Christina Bohannan calls for recount of ‘razor-thin’ Iowa congressional race

Democrat Christina Bohannan is calling for a recount of all 20 counties in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District.

There is an 800-vote margin that separates Republican US Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa and Democrat Christina Bohannan of Iowa City. Over 414,000 people voted in the election. And a 0.2 percentage point margin sets the two apart. 

For Miller-Meeks, history is repeating itself. In 2020, the election that earned her a seat in Congress, Miller-Meeks had just 282 votes separating her from Democrat Rita Hart of Clinton. During a grueling recount, tabulation errors and unrun ballots were discovered in Jasper and Scott counties. And in the end, Miller-Meeks margin of victory was just 6 votes: the contents of a minivan decided a federal election.

Once again, in a race described as “too-close-call” in 2020 and this year, Miller-Meeks has declared victory. And once again her opponent—this time Bohannan—is calling for a recount. 

“To be absolutely certain that every voter is heard, the Bohannan campaign will request a recount in all 20 counties across the district, as permitted by Iowa law,” Bohannan’s campaign manager Jindalae Suh said in a statement. “We have full trust in this process and will accept the results regardless of the outcome. All Iowans should feel confident that at the conclusion of this transparent, precinct-level recount process, every lawful vote will be counted and reported accurately.”

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Mike Marinella weighed in with a statement saying Bohannan needed to concede or claim the title of “election denier.” His party just elected a president who still denies the outcome of the 2020 election. He pointed to her loss in 2022 saying “Iowa voters continue to reject her.” His email did not mention Miller-Meeks’ four congressional losses against former-US Rep. Dave Loebsack, a Democrat, in 2008, 2010, and 2014.

As was true in 2020, a recount of a district tends to find ballots for both candidates. Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller, who worked on the Johnson County recount with Miller-Meeks in 2020, told Iowa Starting Line that the 800-vote hill is close to “insurmountable.” 

Listen to the full conversation on Cornhole Champions, a podcast powered by Iowa Starting Line.

“The point is, if there are errors in a county—let’s say the county is 50-50, divided equally among Republicans and Democrats—then the errors are typically going to be equally distributed,” Muller said. “So if you find 10 votes for the Republican, you’re probably also going to find 10 votes for the Democrat. So as you go through a recount, you would need to find some systematic errors that are consistently helping one candidate over another.”

Counts done by an automatic ballot counting machine must be recounted using the same equipment. Iowa Code does allow for campaigns to contest the results in cases where errors are discovered. That could allow for a hand count. 

This story was updated with comment from the National Republican Congressional Committee’s statement.