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Miller-Meeks visits Fairfield on Election Day
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield Women’s Club hosted its Election Day Soup and Pie Luncheon on Tuesday, Nov. 5, just as it has for over a quarter century.
A special guest attended the event at the McElhinny House, and that was U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Miller-Meeks was in the midst of a busy day of campaigning for re-election to represent Iowa’s District 1 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Miller-Meeks and her opponent, Democrat Christina Bohannan, were in one of the tightest races that day that wasn’t decided until late Wednesday morning when Washington County announced its results.
Miller-Meeks was leading by just over 400 votes at the end of the day Tuesday, 203,899 to Bohannan’s 203,486, but that margin grew after she won Washington County comfortably 6,615 to 4,705. Bohannan had the edge in Jefferson County, which she won with 4,181 votes (51 percent) to Miller-Meeks’ 3,954 (48 percent).
During her stop in Fairfield, Miller-Meeks said she likes to attend community events, and had eaten meals at the McElhinny House before.
“It’s a beautiful place,” she said. “I thought it would be great to come support it. It’s one of the lovely, historic fixtures in Fairfield.”
Miller-Meeks began her day with a radio interview in Fort Madison, had breakfast in Davenport, then stopped in Tipton and Iowa City before coming to Fairfield for lunch. She planned to visit Pella that afternoon for door-knocking before ending the day at the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort for an election watch party.
Miller-Meeks said the issues she’s heard the most about from voters on the campaign trail have been high prices at the grocery store, interest rates, and the border.
“People are concerned about crime, and a lot of people are concerned about boys participating in girls’ sports,” she said. “Farmers will ask me about China buying farmland, and they’re concerned about how that would affect Iowa, so I reassure them that we have a bill that prohibits that.”
Miller-Meeks said the lunch was delicious, and that she got a half-ladle of beef stew and of cheesy potato. The soup and pie gave her energy to finish the day strong.
“I feel like medical school prepared me for where I am,” Miller-Meeks said of the grueling campaign.
Members of the Fairfield Women’s Club said they served 245 meals that day, including 85 eat-ins and carry-outs, and 160 deliveries.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
