<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>DAVENPORT, Iowa —</strong> House Speaker <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/mike-johnson/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) praised Rep. <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/4711913/vulnerable-iowa-republican-revives-bill-cap-insulin-price-35-month/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mariannette Miller-Meeks</a> (R-IA) as a key peacemaker in the House Republican Conference during a stump speech for her reelection campaign in Iowa.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Mariannette is one of the handful of people who can walk into a room when it’s very contentious, calm everybody down, get them together,” Johnson said. “It is an essential skill set in this historic moment we’re in, OK? I got to have her.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Johnson spoke to a crowd of supporters at the Davenport, Iowa, headquarters for the reelection campaign of Miller-Meeks, whose 2024 race was noted as one of the tightest elections in the country.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Miller-Meeks, who was first sworn in to Congress in 2019, defeated former Iowa state Rep. Christiana Bohannan by fewer than 800 votes in 2024. The two candidates are set to compete again on November 3, with early voting beginning on Wednesday.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Iowa is a significant state in the 2026 midterm elections, with four House races leaning toward Democrats. Losing that many seats could result in Republicans losing control of the House.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Johnson mentioned that analysts estimate the contest between Miller-Meeks and Bohannan will involve close to $50 million in spending by both parties.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Bohannan currently holds a slight polling advantage over Miller-Meeks in the competitive district in eastern Iowa. Both Miller-Meeks and Johnson expressed skepticism about the accuracy of polling data.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I don’t care what the experts say,” Miller-Meeks stated. “They don’t know Iowa, and they don’t know us.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Protesters outside the event criticized both Miller-Meeks and Johnson for supporting a nearly $1 trillion reduction in <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate/4661555/big-beautiful-bill-medicaid-reforms-republican-pushback/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Medicaid</a> spending over the next decade as part of the <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/the-big-beautiful-bill/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">One Big Beautiful Bill Act</a> in 2025.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Kate Pence, 72, from Eldridge, Iowa, reported being denied entry into the rally despite registering in advance.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“What they’ve been doing to healthcare is criminal,” Pence said.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Miller-Meeks defended the Republican bill, stating it “strengthened and preserved Medicaid for those who need it” by preventing illegal immigrants from exploiting the program and implementing work requirements for able-bodied adults.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Every dollar that goes to waste or fraud in Medicaid is a dollar that doesn’t go to a child,” Miller-Meeks said. “It’s a dollar that doesn’t go to a pregnant woman, and it’s a dollar that doesn’t go to a senior citizen or someone with disabilities.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Approximately <a href="https://disabilityrightsiowa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Medicaid-Matters-2nd-District.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">20% of Iowans</a>, or 700,000 people, rely on Medicaid, the partially federally funded insurance program for low-income adults and children. The state’s Medicaid program also covers nearly 40% of births.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Miller-Meeks played a key role in advancing the Rural Health Transformation Fund in the OBBBA, which allocates $50 billion for upgrading rural health systems nationwide over the next five years. Iowa is expected to receive about <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-welcomes-historic-investment-in-iowa-rural-health-care-from-republicans-working-family-tax-cuts-law" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">$209 million in the first year</a> of the program, with a potential total of up to $1 billion through 2030.</p>
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<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Sue Dasvich, 69, a retired physician from Iowa City who protested the event, stated that the funding from the rural health program will not sufficiently cover costs and will be “devastating for Iowa.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“It doesn’t add up for Iowa,” Dasvich said.</p>