The race for Congress in eastern Iowa.

We speak with Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan on The Cities [lively music] [music ends] From now until Election Day, we hope to bring to you each of the candidates running for Congress in the cities.

In this election cycle, we've extended invitations to the candidates running in the Illinois 17th District, And Iowas First Congressional District.

Now, on a Sunday afternoon before the election day, we'll run all of the interviews back t back on WQPT public television.

We continue with the race for Iowa's First Congressional District, and that includes the Iowa Quad Cities, Clinton, Muscatine, and Burlington.

It's regarded as a toss up district featuring incumbent Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who we talked to last week and Democrat Christina Bohannan, as well as Independent Michael Bridgford.

In this program, we're talking with Christina Bohannan.

This is the third time she's challenging Miller-Meeks in the race for Congress.

She's a University of Iowa law professor and environmental enginee and former State Representative.

Well, thank you for joining us.

And let me start with with a question that should be very simple to answer.

Why are you running again?

Yeah.

Running for Congres is not for the faint of heart.

I'll tell you, especially three times.

But, you know, I'm running because people in Iowa deserve better.

And right now, people all over this district are really struggling, with, you know, just affording basic necessities, food and other things.

Gas prices are extremely high.

People are really struggling with that.

Our health care is being cut and those insurance premiums have doubled.

And even tripled in a lot of cases.

And so, you know, for me, this is something that really hits close to home because when I was growing up, my family went through a time when my dad, you know, was construction worker, got sick and they canceled his health insurance.

And then we were choosing between putting food on the table, putting gas in the car, and affording his medicines and his health care.

And that's exactly what people all throughout southeast Iowa are dealing with right now because of the votes that Mariannette Miller-Meeks has taken.

And so, you know, for me, this is extremely personal.

I know what people are going through, and I'm running to put Iowa first.

And I do want to talk more about the economy.

But let's back it up just a bit with the war in, against Iran.

The president has repeatedly said Iran will not get a nuclear weapon.

That was the whole, justification for this war.

Is that an opinion or a belief or a tenet that you do agree with?

Absolutely.

We cannot allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon.

That is very, very important.

I have said that, all along, however, this war has not, made it harder for them to get a nuclear weapon.

If anything, I think that they're probably in a better position now, than they were before.

The problem with this war is that, you know, no justification was really give for it to the American people.

No plan, no exit strategy.

And it's been going on for way too long, with no end in sight.

You know, in addition to the 18 American lives that have been lost and the fact that it has driven up, gas and diesel prices to huge levels, I mean, you know, our ou farmers are really struggling.

I hear this all over the place.

But also it has depleted our ammunition.

It's depleted our, interceptor missiles to a very dangerous level, that is really, you know, hurt our national security.

So, you know so many problems with this war.

It needs to end, and it needs to end soon.

So if we don't have mission accomplished, what do you see as a mission that' being accomplished in this war?

Well, I don't know what i being accomplished by this war.

All I can see, is that, you know, America, is is, worse off in every way.

And Americans of the ones footing the bill through our taxpayer dollars, through billions of dollars spent in this thing, and and no end in sight, you know, and like I said, our farmer is something I hear a lot about.

You know I have talked to several farmers just here in the last few weeks who say that they are going to pay $50,000-75,000 more in harvest season just because of the increased diesel prices.

And that's why we're seeing more farm bankruptcies and people struggling.

So, I don't see, you know, a point to what's happening right now.

I hope that, that they will negotiate in good faith and get this thing done.

I was going to say, so ca America walk away from this war if we aren't assured that there are no nuclear weapons in development?

Well, you know, look, that that's a question for the president and it's a question for congressional oversight.

I hope that the people who are, you know, in the rooms, with the, intelligence information, will consider those questions very, very carefully.

But I will tell you that by all outward appearances everything that we are seeing, is that, you know, this war, there's no strategy.

There's no end in sight.

And it is really hurting the American people.

Congress, of course, voting on the war Powers Act.

That's one thing that, congressional members can do.

Another one is perhaps taking look at, the, federal gas tax.

