A New Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll found that Democrats are preferred to Republican congressional candidates in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District. 

The poll found that 49 percent of the poll respondents who lived in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District preferred a Democrat over the 46 percent who preferred a generic Republican. 

The poll questioned around 160 Iowans in the district and has a margin of error of around 8 percent, putting the results within the poll’s margin of error, but highlights a development in the tight race for the 1st district seat. 

Democrat Christina Bohannon is challenging incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Mariantette Miller-Meeks for the seat. Bohannon challenged Miller-Meeks for the seat before in 2022, but lost by seven percentage points. 

The district has been targeted by the national campaign arm of the U.S. House Democrats as a key district in the fight for control of the chamber, where Republicans currently have a slim majority. 

Bohannan outraised Miller-Meeks in four straight fundraising quarters since she entered the race and retains a current cash-on-hand advantage over Miller-Meeks, according to Federal Election Commission filings. 

This is the first time during the 2024 election cycle that polling has shown that a Democrat is favored in one of Iowa’s Congressional Districts. 

The same poll showed Republicans are preferred over Democrats in Iowa’s three other districts.