In a debate Tuesday night, 1st Congressional District Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan was not shy about blaming Republicans for Iowa’s affordability crisis. Republican incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks shifted between blaming the Biden administration for high costs and asking Iowans to give tariffs and tax breaks a chance to make their impact — like helping bring a multi-million dollar steel plant to Lee County.
The debate broadcast on KCRG-TV was broadly civil. It focused mostly on issues facing farmers, how to right-size the nation's economy and how to ensure Iowans can access the healthcare they need.
It also only featured the major-party candidates. That frustrated independent Michael Bridgford, who said he was excluded because of a high fundraising threshold.
Farming woes
This week, President Donald Trump announced an $8 billion Harvest Fuel Relief program in response to the high diesel costs farmers are encountering through the harvest season. Moderators asked both candidates what they thought of the one-time payment program.
"I think really what we need to do is get the Farm Bill passed in the Senate," Miller-Meeks said. "You want policies that are-long term, not just a paycheck, but long-term policies that help farmers to address high input costs but also sell their crops at a higher price."
Miller-Meeks also suggested pausing exporting diesel and pausing the gas tax to bring down costs.
Bohannan was sympathetic to the payouts, but attacked Miller-Meeks for long-term policies the representative supported.
“She has voted eight times for tariffs that are driving up the cost of fertilizer, agricultural equipment," Bohannan said. "She voted for the Iran War five times. That's driving up the cost of fuel and fertilizer as well.”
National economy and debt
One of Bohannan's strongest critiques was for the largest piece of legislation Congress passed last year.
"The One Big Beautiful Bill that Representative Miller-Meeks voted for exploded our national debt," she said. "It gave more tax relief to the top 1% than it did to 60% of all Americans combined. It increased our health insurance premiums — double and triple — all to give massive tax breaks to billionaires and to data centers."
Miller-Meeks said the national debt has grown rapidly under both parties. She also said the Department of Government Efficiency that was established early in Trump's second term "was not as helpful as most people thought it would be." She encouraged a focus on growing the economy instead of cutting spending.
“I think it's important that we prioritize our spending, but I think it's important also that we have policies in place that we have put in place that are growing our manufacturing, are growing our manufacturing centers, reshoring jobs to the United States and leading to higher wages and higher income and better jobs," she said.
Healthcare
Miller-Meeks touted the Rural Healthcare Transformation Fund, a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that has already granted more than $200 million to providers in Iowa.
"We are the first state to be able to get our application through and also do our grants," Miller-Meeks said. "I've also gotten money to help to reopen a hospital in Keokuk. I've gotten money for the Muscatine County Hospital several years ago that allows them to be competitive and stay in place, as well as money for the Van Buren County Hospital and to open up the Miller Family Clinic in Fort Madison."
Bohannan said the fund for rural health pales in comparison to the amount of money rural hospitals stand to lose from Medicaid cuts in the same law.
"The Washington County Hospital Administrator described Medicaid as the oxygen that keeps rural healthcare alive. The Jackson County Hospital Administrator says that a third of their revenue comes from Medicaid alone," Bohannan said. "They knew that the Medicaid cuts were going to you know be very unpopular in rural areas, so they created this little fund to work on. But the fact is that it's a drop in the bucket to what these hospitals are going to lose. And what that means is Iowans are not going to get the care they need."
Debate exclusion
Independent Michael Bridgford said he was not invited to attend the debate. He told IPR News he was snubbed because the fundraising threshold to qualify to participate was higher than other broadcasters.
"[It's a] frustrating situation, given that we were the first independent campaign in modern state history to qualify and be invited by Iowa PBS to the Iowa Press debate, which is the gold standard here in the state," he said. "The candidates I'm running against did not accept that invitation, even though that's where they debated the prior to elections."
Instead, the debate was hosted by Gray Media, which owns KCRG in Cedar Rapids, KWQC in the Quad Cities, KYOU in Ottumwa and KTIV in Sioux City.
"They set a different requirement which they didn't publicize," Bridgford said. "After we got a lawyer involved, they let us know it was a million-dollar fundraising requirement — which 40% of Republicans and Democrats around the country running wouldn't meet that requirement."
Bridgford said his exclusion wasn't fair to voters.