It, it, is there something, there's been proposals of of, either cutting or eliminating the federal gas tax and the, the, ban on the sale of diesel to foreign countries, America first, almost when it comes to a diesel oil, are these proposals that are short term, of course, do they have your support?

Well, you know, the thing is, what we need to make sure is that Iowans are not going to be hurt by this.

And the fact is, you know, we need to know exactly where we are getting our diesel because, you know, a ban on diesel export will help parts of the country that get their diesel, from US sources.

But it's not going to help, parts of the country that get their diesel from foreign sources.

And so, you know, there's a real concern that we could actually make the problem worse.

So I think that, you know, I am open to all things.

I am I am certainly open to considering short term solutions to try to ease the burden on Iowans.

But the fact is, there is nothing that is going to make this better except for ending this war an reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

The other major impact, of course, on the economy are the tariffs that the president has, called against other nations.

He's saying it's workin by bringing back manufacturing jobs and manufacturing work to the United States.

Do you agree with that?

You know, I have talked to labor unions.

I have talked to people who are doing the manufacturing work.

Many, many people.

And, there is no indication that these tariffs are doing anything other than driving, up costs for Iowans.

And, you know, look, Mariannett Miller-Meeks voted eight times to prolong these tariffs knowing that it was costing Iowans dearly.

She voted five times to prolong the Iran war.

You know, time and time again, in her time in office, she has voted to increase prices for Iowans.

And so, look, you know, we could we could talk about a strategic tariff that, we implement in certain areas of the economy where we think Iowans could, benefit from more manufacturing.

But what we have seen is a pretty reckless and chaotic, implementation of tariffs across the board, that has only, left Iowans struggling to put food on the table.

And you have seen time and again, the, US Supreme Court in ways strengthening the executive branch when it comes to, tariffs.

There have been a couple o rulings, of course, against it.

Are you worried that it is really, lessening the impact and the role of Congress?

Congress is responsible fo weakening the role of Congress.

You know, so basically, look, the lion's share of lawmaking authority in this country is supposed to reside with Congress.

But what we have seen eve before President Trump came on the scene is Congress giving away its power to, the president in the white House or to a handful of unelected, unrepresentative justices on the Supreme Court?

It is Congres that has abdicated its authority and allowed a lot of this to happen.

You know, Congress is supposed to hav complete authority over tariffs, but they allowed, the president to implement those and vote, and Miller-Meeks voted eight times to prolong them.

Congress is supposed to hav power over declarations of war, and yet Congress allowed that to happen.

And then Miller-Meeks vote five times to prolong the war.

This is squarely Congress's responsibility, and Congress is the one that is supposed to be accountable to the American people.

Congress also has contro of the purse strings, usually.

But we have seen the administration, really, take control of that.

And wrest control away from the Senate and the House particularly with the DOGE cuts that we saw, during, last year.

Democrats of course, saying it was cruel.

It went too far.

But doesn't something hav to be done in a dramatic fashion in order to realistically cut back on federal spending?

You know, what, what we need to make sure is that the spending we are doing is strategic and that it serves the American people.

And when I am in Congress, I will make sur that the spending we are doing is directly beneficial to Iowans.

I think every expenditure of taxpayer dollars is something that Congress members need to think carefully about.

People work hard for their money.

We need to make sure that that isn't, being spent, you know, unnecessarily.

But at the same time, what I mentioned before about the war is true here as well.

You know, we can't have a situation where there are just reckless and kind of chaotic cuts that are hurting, services, that Iowans depend on, whether it's Social Security or whether it's farmers with the USDA, or whatever it is.

You know, we have to have, a rational, thought process about how we are cutting the federal government and make sure that Iowans are not being hurt in the process.

And while people might be considering some of the cuts as being reckless, others might say, look, in the past, all the federal government's ever done is nibble on the corners, at best and still expand in other areas to the effect that that actual realistic cuts aren' made in the federal government.

Yeah.

I mean, again, look I am all for a very, you know, substantial review of where we can cut, to save taxpayer dollars to reduce, bureaucratic red tape.

