Eight days.
That’s how close we are to Election Day.
This morning we revisit the Iowa Congressional race to replace Democrat Dave Loebsack.
Democrat Rita Hart wants to keep the seat for her party.
She has to hold off Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
Hart ran unopposed in the primary.
Miller-Meeks won a competitive primary for the Republicans.
Hart enjoys a big financial advantage. She had almost $1 million in cash on hand at the end of September — more than double Miller-Meeks, who has close to $400,000.
We spoke to Hart last week on 4 The Record; Miller-Meeks got her turn this week.
She was born in Northern California, but raised mostly in Texas.
Miller-meeks got her bachelor’s degree in nursing at Texas Christian University.
She enlisted in the Army and became an Army nurse, got her master’s in education from the University of Southern California.
Miller-Meeks then went to medical school at the University of Texas, where she became a doctor.
Her specialty is ophthalmology.
Miller-Meeks spent her residency at the University of Iowa.
She taught at the University of Michigan’s medical school, then taught at the University of Iowa.
Miller-Meeks served as Iowa’s Director of Public Health from 2011 to 2014 and is not new to politics.
She ran for Congress three times before against Dave Loebsack and lost every time — in 2008, 2010 and 2014.
She won a seat in the Iowa State Senate two years ago.
Miller-Meeks is focused on a fourth try for Congress.
I spoke with her at length on Thursday, beginning with the pandemic.
One of the things she’s campaigning on is her experience as Iowa’s Director of Public Health and how that puts you in a good position to help respond to the pandemic.
Iowa has one of the worst positivity rates for the coronavirus in the country.
Miller-Meeks discussed how she evaluates Iowa’s response to the crisis, what changes she thinks the state should make to its approach and if she’s worried the hospital and medical care system could be bogged down by the latest surge.
Watch the full conversation in the video above.
Local 4 News, your local election headquarters, is proud to present 4 The Record, a weekly news and public affairs program focused on the issues important to you. It’s a program unlike any other here in the Quad Cities. Tune in each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as Jim Niedelman brings you up to speed on what’s happening in the political arena, from Springfield, Des Moines, Washington, D.C. and right here at home.
