Christina Bohannan stops by Mt. Pleasant ahead of general election

MT. PLEASANT — With the general election just around the corner, congressional candidate Christina Bohannan dropped by the Mt. Pleasant Noon Rotary meeting last week to share some of her reasons for running.

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Former Iowa State Representative of the 85th District from 2021-2023 and current University of Iowa Law Professor, Christina Bohannan’s name will once again appear alongside Mariannette Miller-Meeks on the ballot this November as she runs against the Republican congresswoman for the U.S. Congressional District 1 seat.

“I'm running for Congress, but I was not always into the politics, though,” Bohannan shared. “You know, I grew up in a family that was very much political outsiders. We never heard the words Republican or Democrat, if you can believe that these days. My family never talked politics, and they never voted.”

According to Bohannan, she began to think about politics much differently after her hardworking father fell ill. She told the Rotarians how her father lost his insurance and they lost much of their financial stability.

“Everybody has a health care story, you know. And so that's become a really big issue,” she said.

While health care greatly influenced Bohannan, she stated that her main reason for running for office is because she believes that the country’s politics “are broken.” Labeling herself as a moderate Democrat, Bohannan spoke at length about her desire to work across party lines and focus less on the “left and right” and more on the “right and wrong.” She further stated that she feels party politics get in the way of what people really need.

One example of Bohannan teetering the line between the left and right came to light as she discussed gun control during a question-and-answer segment of her visit.

“I know happens, especially kind of on the National Democratic stuff, is that a lot of people in our small towns and rural areas are worried that Democrats want to take all their guns away,” Bohannan said. “I am not going to take their guns away. I am a gun owner myself. My dad gave me my gun. It was one of the last things that he gave me before he died. I grew up shooting. I do target practice. I went hunting, you know, all of those kinds of things.”

Bohannan explained that she supports the Second Amendment, and she believes that the government can protect both the rights of lawful fun owners as well as maintain public safety. Her ideas included appropriate background checks for violent criminal records, domestic abuse records, and mental health issues in order to not infringe on the rights of lawful fun owners, “who are using it for hunting and self-defense, but keeping then out of the hands of people who really shouldn’t have them and who mean to do harm with them.” She also specifically addressed the importance of checking on mental health concerning gun ownership with consideration for suicide prevention.

Bohannan additionally outlined her commitment to not playing party politics as she stated that she was “one of the only democrats in Iowa who said Biden should step aside and not run.”

“I got in a lot of hot water with the Democrats for that, but it was absolutely the right thing to do, not just for our party, but for the country,” she said. “you have to be willing to do that. You have to be willing to stand up to your own party, not just, you know, the other side, right?”

One of Bohannan’s only direct comments about her opponent Miller-Meeks did not concern their differing parties, but instead putting people first, and how to do that best. Bohannan stated that Miller-Meeks voting aligned very closely with her primary donors, which she claimed included big pharmaceuticals.

“My fundraising is largely scraping from individuals who have very firm caps on how much they can give politically, and then you get special interests who will pour millions of dollars in here to change our elections in Iowa,” Bohannan said. “These people couldn't pick Iowa out on a map if their lives depended on it.”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com