House Speaker Mike Johnson and U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks spoke to reporters following an event in Indianola Oct. 18, 2024. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
While the Associated Press has not projected a winner in the race, U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is leading in her reelection bid against Democrat Christina Bohannan, according to unofficial results posted Wednesday.
The race was considered too close to call on Election Night after polls closed. By 6 p.m. Wednesday, Miller-Meeks was in the lead at 50.1% to Bohannan’s 49.9%. The Republican incumbent was ahead by 799 votes as of 3:44 p.m. updates, according to the AP.
Miller-Meeks had declared victory in the early hours Wednesday at her Election Night watch party.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
In an address Wednesday, Miler-Meeks said she would be patient in the process of finalizing election results, and that “the reality is, we have to let the process to play out.”
“We have a process that we’ve had put in place — and put in place by our Legislature — with voter integrity laws,” Miller-Meeks said. “And every time we put in (place) voter integrity laws and election integrity laws, we’ve had record turnouts in elections. And this election was no different than that. So we’re very comfortable in our margin, very comfortable in our victory.”
If she wins when the race is certified, Miller-Meeks will take her seat for a second term representing the state’s 1st Congressional District in January. The district covers southeast Iowa, including the cities of Iowa City and Davenport.
At her election night party early Wednesday in Riverside, Miller-Meeks said she was happy to have won the race by a larger margin than her 2020 victory in the former 2nd Congressional District, when she defeated Democrat Rita Hart by a margin of six votes.
“I’ve said for the past two years that instead of a six pack we are going to win by a case, and we have!” she told the crowd.
With a greater margin of nearly 800 votes on Wednesday, Miller-Meeks said that Bohannan has not yet called her — but that her opponent, who ran against her for the seat in 2022, also did not call her to congratulate and concede the race in the previous midterm election. Though the race has not yet been called, Miller-Meeks said her campaign felt confident in her lead.
“We anticipate that there are very few votes that are remaining, very few votes that are out there in provisional ballots, and certainly not enough that will overcome a triple digit number that we’ve been able to put up with, 799,” she said.
Bohannan did not officially concede the race as of Wednesday night to her opponent, but thanked the crowd at her campaign watch party Tuesday in Iowa City for making the district competitive in 2024.
“Whatever the outcome of this race is, we did something that nobody thought we can do,” Bohannan said. “And I want you all to remember that in the future, because you have the power to do amazing things, and I want to see you do it.”
Miller-Meeks’ race was expected to be hotly contested — election forecasters like the Cook Political Report rated it as a “toss-up,” and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rated it as “leans Democrat” in the final days before the election.
Though the 1st District Republican is expected to maintain control of her seat — keeping Iowa’s entire U.S. congressional delegation red — it was the tightest congressional race in the state in 2024.
Baccam concedes race in 3rd District
The 3rd Congressional District race between U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn and Democrat Lanon Baccam was also predicted to be close, but the AP called the race for Nunn at 11:18 p.m. Tuesday. As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nunn was ahead by more than 15,000 votes, beating Baccam 52% to 48% with 99% of votes counted.
Baccam conceded the race Wednesday, thanking his supporters, staff and family for their work on his campaign.
“While this is not the outcome we wanted, the fight for a better Iowa must continue,” Baccam said. “We still know it’s not okay for politicians to tell women what to do with their bodies, we know there’s still work to do to lower costs, and we have to make sure Iowans can retire with dignity by protecting Social Security and Medicare. Thank you to everyone who stood with me in this race.”
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.