Congressional primary candidates pit party values against general election chances

Voters head into Des Moines Precinct 16 at the Northwest Community Center to vote on Nov. 3, 2020. (Photo by Jim Obradovich for Iowa Capital Dispatch)

As the June 4 primary approaches, Iowa voters in three of the state’s four congressional districts will decide races to choose party nominees.

Iowa Republicans won big in the 2022 midterms: The entirety of Iowa’s federal congressional delegation is currently Republican. While there are Democratic candidates planning to challenge GOP incumbents in all four districts, only one district — Iowa’s 3rd — has a Democratic primary race, between Democrats Lanon Baccam and Melissa Vine.

The other two primary congressional races are Republican candidates challenging incumbent representatives. While Vine and Baccam have argued that Iowans are seeking a less conservative representative in Washington, D.C., Republicans David Pautsch in Iowa’s 1st District and Kevin Virgil in the 4th District are arguing that Iowa’s Republican delegation members are not conservative enough. The challengers are pointing to incumbents’ votes alongside Democrats and claiming they are focusing on outside interests instead of voters’ wants.

However, incumbent candidates have emphasized voters’ focus needs to remain on the general election.

What to know about primary elections in Iowa

Primaries in Iowa are closed, meaning that voters must register as a member of the party to participate. Outside of declaring a party, no other rules are different for registering to vote in the primary election. The state allows same-day voter registration, allowing Iowans to register when they go to the polls, as well as allowing early voter registration online or through a form to be returned to their local county auditor’s office.

Registering requires proof of ID and proof of residence, provided through IDs like an an Iowa driver’s license or U.S. passport. If an ID does not contain the voter’s current address, they must bring a document like a piece of mail or residential lease containing their name and current address. If an Iowan does not have this documentation, another registered voter from the same precinct can attest for the Iowan attempting to register to vote, with false attesting or registrations punishable as felony offenses.

To qualify to vote, a person must be an Iowa resident, U.S. citizen and age 18 by the general election, Nov. 5. Iowans can check their voter registration status on the Iowa secretary of state’s website , as well as their polling location for the primary election.

Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day. Early voting currently underway. Absentee ballots are required to be received by the voter’s county auditor’s office by the time polls close to be eligible.

1st District: Miller-Meeks emphasizes general election chances, Pautsch calls for greater focus on conservative values

U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks won her first election to the U.S. House in 2020, then representing Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, by a razor-thin margin of six votes . That result lead to an extended challenge of her place in Congress by her Democratic opponent, Rita Hart, now the Iowa Democratic Party chair, before Hart withdrew her claim .

While Miller-Meeks won by a greater margin in the 2022 election – this time serving in Iowa’s 1st District following redistricting – her time on the campaign trail leading into the primary has been emphasizing the need for a Republican candidate who can win the seat in a general election.

At the Iowa Republican convention, the representative told Iowans that she was the only GOP candidate who would be able to keep the district red. While political forecasters like Cook Political Report have labeled the race as leaning “likely Republican,” Miller-Meeks warned that some polls show Democrats having a slight lead on generic ballots. The southeastern district includes traditionally Democratic areas of the state like Iowa City and Davenport.

“Iowa District 1 is the only district on a generic ballot that would vote for a Democrat over Republican,” she said. “But in a head-to-head, name-to-name poll, I beat my Democrat opponent by ten points. I spent over a decade of my treasury, my talent and my time to flip this district. And if you think I’m going to let it go back into Democrat hands, you must believe Hillary Clinton when she said she had nothing to do with Benghazi.”

But Republican David Pautsch has argued that Miller-Meeks has conceded too much ground to Democrats. The GOP challenger said Miller-Meeks, alongside all of Iowa’s congressional delegation, have betrayed Republican priorities by voting for measures like the $95 million foreign military aid package to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan .

“They just want to keep the majority,” Pautsch said at a Jefferson County Republicans meeting, according to Iowa Public Radio . “At some point of time, they have to get to the point where they say, you know, the message is more important than the majority.”

