Christina Bohannan: I'll put in the hard work and tell Iowans the truth

I am running for Congress because I love Iowa. Iowa’s values of truth, fairness, hard work have been the guiding principles of my life. I grew up in a trailer off a gravel road in a small town. Neither of my parents graduated high school. They worked hard to get by, but when my dad got sick with emphysema, his health insurance was canceled. Then we lost everything.

Fortunately, public education lifted me out of poverty and allowed me to work my way through engineering school and law school. Social Security and Medicare were lifelines for my family. With this help, I got a fair shot. I am running for Congress to make sure every hardworking Iowan gets a fair shot too.

Traveling southeast Iowa, I see Iowans working hard, but inflation hurts, especially when our wages are lower than in neighboring states. Our rural schools and hospitals are shutting down. We’re losing family farms and manufacturing jobs. Our young people are leaving the state, and we have a major workforce crisis.

Sadly, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is concerned less with solving these problems and more with perpetuating the divisive and dishonest politics that plague our country. She has spread so much misinformation that her hometown paper has said she has “a concerning detachment from facts and reality” and admonished her to “stick to the truth” (Ottumwa Courier, Sept. 14, 2021). She tells Iowans one thing and votes the opposite way in Washington. She has voted against infrastructure, against bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., against tax cuts for working families, against letting Medicare negotiate for lower drug prices, against capping the price of insulin for seniors on Medicare, and against giving women the right to choose their own birth control.

More:Meet Christina Bohannan & Mariannette Miller-Meeks, running for Iowa's 1st Congressional District

It is on abortion, however, that Miller-Meeks’ dishonesty is most dangerous. In Congress, she has co-sponsored a nationwide abortion ban with no exceptions, which would put women’s lives at risk. But that proved politically unpopular, so now she is misrepresenting her position. Here are the facts: she co-sponsored the “Life at Conception Act” (H.R. 1011), which is “a personhood bill that aims to block abortions at all stages by legally recognizing all stages of human development as persons” (Cedar Rapids Gazette, July 11, 2022). The Gazette unequivocally states that this Act “would outlaw all abortions with no exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or risk to the pregnant person.” When it comes to protecting women’s health and freedom, Miller-Meeks cannot be trusted.

Southeast Iowa deserves a representative who will tell the truth and put people before political party. Both former Republican Congressman Jim Leach and former Democratic Congressman Dave Loebsack have endorsed me because they know that is the kind of congresswoman I will be. I will work to reduce inflation and reinstate Roe v. Wade. I will support public education, good wages, jobs and workforce, Social Security and Medicare. I will work hard to represent all Iowans and bring Iowa values to Washington, D.C.

Christina Bohannan is the Democratic candidate in Iowa's 1st Congressional District. She represents Iowa City in the Iowa House.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Christina Bohannan: I'll put in the hard work, tell Iowans the truth