I, for example, I've done a lot of work on busines innovation and economic growth.

I think that we need to make sure that we don't have unnecessar regulations and that we're not, you know, stifling innovation or stifling, business growth and competition.

So those are things I have worked on and I believe in.

But again, you know, it ha to be done in a thoughtful way.

We have to make sure that Iowans aren't being hurt, that, you know, that when they have questions about their Social Security benefits, that there is somebody there to answer that call.

Or, that when our farmers have questions about loans or about, you know, other, programs with the USDA that they can ge an answer in a timely fashion.

And that's the concern.

We got to make sure that it's done in a thoughtful wa and not hurting those services.

So what do you see as one of the best ways, perhaps, to start getting at that $40 trillion federal deficit right now?

Because let's be honest, it i seriously getting out of hand.

And, you know, it's being passed on t our children and grandchildren.

Absolutely.

And I'll tell you, I talk a lot about that national debt.

I am very concerned about the national debt.

I think not only is it, a huge issue for our kids and our grandkids, it's a national security issue.

And the fact of the matter i right now, Americans are paying, more of their taxpayer dollars to pay interest on the debt than they are for our military, than they are for any other category of spending besides Medicare and Social Security.

So this is somethin that we have to take seriously, you know, and to start with, let's remembe that Mariannette Miller-Meeks, with the one big beautiful bill voted for tax breaks for billionaires.

Okay.

The biggest tax cut for billionaires in American history.

That is one of the things that drove up our debt by $4 trillion with that bill alone.

She also voted in that bill for, tax breaks, of of of tens of thousands of dollars for, I'm sorry, a millions of dollars for data centers.

And then she took tens of thousands of dollars from data centers in campaign contributions.

So, you know what?

What it starts with is electing people who are not going to be beholden to billionaires or to big AI companies or others giving away, tax breaks that are actually increasing the debt.

And what kind of legislation would you like to see when it comes to artificial intelligence or, or even data centers?

Yeah.

You know, my view first of all, on data centers, is that it is a local issue.

Okay.

What we want to see is data centers should not be able to come in, they should not be able to take our water, or to take our electricity run up our electric costs, and, and put those costs on community members and taxpayers.

So the community ha to make sure that whatever deal the data center is bringing is a good one for that local community.

What we have to be sure of with Congress is to make sure that our member of Congress is not putting a thumb on the scale of the data centers, and that's exactly what Mariannette Miller-Meeks has done.

Like I mentioned, she gave millions of dollars of tax breaks to the and the one big beautiful bill and got tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from them.

Okay?

But she also voted to ease regulations to make it easier for data centers to locate in our local communities over local objection.

And that put you in that game, aren't you, in fact, a little worried that there is this patchwork?

I mean, communities large and small are coming up with these regulations.

And let's be honest some of the smaller communities may not be able to come up with good regulations, so to speak, when it comes to these very large multibillion dollar companies.

I mean, what is the role of Congress in this?

Well, no, I'm not concerned at all.

I mean, I trust our local communities and the local people to know whether they want a data center located in their area.

I think that is a fundamental question of zonin and property use and, and and, you know, a regulation of, you know, how our resources are being used.

So I think it should be a local control issue.

The Republican Party used t care a lot about local control.

We haven't seen a bit of tha with Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

But I believe in local control.

I do want to make sure that those AI centers are not coming in and taking our water and our electricity and all of that.

I think that's important.

And I don't think tha we should have a representative who's actuall making that easier, to happen, and taking that local control away.

So, you know, I think it's very important that we, we regulate I do think there needs to be, regulation of AI, I think Congress should act on that.

And I do think that there needs to be a real safeguards put in place, for AI.

And that was what I was goin to ask next, of course, is the, the development of artificial intelligence, with, with right now AI developers kind of promising that they'll self-police.

What what do you see as the role of Congress?

I mean, what do you want to see when it comes to the future development, which is rapidly expanding, of artificial intelligence?

Yeah.

First of all, I don't, fundamentally thin that corporations should be left to police themselves, at all, whether it's AI or or something else.

I mean, I, you know, I want a business innovation.

