DES MOINES, Iowa – State Senator Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Ottumwa, submitted more than 5,700 signatures to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office to have her name placed on the June 2 Republican primary ballot in the Second Congressional District.
“I’m humbled to have such broad and deep support across the district that I am able to qualify as the filing period opens,” Miller-Meeks said. “Whether they’re Republicans, independents or Democrats, people of all political stripes in our district have expressed their desire for a strong voice in Congress to speak up for them to create an economy that creates good-paying jobs, encourages free and fair trade, cuts government spending and waste, reduces taxes and ensures they have affordable and accessible health care. We take that first step together today by gaining ballot access.”
To qualify for the Republican primary, a candidate must secure a minimum of 1,497 votes, which equals 1 percent of the total votes that the party’s gubernatorial candidate, Gov. Kim Reynolds, received in 2018. The candidate must also secure signatures equal to 2 percent of the GOP vote in at least 12 of the district’s 24 counties.
“Not only has our campaign gathered 5,739 signatures, but it has also surpassed the 2-percent threshold in 23 of the 24 counties,” Miller-Meeks said. “That’s a testament to the desire to send a common-sense conservative to Washington, D.C., to fight for us.”
Miller-Meeks, an ophthalmologist and former president of the Iowa Medical Society, grew up in a military family with seven siblings, She enlisted at age 18 and served as an Army nurse before graduating medical school. She retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve. In 2010, then-Gov. Terry Branstad appointed Miller-Meeks as the director of the Iowa Department of Public Health where she served in that role for three years. She was elected to the Iowa Senate in 2018.