As thousands of Hawkeye fans gathered at Kinnick Stadium for one of the biggest college sporting events in Iowa this year, Iowa Republican leaders rallied support for U.S. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, and other down-ballot races in November’s general election.
Miller-Meeks hosted her 4th Annual Triple M Tailgate at Streb Construction in Iowa City prior to the Cy-Hawk football match between Iowa State and the University of Iowa.
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Iowa’s all-Republican congressional delegation rallied attendees around former President Donald Trump and stressed the importance of voting Republican down-ballot at the event Saturday.
Throughout the speeches, protesters interrupted, calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict. All three were quickly escorted out of the building. Outside, a group of protesters chanted, waved Palestinian flags, and urged the politicians inside to push for a ceasefire.
Miller-Meeks won her first term in Congress against former Iowa senator Rita Hart in 2020 by just six votes and won reelection against Democrat Christina Bohannan in 2022. Seeking reelection for a third term, Miller-Meeks will face a rematch with Bohannan.
The race is predicted to be closer than expected by political analysts. The Cook Political Report recently altered its prediction for the outcome of the District 1 race from likely Republican to lean Republican, which signifies increased momentum within the Democratic party.
National Democrats are targeting Iowa Congressional District 1 and District 3 as a broader campaign to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Standing on a truck bed adorned with American flags, many of Iowa’s Congressional members gave speeches stressing the need to re-elect Miller-Meeks to a crowd of roughly 70 people donning Hawkeye and Cyclone merchandise.
U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, spoke about Miller-Meeks’s plan to reduce health care costs, a major point of her campaign.
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Feenstra said Iowa needs to re-elect Miller-Meeks because of her policy plans to reduce pharmaceutical costs and healthcare costs.
“We have 60 days left,” Feenstra said. “Sixty days left before the election, two months we have to stop this liberal progressive agenda that Harris and Biden have created for us.”
Other members of Iowa’s Republican Congressional delegation urged attendees to vote in November to keep Iowa’s delegation Republican.
Push for November
Iowa shifted heavily Republican between 2012 and 2020, which went from a victory for former President Barack Obama to support a win for Trump in the last presidential election.
On Saturday, Iowa’s Congressional members urged the importance of keeping Iowa Republicans in Congress.
U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson urged attendees to cast a ballot in November and encourage the people in their lives to do the same.
“We cannot afford to cede this district,” Hinson said.
Attorney General Brenna Bird and Secretary of State Paul Pate stressed the importance of election integrity. Pate listed the measures Iowa takes to ensure voters can count on the integrity of their vote, including voter ID requirements, local poll workers, and the use of paper ballots.
Bird said she will be on the lookout for election integrity to make sure there is no cheating and every vote counts.
“Every election is a tough one, and we will never get overconfident, will we?” Bird said. “We know this is an important election, everybody needs to go out and vote. Take nothing for granted, absolutely nothing for granted. Even though she won by six votes, let’s make it bigger this time.”
Protecting female athletes
American swimmer turned political activist Riley Gaines spoke over video call at the tailgate about her experience sharing a locker room and competing against former UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas, who is the first openly transgender woman to win an NCAA Division I National Championship.
Gaines and Thomas tied for fifth place in the NCAA 200-meter freestyle in 2022, and Gaines said the NCAA gave Thomas the trophy.
Gaines talked about the importance of protecting young female athletes and the legislation that has gained traction over the past two years by leaders like those in Iowa.
On April 18, Miller-Meeks and U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-NY, sent a letter to NCAA President Charlie Barker to change the organization’s policies and ban biological men from participating in women’s sports.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law in 2022 that required schools at all levels to designate sporting events as male, female, or co-ed. Twenty-two states have passed similar legislation.
In the 2024 legislative session, Iowa Republicans spearheaded a bill to legally define “man” and “woman.” Due to legislative deadlines, the bill failed to advance and was not passed into law.
Gaines called into question the gender of a San Jose State volleyball player, claiming one of the players is a biological man and should not be allowed to compete with female athletes. The Iowa Hawkeye volleyball team fell in a 3-1 loss to San Jose State on Friday.
“People think it’s not happening here, well guess what, it is happening here, even with laws in place that have been enforced,” Gaines said. “It’s happening in your own backyard.”
The gender of the player, Blaire Flemings, has not been verified.
Gaines thanked Miller-Meeks for her advocacy for young female athletes.
“Thank you, Congresswoman Miller-Meeks, for everything that you have done, for how you so fiercely and so passionately defend the rights of people like me, defend the rights of the daughters of the Iowans who are sitting in your room today. We appreciate you,” Gaines said.
Unify under Trump
Looking to the upcoming November election, Secretary of State Paul Pate said Iowa must work extra hard to maintain a Republican base.
“Trump carried Iowa twice,” Pate said. “We need to carry it in all of our congressional races, and our legislative races as well.”
Pate pointed to Trump and Miller-Meeks’ favorable results in the Iowa State Fair straw poll as an indicator of a potential Republican victory in the upcoming election. In the unscientific poll, Trump took around 57 percent of the vote and Vice President Kamala Harris came in second with 36 percent.
Fairgoers who took the poll favored incumbents, including Miller-Meeks for the 1st Congressional District and Hinson in the 2nd District.
Iowa Republican Party Chair Jeff Kauffman, who nominated Trump for president at the Republican National Convention in July, gave an impassioned speech, warning the audience that if Iowa elects Trump as president and doesn’t elect all four Republican Congressional candidates, they will have failed Trump.
“There’s no debate, there’s no argument about this, and that is Donald Trump wants all four of our congressional candidates to be returned,” Kauffman said. “You absolutely, positively, have to vote for our congressional delegation, and if you do not, and people do not, I’m telling you this right now, you will have failed conservatism. You will have failed Donald Trump, and you will have failed your great-grandkids.”
Former Acting United States Attorney General and Hawkeye football alum, Matthew Whitaker, said Iowa Republican lawmakers have passed a conservative agenda in the state, and now Iowa needs its congressional members to accomplish this agenda in Washington, D.C.
“[Miller-Meeks] is so important and such a critical piece of our very slim majority currently,” Whitaker said. “When we get Donald Trump elected, making sure that again there is a majority in the House and Senate to accomplish a very aggressive and important agenda that we’ve accomplished here in Iowa.”