This story was updated on Nov. 27 at 5:12 p.m.
The Associated Press called Iowa's 1st Congressional District race for Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks after a recount was requested by her Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan. Miller-Meeks defeated Bohannan by less than a percentage point, which is fewer than 1,000 votes, according to the AP.
Miller-Meeks' victory means she will go on to serve a third term in Congress. She was first elected to her seat in 2020 by just six votes. This year’s election was a rematch of 2022, when Miller-Meeks won her reelection bid, defeating Bohannan by 20,000 votes.
Iowa’s 1st District was considered to be one of the most competitive in the country.
Election Results
U.S. House Balance of Power
1st Congressional District
The 1st Congressional District covers 20 counties in southeast Iowa and includes Iowa City, Fairfield, the Quad Cities, Clinton and Keokuk.
The 1st District candidates
Former state Rep. Christina Bohannan
Democratic candidate and former state Rep. Christina Bohannan is a law professor at the University of Iowa. Bohannan last ran for Congress in 2022, when she lost to Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks by about 20,000 votes.
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks
Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks currently represents the 1st Congressional District. She has represented Iowa's 1st and 2nd districts in the U.S. Congress since 2021. She served as a state senator for the 41st district from 2019 to 2021.
In 2020, Miller-Meeks ran for the U.S. House against Rita Hart and won by a margin of six votes, one of the closest federal elections in U.S. history. Miller-Meeks faced Bohannan in 2022, when she won by about 20,000 votes. Miller-Meeks and Rep. Ashley Hinson are the first Republican women to represent Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Information about the candidates' stance on abortion, immigration and the economy is available here.
The state of the race
The Cook Political Report, which provides nonpartisan election analysis, has ranked Miller-Meeks' seat in the 1st District as a "toss up." It’s one of only about 25 races that has a good chance of going either way, along with Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District.
The U.S. House is currently GOP led, with 220 Republicans to the Democrats' 212 seats. There are currently three unfilled seats. With nationwide redistricting largely solidifying many Republican and Democratic seats, balance of power in the chamber comes down to a handful of competitive races — including the two in Iowa.
The competitive nature of the 1st Congressional District is evidenced through the large amount of spending in the district. Outside spending groups have spent over $4.7 million in opposition to Miller-Meeks, which is more than twice the amount outside groups have spent in support of the Republican incumbent. Meanwhile, Bohannan has been the target of $3.5 million in negative campaigning — roughly five-and-a-half times more than the amount spent in support of her. Miller-Meeks has received more campaign donations from out-of-state donors than in-state donors, while Bohannan is about even, with 49% of her contributions coming from within the state.
