Iowa Democrat Christina Bohannan, who lost to Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks by 799 votes last year, is launching a third run for the battleground seat, hoping a more favorable political climate will push her to victory.

“Mariannette Miller-Meeks has had three terms in Congress – three chances to do right by the people of Iowa. Instead, she has taken over $4 million from corporate special interests and done nothing but vote their way,’’ Bohannan said in a statement launching her campaign Tuesday. “And she has put partisan politics over Iowans again and again.”

Miller-Meeks, who is in her third term representing an eastern Iowa district, recently earned a slot on CQ Roll Call’s initial list of the most vulnerable House members. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race for the 1st District a Toss-up.

Still, the district, which includes Davenport and Iowa City, is Republican-leaning, with Donald Trump carrying it by more than 8 points last fall, according to calculations by The Downballot. And Miller-Meeks has survived close calls before: She first won election in 2020 by six votes on her fourth congressional attempt. She beat Bohannan by 7 points in 2022 before eking out a narrow victory last year.

In her statement, Bohannan, a law professor and former engineer who served a term in the Iowa House, signaled she will seek to tie Miller-Meeks to the Trump agenda.  

“From cutting Medicaid, to siding with DOGE’s devastating cuts to Social Security, to enabling unelected, unaccountable billionaires like Elon Musk – Miller-Meeks has forgotten about us,’’ she said.

Bohannan joins a Democratic primary that already includes former state Rep. Bob Krause and health care worker Travis Terrell. And Miller-Meeks is once again facing a primary challenge from her right from David Pautsch, a Gold Star father who took 44 percent of the vote in last year’s GOP contest.

Iowa has emerged as a key battleground in Democrats’ quest to take control of the House. Miller-Meeks and two other House Republicans — Zach Nunn in the Des Moines-centered 3rd District and Ashley Hinson in northeast Iowa’s 2nd District — are on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s initial target list for 2026. 

Democrats are also hoping the state will have a competitive Senate race as GOP incumbent Joni Ernst seeks a third term.

But Iowa has drifted sharply to the right during the Trump era, and Democrats will face challenges as they seek to gain traction. 

“Iowa has tended to go a little bit red over the past few years,’’ Bohannan said in an interview last week, prior to her launch. “And now Republicans and Mariannette Miller-Meeks in particular are just carrying out their own agenda in Washington and are not listening to people on the ground, so I think we are starting to see a correction.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee, in a statement Tuesday, dismissed Bohannan’s latest challenge to Miller-Meeks.

“When will Christina learn? Iowans have rejected her twice already, and now she has to run to the left to beat radical Bob [Krause] and Bernie-bro Travis Terrell in the primary. There’s no doubt whoever comes out of this liberal rat race will be sent … packing when Iowans re-elect America First fighter Mariannette Miller-Meeks next fall,” NRCC spokeswoman Emily Tuttle said.