Bohannan says Miller-Meeks has ‘consistently voted against’ the needs of Iowans

To gain the support of Republican voters in a state that is increasingly growing more red, Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District Christina Bohannan will have to answer the questions: “What do the people of southeast Iowa need?” and “What is happening in their daily lives?”

The current representative of Iowa House District 85, at a young age, lived through situations where it was difficult to afford groceries or medicine all because her father, a construction worker with emphysema, lost his health insurance. It was a big deal, and it changed her family’s life forever.

“At that point we literally — I’m not exaggerating here — we literally had to choose, OK, which medicines are we going to fill this month? Are we going to be able to get the same amount of groceries this week as we got last week?” she said. “…That’s when I learned even people who work hard need a little help.”

Bohannan later told Newton News during a county tour June 20 that “we need to make sure that we have representatives who know what people of southeast Iowa need and are going to fight for that.” She suggested the voting record of Republican opponent Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks does not reflect that.

“My opponent has consistently voted against the needs of southeast Iowans time after time after time after time,” Bohannan said. “She talks a lot about inflation, but she has consistently voted against things that would help reduce inflation, from infrastructure to bringing manufacturing jobs here, to baby formula.”

Costs are so high, and it is weighing on people every single day, she added. Meanwhile, Republicans are blaming the Democrats for inflation. But Bohannan reminded voters Miller-Meeks is the person in Washington, D.C., representing Iowans. Bohannan asked the question: “What is she doing about inflation?”

Other than complaining, Bohannan suggested Miller-Meeks is voting against measures that she claimed could help Iowans struggling against inflation.

“Every time we go to the grocery store and we pay too much for groceries, we should remember that Mariannette Miller-Meeks voted against a bipartisan infrastructure bill that would reduce costs by making it easier to transport food and goods on our roads,” Bohannan said.

When Iowans go to the gas pump and pay too much for gasoline, Bohannan said we should remember Miller-Meeks voted against a bipartisan bill “to hold oil and gas companies responsible for corporate price gouging on gas.”

Iowans should also remember whenever they pay too much for prescription drugs that Miller-Meeks voted against letting Medicare negotiate for lower drug prices, Bohannan said. She also said Miller-Meeks voted against a bill to ease the baby formula shortage.

However, Miller-Meeks in May did sign on as a co-sponsor of the Babies Need More Formula Now Act, which was introduced by New York Rep. Elise Stefanik to “quickly increase the baby formula supply, increase oversight and accountability at the Food and Drug Administration,” help innovation and prevent future crises.

But the Democratic candidate also said Miller-Meeks voted no to a bill that she claimed reduced supply chain problems and brought component part manufacturing away from China, and in the process could create jobs in the state.

“Every day that she is in Congress she is voting against every single thing that would make inflation better,” Bohannan said, claiming Miller-Meeks has “fallen in with the most extreme members of her party and is doing what that party leadership is telling her to do” and has taken $1 million in special interest money.

Bohannan added that she doesn’t always think Democrats do it right, noting she ran against a 20-year incumbent in her own party because she “didn’t think that neither Democrats or Republicans were doing enough” for Iowans.

These issues and more were also brought up to Newton voters during Bohannan’s tour through Jasper County last week.

People right now are struggling. The closing of rural hospitals is having an effect on Iowans, who sometimes have to drive an hour or more to get to a doctor or a pharmacy. People can’t live or work in a place that cannot give them the health care they need, Bohannan said. The same applies for schools.

“They can’t live or work in a place where the wages are lower than just about any neighboring state around us,” she said.

As someone who has studied constitutional law, Bohannan told Newton News she is a “strong supporter” of constitutional rights and firmly believes in free speech, whether she believes with the message or not. Bohannan said she pushed for free speech legislation in the Iowa House of Representatives.

“We need to have free speech for everyone for all viewpoints. And that’s just a central part of our Constitution, a central part of our democracy,” Bohannan said, noting before that the First Amendment and the U.S. Constitution applies to everybody. “So we have to … protect that for all. For all sides.”

Another life-changer was the effect public education had on Bohannan. She fondly remembers a high school chemistry teacher who helped her become an engineer. An American government teacher, she recalled, had her students memorize the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

“She put that in my head and she inspired me to become a law professor, to teach other people about our Constitution, about our democracy,” she said. “I owe my life to my public school teachers. I would not be here. They were the ones who helped me apply to college.”

Bohannan said she was able to work her way through college with affordable tuition, supplemented by student loans and scholarships. She worked her way through engineering school and then law school. Because of that “fair shot,” she said, Bohannan is able to stand before voters as a candidate for congress.

“I say that not because this is about me, it’s because I want us to think about what we could do and what we could be if everybody got that fair shot,” she said. “Think of the potential if everybody could be lifted up and have that fair shot.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com