Statewide Iowa — For the first time in 66 years, every member of Iowa’s federal delegation in D.C. will be a Republican when Congress convenes in January. Christina Bohannan is the Democrat in Iowa’s first congressional district who lost to Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
In 2020, Bohannan, a University of Iowa law professor, was elected to a two-year term in the state legislature that will end in early January. Bohannan says running for federal office is far different and Democratic candidates for Congress in Iowa were at a competitive disadvantage because they were massively out-spent by Republicans and their allies.
Congresswoman Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, lost to Republican Zach Nunn by seven-tenths of a percent. Bohannan lost to Miller-Meeks by seven points. Democrat Liz Mathis lost to Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson by 18 points. Bohannan says President Biden’s low approval rating in Iowa and concerns about inflation were a factor in those losses, but she says Democrats facing the same headwinds won in other states because those candidates had party resources to be competitive.
The worst enemy for Iowa Democrats in the future will be a defeatist attitude, according to Bohannan.
Bohannan says she has no regrets about running for Congress. She describes it as an incredible experience.
Bohannan says Democrats need to, in her words, “not take the bait” and “disagree without being disagreeable.”
