Republican “Get Out the Vote” Rally Held in Sigourney

SIGOURNEY – On Nov. 1, Republicans Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Mike Naig, Adrian Dickey and Helena Hayes spoke at a “Get Out the Vote” rally at Barn Wired in Sigourney, encouraging local voters to vote Republican in the then upcoming election.

During her speech, Miller-Meeks claimed that her opponent, Christina Bohannan, was only campaigning in Johnson County, because she and her party didn’t care about rural Iowa farmers. The News-Review has records of Miller-Meeks visiting Keokuk County three times this year: at the Sigourney Community Center on June 10, at the Sigourney Cafe on Aug. 12, and that morning’s visit to Barn Wired. At the Barn Wired meeting, the News-Review spoke with one of the congresswoman’s staffers, who confirmed this was her third visit. During the same year, Bohannan visited the county four times: at the Sigourney Senior Center on April 3, at a roundtable with educators in Keswick on June 5, at Belva Deer Park on Aug. 15, and at the Jerry B. Robinson Child Care Center in Richland on Sept. 13.

Miller-Meeks claimed Democrats were sending out fake mailers, lying about her positions, as “retribution” for her winning in 2020. “They’re trying to obscure, they’re trying to distract, they’re trying to run away from their own record and the issues and crisis they created, and they’re trying to suppress the Republican vote and the independent vote that would vote Republican...The Democrats are trying to lie and buy their way into the White House,” said Miller-Meeks.

The congresswoman blamed Democrats for inflation, immigration, wars in Ukraine and Palestine, crime rates and fentanyl, claiming Republicans would be tougher on immigration and better for small businesses. “My opponent, when she was asked by the Cedar Rapids Gazette what were the two most important issues in this campaign, do you know what she said?..Abortion and education, two state issues,” said Miller Meeks. “Maybe she’s running for the wrong office. Maybe she’s a little bit confused. What are the two most important issues to me? The border and the economy.”

Miller-Meeks dismissed the concept of price gouging, a practice where companies use a crisis, like inflation or a pandemic, as an excuse to increase prices more than they have to in the name of profit. Many prominent Democrats, including presidential candidate Kamala Harris, have pointed to this as one of the primary reasons for higher prices. Miller-Meeks claimed that it was “common sense” that price gouging didn’t exist, instead claiming high prices are solely caused by inflation, which she claimed was solely caused by large spending bills promoted by the Biden administration. The congresswoman claimed that there was no price gouging during the Trump administration, which included the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, because companies were too afraid of Trump to raise prices.

“Just like I’ve done for the past four years, I will continue to represent you, because this election is not about me. Whether I win or lose, it’s not about me. This election is about you. Now, to the Democrats, this election is about They/Them!” said the congresswoman.

Prior to Miller-Meeks’s speech, there were speeches from Iowa Representative Helena Hayes, who is running unopposed, Iowa Senator Adrian Dickey, who is running against Independent Lisa Ossian, and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, who is not running for reelection. Hayes claimed that, in this election, Americans are facing “two diverging groups of ideas.” She stated she is appalled that Americans aren’t going down a “central lane of real, basic common sense.” Dickey repeated a story of him repeatedly driving up to the Des Moines VA to force them to put up an American flag. He said his opponent had accused him of using the American flag as a prop and called the accusation “disgusting.” Naig noted how important every vote is, pointing out that Miller-Meeks only won in 2020 by six votes, and stated that the rural, “reasonable” parts of the state have to overcome more urban areas like Johnson County.

In a Q and A after Miller-Meeks’s speech, Naig was asked by a man in attendance if he supported the building of the Summit CO2 Pipeline. The man stated he had asked the same question to Governor Reynolds, who refused to answer. Secretary Naig gave a wishy-washy answer, saying it was really a question if eminent domain should be used, and it should be discussed by the legislature. He stated that eminent domains should be rare and that there should be limits on its use, but also that the state shouldn’t close the door on using it for a pipeline. He noted that the pipeline was being built to support the ethanol industry, and that half of Iowa’s corn was used for ethanol, but stated it wasn’t the only answer. He stated he wasn’t all for or all against the pipeline and wanted to have a balanced conservation about it.

Miller-Meeks was asked about Project 2025, a set of policy proposals published by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that has worked closely with the Republican party in the past. The proposal has been criticized by legal scholars as a blueprint to transform the United States into a Christrian nationalist autocracy by undermining separation of powers, separation of church and state, and civil liberties. Miller-Meeks claimed she didn’t know anything about the proposal until it was mentioned in congress and claimed that Donald Trump wouldn’t implement Project 2025. She did not say if she supported the proposal.

Miller-Meeks stated that, once Trump is elected, Republicans need to take complete control of the government and replace longstanding federal employees with ones who want to implement Trump’s goals. The mass replacement of federal employees and political appointees with Trump loyalists is one of the key goals outlined by Project 2025.

Miller-Meeks was asked if she supported term limits. She stated that she did, until 2010, when she was appointed as the Iowa Director of Public Health. She claimed that she had overheard a few of her staff members, who disliked her, saying that it was okay that she had been appointed, because she would only be around for a few years and they could wait her out. Miller-Meeks claimed that there needed to be term limits, not for members of congress, but rather for ordinary government employees, who are not elected and currently do not serve for terms.