Hart concedes U.S. House race

Nearly five months after Election Day, the race for Iowa's 2nd Congressional District is over.

On Wednesday afternoon, Democrat Rita Hart withdrew her election contest after months of asking Congress to investigate U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks' six-vote win.

'After many conversations with people I trust about the future of this contest, I have made the decision to withdraw my contest before the House Committee on Administration,” Hart said in a statement. 'Since Election Day, and throughout this entire process, my mission has been about ensuring the voices of Iowans who followed the law are not silenced. I am saddened that some Iowans' votes will not count through no fault of their own. The work of ensuring it does not happen again will continue beyond this campaign.”

Hart offered well wishes to Miller-Meeks in her statement.

'I wish Mariannette Miller-Meeks all the best as she serves the people of this great state as congresswoman,” Hart said. 'This has been a difficult process for all of those involved, and it's incredibly important that we work together to reform the system so this does not happen again in the future.”

Miller-Meeks was arriving at a vaccination clinic at the Washington County Department of Public Health in Washington around 3 p.m. when she heard the news from a staffer.

'I just heard the news as I came up,” Miller-Meeks said. 'I said, ‘I have to call my husband.'

'I called my husband, and I didn't know if he was still on the phone. I think he was crying.”

She was congratulated by Washington County Public Health Director Danielle Pettit-Majewski, director of nursing Karri Fisher and county Supervisor Jack Seward Jr. as she arrived at the Public Health office.

Miller-Meeks called the end of the contest 'a tremendous relief.”

She expressed her gratitude to Hart for making the decision to drop the contest.

'I've been in that position, and I know how difficult this is, but I also think for the state of Iowa, for election integrity and confidence in our election systems that she did the right thing,” Miller-Meeks said. 'This is something that should be decided in state by state law, which has been my contention all along.”

Hart had contested that legally cast ballots were not counted in the final results that were certified by the state.

Her campaign appealed to the U.S. House Committee on Administration to review the results with the ballots in question, a move the Miller-Meeks campaign fought hard against.

'When her attorney filed his paperwork saying that the committee should use its full discretion to depart from Iowa law, that should send up a red flag for everybody,” Miller-Meeks said Wednesday. 'States, by the Constitution, manage and conduct elections. We have election laws in place, so we all know the rules when we go into a campaign and into the election. It's important that we know the rules and follow the rules.”

Miller-Meeks acknowledged that the election results show an evenly divided district.

'We are about as evenly divided as you can get,” she said. 'For those people who supported me, it's a relief and validation for them. For those who did not support me, I will truly work hard to be a congresswoman for everybody in the 2nd District.”