We’re checking back in on one of the most vulnerable GOP seats in the entire country.
GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District
We’re checking back in on one of the most vulnerable GOP seats in the entire country: Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, where Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks has barely hung on to power three elections in a row. It’s long overdue to flip blue, and the momentum is on our side.
Last year, she won by just 799 votes—the slimmest GOP House victory of 2024. Donald Trump carried the district by 8 points, yet Miller-Meeks barely squeaked by. And the first time she ran, she won by just 6 votes.
This year, she’s made herself even more politically toxic. She championed Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says will strip health care from 21,554 people in her district.
While her constituents are demanding answers, she’s refused to hold town halls—saying she’d hold one “When hell freezes over.”
That’s a political ad waiting to write itself. And it’s 21,544 voters who won’t forget that she ripped their health care away and refused to face them. In a district this close, we’ll only need a few hundred of those voters to flip this seat.
With the right early investments and organizing, this race is winnable—and the momentum is already shifting our way:
- Democrats flipped a state Senate seat within this district earlier this year.
- Miller-Meeks is facing a primary challenge from the right, which means she’ll be burning through campaign cash just to survive her own party—opening the door for Democrats to gain ground.
- New polling shows Miller-Meeks’ approval rating underwater, and that Democrats can win this race in a head-to-head contest.
To flip this seat—and the House—to Democrats, we need to invest early across all 22 of Swing Left’s target districts: the most flippable red seats and the must-hold blue ones that will decide control of Congress.
That’s why Swing Left is laying the groundwork right now—raising money for the eventual Democratic nominees to give them the edge they need to win in 2026.
Will you split a donation of $25 between Swing Left and all 22 of our House candidate funds, including the one in Iowa’s 1st District, to help flip the House back to Democrats?
Donate $25 Now
Races like this show just how much your support matters. When elections are decided by a few hundred votes, we have the power to change the outcome.
Together, we can flip this seat—and the House along with it.
Thank you for everything you do,
The Swing Left Team
