KDSN RADIO News
Candidates in Iowa’s first congressional district debate
First district Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican, and Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan met in an Iowa PBS debate last night and each accused the other of modifying their views on key issues to win votes.
Bohannan, who supports the Roe v Wade decision that legalized abortion, pointed to a bill Miller-Meeks co-sponsored that declares human life should be protected at the moment of conception. “She has now tried to backtrack from that, saying she supports exceptions and things,” Bohannan said. “It’s election time, so she’s trying to moderate that position.”
Miller-Meeks accused Bohannan of distortions. “You want to confuse people, you want to divide people,” Miller-Meeks said. “That’s a tactic you’ve used all throughout the campaign when you started attacking me.”
During a discussion of immigration, Miller-Meeks said the situation at the southern border is out of control. “My opponent didn’t mention the border, didn’t say anything about the border,” Miller-Meeks said, “didn’t say the border should be secure until it became a political liability for her and her party.”
Bohannan said both political parties in Congress have “kicked the can down the road” rather than address flaws in the immigration system. “And I have stood up to the Biden Administration multiple times,” Bohannan said. “I did it in 2022 and I’m doing it now and I’ve said President Biden was too slow to act on the border.”
Both candidates expressed concerns for homeowners who are finding it difficult to afford or even acquire insurance. Miller-Meeks said natural disasters in Iowa are leading to increased insurance rates and some insurance companies are no longer insuring residential property in Iowa.
“There is talk about if there should be more federal government involvement in the insurance marketplace and how to do that in the best way that doesn’t create undue pressure and doesn’t create increased costs,” Miller-Meeks said.
Bohannan agreed that Iowa homeowners are struggling with the price of insurance. “We are seeing now the economic effects of climate,” Bohannan said. “We are not going to have an economy if we have to spend half of our GDP cleaning up from natural disasters that we could have prevented in the first place.”
Last night’s debate was the only debate between the two first congressional district candidates.
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