Mariannette Miller-Meeks
Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks — certified as the winner of Iowa’s second congressional district race on Monday — is in Washington today, getting the orientation that all new members of Congress receive.
“I’m happy and ready to get to work for the people of Iowa,” she says.
Miller-Meeks was 282 votes ahead of Democrat Rita Hart the day after the election, but after a district-wide recount, her winning margin wound up being just six votes.
“I think anybody would feel the same way, that it was very much like being on a roller coaster,” Miller-Meeks says. “There were ups and downs. It was gut-wrenching. I’m glad that that process is behind us.”
Miller-Meeks, an eye doctor, is a former director of the Iowa Department of Public Health. She says she’d like to serve on a committee where she can use that experience with the health care system.
“There are certainly places where we can have influence and we can achieve things in regards to getting through this pandemic and preparing for the next one,” Miller-Meeks says. “…Also on health care, pricing of prescription drugs is, I think, very important.”
Improving America’s infrastructure should be a priority, she says.
“I think there is an appetite to pass an infrastructure bill, which we know that we need,” Miller-Meeks says. “Roads, bridges, locks, dams, broadband.”
Rita Hart, the Democrat who ran against Miller-Meeks, has until the close of business today to file a court challenge in hopes of sparking another recount of ballots in the second district race. Hart’s campaign has said based on the rules for conducting the recount, there may be legally cast ballots that were not included in the final tally state officials certified on Monday.
(Reporting by Joe Lancello, KBOE, Oskaloosa)