Democratic candidate for the 1st Congressional District, Christina Bohannan (left), speaks with Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks during Monday’s debate. The televised debate was hosted by Johnston’s Iowa PBS. (Lily Smith/Des Moines Register, Pool)
The Gazette uses Instaread to provide audio versions of our articles. Some words may be mispronounced.
JOHNSTON — Christina Bohannan and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, major party congressional candidates for Southeast Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, weighed in on each other’s positions and voting records on abortion and immigration in a televised debate this week. I objected.
Republican incumbent Miller-Meeks is running for his third two-year term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Democratic challenger Bohannan is running to replace her.
The race is a rematch of the 2022 Congressional election, in which Miller-Meeks defeated Bohannan by about seven points.
Some national election forecasters recently changed their classification of the 1st Congressional District race to a toss-up, after previously predicting a Republican-leaning race. Cook Political Report, Fox News, and Inside Elections currently believe that Iowa’s 1st District is a true toss-up. But some forecasters, including Sabato’s Crystal Ball, still believe the 1st District leans Republican.
As in federal elections across the country, abortion and immigration policy have emerged as powerful debates in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District.
Candidates debate abortion policy
During an hour-long debate broadcast statewide on Iowa PBS on Monday night in Johnston, Iowa, Bohannan said that although the bill did not pass, as written it states that life begins at conception. He continued to criticize Miller-Meeks for supporting the bill that had been in place.
The Vital Conception Act criminalized abortion and did not provide for any exceptions. Miller-Meeks co-sponsored this bill in the 2021-2022 Congress, but did not introduce a similar bill when it was introduced in the current Congress.
“She’s now trying to walk back from what she said about supporting exceptions and things like that,” Bohannan argued during the debate. “She’s trying to soften that position because it’s election time, but it’s clearly out of step with the people of Iowa.”
Democratic District 1 candidate Christina Bohanan will speak at a debate hosted by Iowa PBS in Johnston on Monday. (Lily Smith/Des Moines Register, Pool)
Miller-Meeks responded, “I’m pro-life, with exceptions when it comes to rape, incest, and the life of the mother.” She previously told the Gazette that she believed a deal could be reached around a federal law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. But during the debate, she said, “I don’t think federal law will be enacted anytime soon.”
Miller-Meeks countered that Bohannan refused to say whether he wanted restrictions on abortion. Bohannan wants to return abortion policy to the level it was in place nationwide under Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that created the legal framework for federal abortion policy before it was rescinded in 2022. states.
Under the framework created by Roe v. Wade (which Bohanan is calling for), states can terminate abortions before the fetus is viable outside the womb (usually around 24 to 28 weeks gestation). cannot be prohibited. This framework acknowledged some limitations in the second semester.
Miller-Meeks said she wants to explore areas of consensus in abortion policy, including banning federal funding for abortions and “giving women easy access to affordable contraceptives.” listed.
Candidates discuss immigration policy
On immigration, Miller-Meeks accused Bohannan and Democrats of being late to the conversation and not prioritizing immigration policy until more voters demanded it.
Miller-Meeks said of Bohannan: “My opponent never mentioned the border, never said anything about the border. He didn’t say we should make the border secure until it became a political responsibility for him and his party. I didn’t say that.”
Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks speaks at a debate sponsored by Iowa PBS in Johnston on Monday. (Lily Smith/Des Moines Register, Pool)
Miller-Meeks, who is running as a Republican candidate again this year, said she supports immigration policies put in place by former President Donald Trump and repealed under Democratic President Joe Biden.
In a previous interview with the Gazette, Miller-Meeks spoke about repealing Title 42, which uses the “Remain in Mexico” policy and public health law to require some asylum seekers to be returned to Mexico during the immigration process. He criticized the Biden administration. Emergency legislation in response to the coronavirus pandemic prohibits border crossings to prevent the spread of the virus.
Bohanan said during the debate that the U.S. “must secure our borders,” and acknowledged that Biden was “too slow to act on the border issue.” She also criticized Miller-Meeks and fellow Republicans for failing to pass an immigration bill that was drafted as a compromise between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate.
According to national media reports, President Trump has ordered Congressional Republicans to kill the bill to avoid it being passed under the Biden administration.
Miller-Meeks pointed out that the bill never passed the Senate and therefore was never considered in the House, and advocated for an immigration bill passed by House Republicans instead.
“We recently had a great opportunity to pass the toughest border security bill this country has seen in a very long time, probably ever,” Bohanan said. “This is what we see over and over again: people trying to find political cover, signing fake bills or something, instead of actually doing something that would benefit people. But we could have solved this problem. And I think (Congressional Republicans) have lost all credibility on this issue.”
Voting day is November 5th. Early voting is underway in Iowa.
Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com
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