she said. “I have loved every minute of it, getting to know so many Iowa families that I would not have been able to meet otherwise, and that puts me in a really good position to win this race and to put Iowa first.”
Bohannan joins two other Democrats who have already announced they will run for the 1st District seat: University of Iowa Health Care employee Travis Terrell of Tiffin and former state Rep. Bob Krause of Burlington.
Miller-Meeks faces a challenge from within her own party in Davenport businessman David Pautsch, a Republican who says he'll run for the seat. Pautch unsuccessfully challenged Miller-Meeks in the 2024 GOP primary.
