Iowa: who should earn your vote for Congress in 2026
Opinion · The paper’s scorecard
Iowa: every race for Congress on the 3 November 2026 ballot, and how the candidates measure up against our standards.
Sitting and former members are scored on the same key votes, read from the official House and Senate roll calls; each vote links to the record. Candidates who have never served in Congress have no votes to score, and outside the battlegrounds we have not researched them, so they are marked as not scored. Where only one candidate could be measured, the mark rates that record on its own; it is not a verdict on the opponent. How the marks work · All states
U.S. Senate R+6
✓ Our pick: Josh Turek
A battleground: read our full case, with every source.
Joni Ernst (R): incumbent retiring.
District 1 R+4
✓ Our pick: Mariannette Miller-Meeks
Christina Bohannan
Democrat
No votes in Congress: scored on platform and record, promises at half weight · total -1
- ✗Smaller government
- ✗Small business over giants
- ?Live and let live
- ?Light touch on tech
- ✓Free speech
- ~No surveillance state
- ✓Home first, open trade
- ✓Checks on power
- ✗Right to bear arms
- ~Hard on violent crime
With us (7)
- Platform pledges 'cracking down on Big Ag monopolies controlling seed, fertilizer, and processing,' 'cracking down on utility monopolies,' and preventing hedge funds from buying family homes and farmland. Source
- Voted for HF 744 (2021), requiring First Amendment training and free-speech protections at Iowa school districts and public universities (House 97-1 and 92-1). Source
- Voted against SF 342 (2021), the 'Back the Blue' act, which raised penalties for riot and unlawful-assembly offenses and codified qualified immunity (House 63-30 and 56-35). Source
Against us (9)
- Voted against HF 2317 (2022), Iowa's phased move to a 3.9% flat income tax with corporate tax cuts, on House passage (61-37); she was absent for the final 61-34 concurrence vote. Source
- Voted against SF 619 (2021), which removed revenue triggers for income-tax cuts and phased out the state inheritance tax (House 64-28). Source
- Voted against HF 2198 (2022), which lowered minimum-age requirements for child-care center staff and loosened staff-to-children ratios (final House vote 52-42). Source
Our pick
Mariannette Miller-Meeks
Republican · incumbent
Scored on 27 key votes · total +4
- ✓Smaller government
- ✓Small business over giants
- ✓Live and let live
- ✓Light touch on tech
- ✗Free speech
- ✗No surveillance state
- ✗Home first, open trade
- ✓Checks on power
- ✓Right to bear arms
- ✓Hard on violent crime
With us (18)
Against us (9)
- Voted for the 2024 law forcing TikTok's sale or ban. Source
- Voted for the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which civil-liberties groups opposed as a limit on campus speech. Source
- Voted against the amendment requiring a warrant to search Americans' communications under FISA Section 702 (it failed 212-212). Source
District 2 R+4
No mark
Ashley Hinson (R): incumbent retiring to run for u.
Lindsay James
Democrat
No congressional voting record; not scored
Joe Mitchell
Republican
No congressional voting record; not scored
District 3 R+2
Closer to our standards: Sarah Trone Garriott
Zach Nunn
Republican · incumbent
Scored on 20 key votes · total +3
- ✓Smaller government
- ✓Small business over giants
- ?Live and let live
- ✓Light touch on tech
- ✗Free speech
- ✗No surveillance state
- ✗Home first, open trade
- ✓Checks on power
- ✓Right to bear arms
- ✓Hard on violent crime
With us (11)
Against us (9)
- Voted for the 2024 law forcing TikTok's sale or ban. Source
- Voted for the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which civil-liberties groups opposed as a limit on campus speech. Source
- Voted against the amendment requiring a warrant to search Americans' communications under FISA Section 702 (it failed 212-212). Source
Closer to our standards
Sarah Trone Garriott
Democrat
No votes in Congress: scored on platform and record, promises at half weight · total +4.5
- ✗Smaller government
- ✓Small business over giants
- ✓Live and let live
- ~Light touch on tech
- ✓Free speech
- ✓No surveillance state
- ✓Home first, open trade
- ✓Checks on power
- ✗Right to bear arms
- ✓Hard on violent crime
With us (16)
- Voted for HF 639 (2025), restricting eminent domain for carbon-dioxide pipelines; it passed the Senate 27-22 over GOP leadership's objections and was vetoed by Gov. Reynolds. Source
- Voted for SF 383 (2025), regulating pharmacy benefit managers' dealings with pharmacies, a bill sought by independent pharmacies (Senate 36-14). Source
- Says she 'has not taken a dime of corporate PAC money,' wants corporate PACs and super PACs banned, and pledges support for local small businesses via training 'rather than blank checks.' Source
Against us (6)
- Voted against SF 315 (2023), legalizing on-farm sales of raw milk (Senate 36-14 and 37-13). Source
- Platform backs a public health-insurance option, restoring Medicaid funding, expanding the Child Tax Credit and EITC, and 'cracking down on corporate price gouging'; it also calls for 'regular, independent audits of federal spending.' Source
- Voted No on HF 756 (2021), which ended Iowa's requirement for a permit to buy or carry a handgun. It passed the Senate 31-17 and was signed. Source
District 4 R+15
No mark
Randy Feenstra (R): incumbent retiring to run for governor.
David Dawson
Democrat
No congressional voting record; not scored
Chris McGowan
Republican
No congressional voting record; not scored
Photo credits. Official congressional portraits are works of the U.S. government and in the public domain. Others: