DAVENPORT – Republican congressional candidate Mariannette Miller-Meeks has released a new TV ad that shows the Ottumwa physician and state senator explaining how she will use her health care expertise in Congress to get Iowans safely back to work, and includes her 2013 warning as the then-director of the Iowa Department of Public Health that a pandemic would emerge from another continent.
The transcript of the 30-second ad, which will air across Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District beginning today, reads:
Narrator: “Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks”
WHO-TV anchor Dan Winters (2013): “What illness are you worried about striking Iowa next?”
Miller-Meeks (2013): “I think viruses or bacterial infections that emerge from other continents, other countries that we haven’t seen before.”
Miller-Meeks (present day): “That was me 7 years ago. Health care is my profession and solving problems is my life. COVID’s not going away. We need leaders who innovate, plan ahead, and get Iowans safely back to work.”
“This new ad shows that Senator Miller-Meeks has the professional background, foresight and ability we need in a representative to make sure that Congress does its part to end this current pandemic and prevent future ones,” said campaign manager Austin Harris. “Mariannette Miller-Meeks has devoted her life to ensuring the health and safety of others through her many years as a U.S. Army nurse and doctor, her time as a University of Iowa professor and private-practice physician, and her tenure as the director of the Iowa Department of Public Health. We can count on her health care expertise and forward thinking as she works for Iowa and its future generation.”
Miller-Meeks is an ophthalmologist and 24-year U.S. Army and Army Reserve veteran who represents Iowa Senate District 41, which includes Davis, Jefferson, Van Buren and Wapello counties. She is seeking the seat vacated by Rep. Dave Loebsack, a seven-term Democratic congressman. After 14 years of Democrat control, a recent Monmouth University Polling Institute indicated Miller-Meeks had a three-point lead on Hart. Among the 31 Democrat-controlled House districts won by President Trump in 2016, Iowa’s 2nd District is the only open seat in the country.
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