Miller-Meeks campaign says payment was ‘mistakenly’ made to son

A $3,500 payment from US Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ campaign to her son was a mistake, her campaign says—money that should have come from her personal account, not from campaign donors.

US Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks paid her son $3,500 from her campaign account for “consulting,” according to the most recent quarter’s campaign finance report. Twenty-two days later, her son, Jonathon Miller-Meeks, made a campaign contribution of the same amount to Miller-Meeks’ campaign. 

A spokesman for the campaign called the transfer a mistake. Her son was supposed to receive the payment from Miller-Meeks’ personal account, he said. But she transferred it from the campaign’s account by accident.

“Once identified, the funds were returned to the campaign. We filed a standard amendment to clarify that he has not been paid by the campaign,” the campaign wrote in a statement to Iowa Starting Line. 

The campaign filed an amended report to address the issue, but problems remain. The amendment process is standard procedure. But the amended report as of Friday evening erased the record of both the payment to and the contribution from Jonathon Miller-Meeks. The report can be amended again.

Federal regulation requires campaign reports to keep track of all disbursements made by or on behalf of the campaign. The US House Ethics Committee wrote in a 2024 memo that lawmakers must maintain detailed records when paying family members, including written contracts, logs of work performed, and documentation of fair market value. 

Rather than removing records of mistaken transfers, campaigns regularly keep track of refunds of contributions. The amended report recorded six refunds for the period. 

BREAKING: @millermeeks has REFILED and removed this line item from her disbursments

What the hell is going on here?https://t.co/lXQZ9nWSzZ https://t.co/1QP0nnttTO

— Dan Driscoll (@dan_driscoll11) October 17, 2025

Dan Driscoll, the campaign manager for Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan, wrote in a statement, “Iowans are finding out what Rep. Miler-Meeks is doing with the millions in campaign contributions she’s taking from Wall Street and the drug and insurance industries—illegally funneling it to her own family and then trying to cover it up when she gets caught. It’s no surprise from a Washington politician who has lost touch with Iowa—higher costs for Iowans and illegal payoffs for her own family.”

Using campaign funds for personal use is prohibited under the law. Campaign funds can be used to make salary payments to members of the candidate’s family if the family member provides a service to the campaign and the payment reflects the fair market value of those services. 

 

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Miller-Meeks represents one of the most competitive congressional districts in the country. Her 2024 reelection race was won by 799 votes. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has targeted Miller-Meeks over her support for President Donald Trump’s Medicaid cuts and for helping block an effort to force the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

While Republicans outraised Democrats in most of Iowa’s federal 2026 races, Bohannan outraised Miller-Meeks, $1 million to $806,731. While Bohannan has $1.6 million cash on hand, Miller-Meeks has $2.62 million, according to reports. 

There are two other Iowans running for the Democratic nomination in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District: Taylor Wettach and Travis Terrell. They raised $429,099 and $12,940, respectively.