It’s been an open secret that Iowa City Democrat Christina Bohannan has been preparing for another run for Congress. She launched the campaign Tuesday morning saying it was “as good as any day.”
The UI law professor and former environmental engineer was first elected to the state House in 2020. Shortly thereafter, she announced plans to take on Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
She lost handily.
In the 2020 election, Miller-Meeks had a historically close 6-vote margin of victory — itself the culmination of several failed tries for the seat. But in the 2022 midterm, Miller-Meeks beat out Bohannan by more than 20,000 votes. Bohannan was only able to carry Democratic stronghold of Johnson County. She lost important counties like Warren, Scott and even Clinton – the home turf of Iowa Democratic Party chairman and former congressional candidate Rita Hart.
Bohannan is back again in 2024, and she is counting on turnout being different in a presidential election year.
“We know that Democratic turnout in midterm elections isn’t always as good as it should be,” Bohannan said. “And so we’re excited with this presidential election and the energy that that brings.”
Back in 2020, the counties that would become the new 1st Congressional District went for Trump. But Bohannan points down ballot: there the Democrats' congressional candidates had a narrow victory over what would become the First District following redistricting.
For years, Scott County has increasingly supported Republican candidates. Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kauffmann has referred to it as a growth stock for the party.
“Scott is the greatest potential that Republicans have had,” he told reporters in 2022. “I believe that Mariannette (Miller-Meeks) can win just by not losing big in Scott County.”
On election night, Miller-Meeks carried Scott County by 5 percentage points. Bohannan says her 2024 campaign is prioritizing the area.
“Scott County is absolutely key, and we will be spending a lot of time in Scott County,” Bohannan said.
Meanwhile, Miller-Meeks was back in the district this week as Congress was on recess. She held her first public town hall in Johnson County since being elected in 2020.
“I think that people that put their name on the ballot, it takes a lot of perseverance, a lot of courage. And so, I applaud and respect anyone who is going to put their name on the ballot and throw their hat in the ring,” she told reporters afterward.
Bohannan responds to resume criticism
Iowa GOP didn’t wait for Bohannan’s official announcement to resurface last election’s accusation that the Democrat embellished her engineering resume. The story comes from The Washington Free Beacon, a right-wing website. The publication accused Bohannan of inflating her resume. It claimed Bohannan never worked as an engineer outside her stint as an engineering intern.
“I have the bags under my eyes to prove that I went to engineering school,” Bohannan said.
Bohannan was an intern for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection between 1991 and 1994. She said following her internship, she worked as a full time engineer for the Florida EPA after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from University of Florida. It was shortly thereafter that she attended law school at the University of Florida.
“This is just a flat out lie. This is what they do,” Bohannan said. “And frankly this one is really ridiculous.”
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