At the convention, Pautsch was critical of House Republicans for not using their political power to put more pressure on the Democrat-led Senate and Biden administration to advance conservative priorities.

“Congress understands its political suicide to shut down government,” Pautsch said. “… but it’s getting to the point where we need to shut down the government, we need to get this stuff stopped and solved.”

Pautsch has also highlighted the differences between his and Miller-Meeks’ stances on a number of issues, hosting a page on his campaign website showing the incumbent representative’s support for bills on same-sex marriage and a spending bill that included a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for people serving in the military. He also included multiple notes of Miller-Meeks’ support for certifying the presidential election in 2020, when Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump, and her participation in the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Pautsch has emphasized his connection to Trump while campaigning, pointing to a Davenport event where Trump met with supporters and called Pautsch “a very good man.” Trump has not endorsed either candidate ahead of the June primary.

Pautsch, a political outsider, has run the Quad-Cities Prayer Breakfast since 1995, is an Army veteran and founder and owner of a marketing consulting business.

According to Federal Election Commission filings, he has raised $28,205 in the most recent reporting period, as well as the election cycle to date, and has $7,865 on hand. Miller-Meeks ended the same period with more than $1.7 million in campaign funds, having raised $378,901 in the current period and more than $2.6 million in the overall election cycle.

The primary winner will face Democrat Christina Bohannan, who outraised Miller-Meeks in the most recent filing with $820,981. Miller-Meeks pointed to the fundraising numbers as a reason why Republicans should support her in the primary, saying her candidacy was the best way to keep the seat in Republican control.

3rd District: Baccam, Vine compete to take on incumbent Rep. Zach Nunn in potential toss-up

Two Democrats in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District are competing for the chance to flip the seat back to blue. In 2022, former U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, the Democrat first elected to the seat in 2018, lost to U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn in a 49.6%-50.3% vote in the 2022 election.

Democrats Lanon Baccam and Melissa Vine are competing to challenge Nunn for that seat. While the seat is rated “leans Republican” by the Cook Political Report, the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has named the seat as a focus for the upcoming election season as a potential pick-up in the Republican-majority House.

In the lead-up to the primary, Baccam has emerged as a more traditional Democratic candidate while Vine is coming in as a newer face to politics. He served in the military, worked for the Iowa state government, on Biden’s Iowa campaign, and most recently at the U.S. Department of Agriculture under former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.

Vine, executive director of The Beacon, a nonprofit home for women in crisis, recently graduated from Drake University Law School in addition to having started multiple small businesses in the past.

Baccam has seen significant financial support for his campaign, raising $901,528 from Jan. 1 through March 31 — higher than Nunn’s $524,270 in the same period. However, Nunn still remains ahead in overall fundraising this cycle at $2.97 million and in cash on hand with $1.8 million, in comparison to Baccam’s $1.4 million total raised and $1.1 million in cash. Vine raised $68,445 in the reporting period, and $121,119 in the election cycle.

Endorsements have been a point of contention ahead of the Democratic primary: Vine and her former campaign manager Lou McDonald were each fined $500, the maximum amount, by the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board in May for making contributions to the Iowa Unity Coalition, a state PAC, under other individuals’ names in an effort to influence the organization’s endorsement vote.

The group required individuals to pay at least $20 to the PAC to participate in the online endorsement vote. An investigation by the board found that McDonald, with the knowledge of Vine, attempted to register more than 100 people for the endorsement vote by making contributions using his personal credit card, violating state law that bans people from making contributions or expenditures in the name of another person. Vine and McDonald both said they did not knowingly violate state campaign finance laws.

Further action may be taken on the Vine campaign’s action, either by state law enforcement or the Federal Elections Commission.