I'm all for busines innovation and economic growth.

But there's also obviously a lot of room for corporate abuse that we have been seeing.

So I think that there needs to be some regulation.

And on the AI front, look, I mean, the corporations themselve are calling for this regulation.

I think that is remarkable when you think that most corporations don't want to be regulated at all.

And these companies are saying, we really need this.

So they are seeing some real dangers.

And I think they are they are very worrie about what their own technology is capable of.

And so that should be a huge flashing red sign right there.

So absolutely, Congress needs to take action on that.

Critics, bring up your 2021 vote in the Iowa legislature of the back, the blue bill, saying that you're soft on crime and that you don't support, law enforcement.

At the time you referred to that bill as really an overreaction, to what was going on nationwide.

Do you still believe that?

Well, so I support law enforcement.

I always have.

One of my biggest objections to that bill, which I said at the time, is tha that bill actually could result in the defunding of police which I strongly disagree with.

The bill took awa discretion from law enforcement.

It took away discretion from the law enforcement out there on the streets, on the ground, having to make decisions in real time and sai that they couldn't prioritize, you know, greater harms and that they had to take, certain kinds of actions on, you know, in response to what they were seeing.

I think that's wrong.

I trust law enforcemen to make decisions on the ground.

And that bill would have actually taken funding away from local law enforcement departments for exercising the kinds of discretion that they have always had, and that I really think that they need.

Do you think that IC should be defunded because of, what has been occurring over the last two years?

No, I don't think it should be defunded or abolished or anything like that.

But I do think that ICE needs to be accountable and professional, just like regular law enforcement.

I had, actually a coffee the other day with, several retired law enforcement who said that, you know, some of the actions that ICE has taken, are really reflecting badly on law enforcement generally.

And so I think some of the police are actually concerned about, you know, what's happening there.

So, look, they need to be professional.

They need to act according to the rule of law.

They can't be shooting, you know, American citizens in the streets.

But we do need, enforcement of our immigration laws.

If Democrats win control of the House and perhaps the Senate as well, there is a greater calls for, greater oversight of the Trump administration.

Hakeem Jeffrie saying that he expects a robust, investigation of the Trump administration.

Could that backfire politically?

Because we've seen what has happened with two past impeachment votes, that it didn't go anywhere.

Could the Democratic controlled Congress just be consumed with, Trump investigations?

I do not think that Congress should, become consumed with those kinds of investigations.

I think that, the American people, are struggling right now.

I think that Congress needs to focus.

Absolutely, first and foremos on reducing the cost of living, bringing down the cost of food, ending the Iran war.

If it's still going on by then, you know, we have to bring costs down for people, and we have to make sure that people have health care.

I've been hearing a lot about the health care crisis here.

Mariannette Miller-Meeks has just voted time and time again, to cut health care, to drive up the cost of health care, in way that are now shutting our rural hospitals and everything.

And so those are things that are going to be first and foremost for me.

I am not going to be focused on, you know, lots of investigations and things like that.

But if articles of impeachment were introduced, which is expected, of course, if Democrats were to take control.

Would you support that?

Oh, well, you know that that's that's a that's a way to premature question.

I mean, I would you know, I would have to loo at what they're talking about.

And if there really are impeachable offenses and things like that, you know, I would I would do my job and I would look at that very carefully.

But I am not going to be, you know, advocating for, those kinds of things.

And lastly, as you well know Eastern Iowa elections have been razor thin, very close.

Are you concerned at all about, the November elections as far as election security is concerned or intimidation of voters?

No, I really trust, Iowans and, you know, the people who ar in charge of our elections here.

I mean, the auditor's in Iowa, regardless of whether they're Democrat or Republican or independent, I think really take their job seriously and try to do a good job.

We have, you know, a lot of volunteers who are also overseeing those things and poll watchers and things like that.

I have been in this process, you know, many times here in Iowa, and I have a lo of trust and confidence in it.

Our thank to Democrat Christina Bohannan.

And we heard from Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks a week ago.

And we'll hear from Independent Michael Bridgford in an upcoming program.

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