Doctor-lawyer challenger targets Iowa Rep over Medicaid cuts in tight race

A science-focused Democratic PAC is spending heavily to portray Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks as responsible for costly Medicaid reductions as she seeks re-election in Iowa’s competitive House district.

In one of the nation’s closest House contests, the left-leaning 314 Action Fund is pouring $750,000 into a multi-platform attack on Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, arguing she has backed a Trump-signed bill that would cut $1 trillion from Medicaid over ten years. The campaign highlights her vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and notes she has received nearly $262,000 from the pharma and health-care sectors, according to Open Secrets.

Miller-Meeks, an ophthalmologist who first won office in 2019 by a margin of fewer than 800 votes, now confronts former Democratic state Rep. Christina Bohannan, an engineer and attorney, who emphasizes a health-care plan that preserves both Medicare and private insurance options. Republicans defend the legislation by pointing to a $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Fund aimed at bolstering rural hospitals, a measure Miller-Meeks helped advance.

The race is seen by 314 Action as pivotal for achieving a Democratic majority in Congress. The PAC’s president, Shaughnessy Naughton, framed the effort as a fight against a representative who has “betrayed her Hippocratic Oath.”