Both Democrats and Republicans are facing primary challengers in one of the country’s most competitive U.S. House districts.
Democratic voters in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District will decide between University of Iowa law professor Christina Bohannan and healthcare worker Travis Terrell.
Incumbent Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is seeking her fourth term, and is running against self-proclaimed "MAGA" Republican David Pautsch.
The 1st District spans 20 counties in the southeast corner of the state and includes the communities of Iowa City, Davenport, Muscatine and Burlington. The district is projected to be one of the most competitive in the nation in 2026. The race is currently categorized as a “toss up” by the nonpartisan political forecasters with The Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball.
In the 2024 general election, Miller-Meeks defeated Bohannan by one-fifth of a percentage point. The final results from a recount showed Miller-Meeks led by 799 votes.
This year’s Republican primary is the second time Miller-Meeks faces off with Pautsch. Despite having low name recognition and raising slightly over $35,000 in comparison to Miller-Meeks' multi-million dollar campaign fund, Pautsch lost to the congresswoman by just 12 percentage points in the 2024 primary.
Miller-Meeks and Bohannan have significantly outraised their opponents in the current election cycle, according to pre-primary campaign fundraising filings. Both frontrunners retain similar amounts of cash on hand.
And, if party frontrunners Miller-Meeks and Bohannan win their primaries, this November will mark the third time both candidates will face off in the general election.
Democrats focus on affordability and healthcare
Terrell, 40, is a patient access specialist at the University of Iowa. He said his campaign is primarily focused on universal healthcare, but said lawmakers should first try to reverse Medicaid cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and raise Medicaid income thresholds.
“Working in the healthcare for the last 10 years, I have come to realize just how bad our healthcare system is, just with how many people get left behind because they cannot afford to see a doctor and they cannot afford to get the care they need,” he said.
Terrell said he can relate to cost of living concerns that he’s heard from voters in his district, something he said Congress needs to address by reining in corporate price gouging and corporate monopolies.
The Tiffin Democrat supports increasing union bargaining rights, raising the minimum wage and reducing barriers to citizenship for people who are green card holders. His immigration platform also includes increasing protections for people with legal status — like those on work visas — from being deported.
Terrell argues his progressive policies are in line with a larger movement of progressive candidates running in races across the country.
“You don't have to be a Republican or a Democrat or an independent to know that what we have right now isn't working,” he said. “And people want answers on how you'll change it, even if they don't agree with those answers at all times, they want to hear how you'll change it.”
Bohannan, 54, is a law professor at the University of Iowa and a former state representative.
Her campaign this year is focused on expanding healthcare and addressing affordability issues, a shift from last election when she honed in on protecting abortion rights.
The Iowa City Democrat supports reversing Medicaid cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, which expired at the end of last year.
Bohannan criticized Miller-Meeks' vote in support of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and against extending ACA subsidies. Miller-Meeks has defended her vote as cracking down on waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program and preserving Medicaid for the those who need it most.
Bohannan's healthcare platform also centers on expanding Medicaid to include hearing, dental and vision benefits and allowing people to buy into Medicare at any age.
“It's not Medicare for all, it's not single-payer,” she said. “I wouldn't force people off of their private insurance if they're happy with that. The goal here is to get everybody covered and to have an affordable option.”
Bohannan said federal lawmakers need to go after corporate price gouging to lower costs for consumers. She’s also pushed an ethics reform package with age caps and term limits for members of Congress as part of her campaign.
Compared to previous years, Bohannan said she’s running a more robust campaign this cycle, with campaign staff and volunteers knocking on doors earlier than last election. She pointed to the close margins in 2024 as proof she can garner bipartisan support in the general election. President Donald Trump won the district by eight points.
“To put it bluntly, I am the one who's going to defeat Mariannette Miller-Meeks in November,” she said. “Everyone I talked to, that's what they want to see. They want the candidate who can defeat her.”
Pautsch challenges Miller-Meeks for second time
Pautsch, 72, a marketing consultant from Davenport and founder of the Quad Cities Prayer Breakfast, said his campaign is focused on balancing the federal budget and cutting taxes, like the federal income tax.
“My first priority is making certain that people are able to keep and enjoy their money, and you do that by getting rid of taxes, by making certain that the government is responsible stewards of it all. We're not causing inflationary activities.”
He said protecting families and protecting parental rights are also a top priorities in his campaign.
“I'm a family guy. The family is the basic unit of society,” Pautsch said. “We need to protect it from all the destructive influences. The influence that some tell kids that they don't have to be a boy or a girl, that there's something other than the two genders.”
On healthcare, Pautsch emphasized focusing on lifestyle-based preventative care. He also supports repealing the ACA, and pushing the use of medical co-ops and health savings accounts to lower costs for consumers.
Pautsch criticized Miller-Meeks for certifying the 2020 election and perpetuated the debunked claim the election was fraudulent. He also criticized her for voting to create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump endorsed Miller-Meeks in November, which Pautsch dismissed as “political gamesmanship.”
“So, what does Trump's endorsement mean? Hardly even registers on the Richter scale,” he said.
Miller-Meeks was unavailable for an interview. In a statement, she did not acknowledge Pautsch but focused on a possible race against Christina Bohannan in the general election.
Miller-Meeks, 70, is an ophthalmologist, former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and former state senator. The congresswoman said she is focused on her military and medical background as her motivation for running for reelection.
“I ran for Congress because I watched big healthcare corporations and Washington bureaucrats get between patients and their doctors, make life harder and more expensive for the people I treated, and frankly Iowa deserved someone willing to fight back,” Miller-Meeks said in a statement.
She cited legislation she sponsored aimed at lowering healthcare premiums and prescription drug costs. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the legislation would reduce premiums by 11% on average through 2035. The bill was introduced in place of now expired ACA enhanced premium tax credits, which she voted against extending.
The Des Moines Register reported Miller-Meeks called the ACA tax credits “taxpayer-funded blank checks to large insurance companies.”
Using estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, KFF projects the expiring tax credits, combined with cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will result in 14 million more uninsured Americans by 2034.
Miller-Meeks also pointed to tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and her work pushing for the sale of year-round E15. The E15 legislation, which was voted on as a standalone bill separate from the Farm Bill, passed the House earlier this month.
According to recent data from the Iowa Secretary of State, the number of active Republican voters surpasses Democrats by more than 26,000 in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District.
Independent candidate Michael Bridgford, a financial advisor from Bettendorf, is also running in the general election in November.
Iowans registered as Republican or Democrat can vote on primary day on June 2 or vote early.