Baccam received endorsements from Vilsack and Iowa Auditor Rob Sand, the only Democrat to currently hold statewide elected office, as well as support from the DCCC and several unions and Democratic political groups, including the Iowa Unity Coalition. Vine has been endorsed by Iowa Reps. Molly Buck and Melissa Wilson, as well as several Iowa health care professionals .

While there has been significant focus on the ethics complaint, Vine has emphasized on the campaign trail that she is the best candidate to represent Iowa’s 3rd District as the single mother of four sons.

In one ad, her sons call for support of their mother’s campaign as a means to advance policies that positively impact Iowa families.

“More moms means more people voting for people to protect reproductive freedoms, not strip them away like Zach Nunn,” her son Sam said in the video.

Vine called for codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law on “day one” if elected, she told the Des Moines Register, in addition to calling for a greater understanding of the “impact of banning abortion” in contributing to the shortage of OB-GYNs and maternal health care professionals in Iowa.

Baccam has said that he would “do everything to restore the rights found under Roe v. Wade,” criticizing Nunn for voting for legislation he said could threaten access to in-vitro fertilization, as well as for voting in favor of a version of Iowa’s six-week abortion ban similar to the measure currently under consideration in the state Supreme Court .

“These are positions that are out of step with where Iowans are,” Baccam said on WHO13 . “Iowans are ready for someone who shares the positions I do.”

4th District: Virgil challenges Feenstra on pipelines, corporate interests

In Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, Rep. Randy Feenstra, the GOP incumbent, is facing challenger Kevin Virgil in the primary.

Feenstra took office in 2021, defeating former Rep. Steve King in the 2020 Republican primary. While King had represented northwest Iowa, a longtime conservative stronghold, in Congress for more than a decade, he came under heavy criticism for comments related to rape, racism and immigration leading up to the election.

Feenstra, a former state senator, is seeking a third term in office. In the months leading up to the primary election, Feenstra has emphasized his track record of voting for conservative measures in the House. He said his priorities have been finding solutions to rising inflation – a trend he linked to high government spending — supporting Iowa farmers through opposition to Biden administration measures like recent Waters of the U.S., or WOTUS, regulation and calling for heightened security along the U.S.-Mexico border.

But Virgil claims Feenstra has fallen short of bringing true conservative values to the office.

“You need to have legislators that respect the Constitution, and I’m sad to say that the 4th District does not have that right now,” Virgil said.

Virgil has not held political office but has worked in the Washington, D.C., area for several years as part of a data analytics company he cofounded following his time in the military and CIA. In returning to Iowa, Virgil said he was a better fit for representing the deep-red congressional district, criticizing Feenstra for supporting corporate interests over Iowans’ during his time in office.

As a representative, Feenstra voted for the expansion of carbon capture pipeline tax credits – a measure that could impact routes planned to go through Iowa and involve the use of eminent domain. Virgil named Feenstra as supporting Bruce Rastetter, an agricultural executive heavily involved in the Summit Agriculture Group’s pipeline project planned to go through Iowa.

Feenstra did not respond to requests for comment on pipelines at a Thursday forum hosted by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, but implied that opposition to carbon capture pipeline projects do not make sense, as pipelines like the Summit proposal could benefit Iowa. He said pipeline opponents are environmental advocates seeking to “destroy agriculture.”

While Feenstra has the backing of Iowa’s congressional delegation – his fellow Republican representatives and Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst – as well as Gov. Kim Reynolds, Virgil has accumulated some high-profile endorsements, including King and former 2024 Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Leading into the primary, Feenstra has vastly outraised his opponent, with more than $818,000 raised in first quarter of 2024 and more than $3 million in the election cycle so far, according to FEC reports. Virgil has raised $42,560 total – all within the most recent reporting period – and has $7,608 in cash on hand, in comparison to Feenstra having more than $2 million.

The winner of the primary will most likely face Democrat Ryan Melton in the general election. Melton also ran as a Democrat in the 4th District race in the 2022 midterms, losing to Feenstra with 30.4% of the vote.

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