‘It feels like a never-ending campaign’

Congresswoman-elect Mariannette Miller-Meeks was expecting a close race.

“Ultimately, we didn’t think it would be this close,” Miller-Meeks told Newton News of her six-vote, state-certified win against Democratic opponent Rita Hart, who has since chosen to petition the election results to the U.S. House Committee on House Administration — much to Republicans’ dismay.

“It feels like a never-ending campaign,” Miller-Meeks continued. “One of my children had said to me, ‘How many times have you won this race now?’”

By Miller-Meeks’ recollection, she was ahead on election night and at the completion of the formal all-county audit and the official canvass that was submitted to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office. Nearly every recount process found Miller-Meeks ahead in the race for Iowa’s second congressional district.

Shortly after Election Day, however, Miller-Meeks was behind Hart. The Jasper County Auditor’s Office admitted there was a clerical data entry error that over-reported election night results, which — at the time — swayed the race in Hart’s favor. Later, officials found ballots in a Lucas County precinct were uncounted.

Hart lost her standing. Miller-Meeks was back in the lead.

Certification from the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office is all the confirmation Miller-Meeks needs. Hart is not satisfied, suggesting not all legal votes have been counted. So now both candidates are awaiting the results of the petition, which Miller-Meeks told KCCI was a partisan move.

Today, she still feels that way and maintains that legal votes were counted.

“Rather than trusting Iowa voters and trusting Iowa courts and people who know Iowa law, she wants to change the rules after the election is over,” Miller-Meeks said. “We’ve already had an election night result, an official county canvass night result, we had a recount result.

The next step, Miller-Meeks added, is to appeal the process through the Iowa courts. To bypass the court system — which Hart suggested would not grant sufficient time to sort the matter — shows “a disregard and a disrespect of Iowa law and our election process.”

Both candidates knew what the timelines were going in to the election, Miller-Meeks said. Voters are putting themselves in her shoes, Miller-Meeks added, and take issue with Hart appealing to a legislative body that is controlled by Democrats, which she claimed don’t follow the rules of Iowa’s elections process.

Miller-Meeks said, “We don’t know what that process will be in the House, but we do know that I am the opposite party of the majority and that the House Committee on Administration and the House is predominantly Democrat. And there are primarily Democrats on this committee.”

If Hart had contested the election through the courts, Miller-Meeks said she would not see that as a partisan move. Republicans say Hart’s petition is attempting to disenfranchise Iowa voters. Others in the party questioned why U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gets to choose who Iowa votes for.

Pelosi is not on the U.S. House Committee on House Administration, but her status as House speaker — or as Miller-Meeks put it: the leader of the Democratic party — is enough for Republicans to cast doubt on the process.

“So I certainly think it’s fair to characterize this as a decision that will be guided by Nancy Pelosi,” Miller-Meeks said. “It’s not being guided by Iowans. Iowans voted. All the legal ballots were counted. All the legal ballots were recounted and, in some places, recounted several times.”

Miller-Meeks is ready to begin work as a congresswoman, including the establishment of openly available constituent services, determining district offices and hiring staff and case workers. She’s eager to set up her office in D.C. and working to distribute another COVID-19 relief package.

Miller-Meeks lamented that another round of stimulus checks was not sent in September, particularly for those who own small businesses or remain unemployed because of the economic struggles caused by the coronavirus. She also wants to make sure there is enough funding for PPE for testing purposes.

Also on her to-do list is maintaining rural broadband support, which was pursued by her predecessor, Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack. Miller-Meeks said it’s nice to already have some legislation in place and ideas to work on to better Iowa’s broadband services.

As a state senator, Miller-Meeks was focused on prescription drug prices, which has a fair amount of bipartisan support. She said this issue will continue to be a focus of hers as a congressional candidate. The Iowa delegation is also in support of renewable fuels for the agricultural economy.

Miller-Meeks is also keeping her eye on small businesses.

“These small businesses — through no fault of their own — are suffering and sacrificing,” she said. “Every week I get emails or phone calls from people whose small business is faltering and they don’t know if they’re going to be able to make it to the end of year. And that’s a tragedy.”

Not only are the employees at risk but the small business owners who’ve taken a risk and work 16 to 20 hours a day to get their establishment up and running. While the government is trying to protect its people, small businesses may end up failing through no fault of their own because economic pressures.

“We should be doing something to help these individuals,” Miller-Meeks said. “We should get beyond ‘Who’s the president?’ to ‘How do we help the American citizens? How do we help Iowans?’ and advocate for that regardless of who the president is.”

President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated in January. Under a Biden administration, Miller-Meeks said she’s going to do the same thing she did as a senator for Iowa’s 41st district (when there were Republicans in the majority): use the Golden Rule, which is to treat others as she wants to be treated.

“I think if you treat people with respect and dignity and you’re willing to engage in conversation and dialogue you can achieve a great deal,” Miller-Meeks said. “I also think I went in with this very pragmatic viewpoint (as a senator in the majority party) … If you try to keep that pragmatic, common sense principle in the back of your mind, then you can conduct your affairs appropriately.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com