(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
This story was originally published by Iowa Capital Dispatch and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
State Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott launches congressional campaign in Iowa's 3rd District • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]
['Robin Opsahl', 'More From Author', '- May', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width']
Date: 2025-05-05
State Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott announced Monday she will run as a Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District.
Currently, the 3rd District is represented by U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, a Republican who has held the seat since defeating former U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, a Democrat, in the 2022 election. The Iowa House seat, covering much of the Des Moines metropolitan area and much of of central and southern Iowa, is expected to be one of the most competitive districts in the 2026 general election.
Trone Garriott, currently representing West Des Moines in the Iowa Senate, said in a video announcing her campaign she was well-suited to run for the seat because of her track record winning in competitive state legislative races.
“I’m no stranger to tough fights,” Trone Garriott said. “I’m the only Iowa Democrat who flipped two seats from red to blue, then won a district that went to Trump in 2024. I know how to win, and I know how to deliver for Iowans.”
She was first elected to the Iowa Legislature in 2020, when she defeated Republican Scott Cirksena to represent Iowa State Senate District 22. In 2022, she defeated then-Senate President Jake Chapman to represent Senate District 14 after redistricting, and won a close race against GOP challenger Mark Hanson in 2024.
Trone Garriott, a 46-year-old Lutheran pastor, said she would work in Congress to lower the costs of child care, health care and housing, as well as “restoring the rights and freedoms lost in recent years.” She also criticized Nunn’s time in Congress, saying “Zach Nunn has failed us.”
“As Iowans struggle with higher costs, attacks on our personal freedoms and reckless cuts to our public schools, Zach Nunn is not showing up,” Trone Garriott said. “He’s not listening, and he’s not working for us. Iowans know that I show up for all my constituents, and that I listen and that I speak out.”
Emily Tuttle, a spokesperson with the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House Republicans’ campaign arm, criticized Trone Garriott in a statement Monday.
“Out of touch Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott is another activist attempting to radicalize Iowa — pushing a dangerous, extreme agenda that would raise costs, allow men in girls’ sports, and weaken public safety,” Tuttle said. “Iowans want leaders who deliver commonsense results, and that’s exactly why they’ll send Zach Nunn back to Congress.”
While Nunn has not officially announced a reelection campaign, he is expected to run for the seat again in 2026. He ruled out a run for governor last week in an interview on the WHO AM Simon Conway show, saying he is focused on his work in Washington, D.C., on issues like cutting taxes and securing the U.S. southern border.
Nunn won in 2024 against Democrat Lanon Baccam with roughly 52% of the vote. In the previous election, the race was rated as a “tossup” by some political forecasters — Sabato’s Crystal Ball now has the seat, alongside Iowa’s 1st Congressional District currently represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, listed as “tossup” races heading into 2026.
House Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has highlighted Nunn’s seat, as well as Miller-Meeks’ and U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson’s, as “Districts in Play” in the upcoming midterm elections, areas where Democrats plan to focus their efforts to flip seats and potentially regain control of the U.S. House.
“Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, and Zach Nunn are running scared, and they should be,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in an April statement. “From tanking the economy, gutting Medicaid, abandoning our veterans, to making everything more expensive, they’ve broken their promises to Iowans, and it’s going to cost them their seats. The DCCC is already working to recruit authentic and battle-ready candidates in Iowa who reflect these districts and will work to better Iowans’ lives, not line Elon Musk and their DC party bosses’ pockets.”
Trone Garriott is not the only Democrat expected to run in Iowa’s 3rd District. Iowa House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst and Rep. Austin Baeth, D-Des Moines, have also said they are considering running for the seat, though Trone Garriott is the first to officially launch her campaign.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/05/05/state-sen-sarah-trone-garriott-launches-congressional-campaign-in-iowas-3rd-district/
Published and (C) by Iowa Capital Dispatch
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND-NC 4.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/iowacapitaldispatch/
