For the last six years, the Democratic Party has waged war on our law enforcement at the local and federal levels. After the George Floyd riots of 2020, many of them called for a defunding of the police, and that mentality lingers through to today, with the Democratic Socialists of America running on a platform to abolish both the police and prisons.
It's dangerous for our communities, and it's dangerous for our country. Democrats know it's also unpopular with the vast majority of Americans who support law enforcement and their efforts to keep our neighborhoods safe.
That's why Christina Bohannan, who is running for Congress in Iowa's 1st, is lying about her record and support for defunding the police.
In 2021, then-State Rep. Bohannan voted against Iowa's "Back the Blue Law" (SF 342). That bill was designed to strengthen support for local law enforcement by increasing penalties for rioting and establishing accountability for local governments and law enforcement agencies that refuse to enforce state law, including withholding state funding from jurisdictions where local law enforcement declines to work with federal agents on things like immigration enforcement.
Bohannan opposed the bill so much that she went as far as to pen a letter about it to the editor that was published in Little Village, an independent Iowa news outlet. In that letter, Bohannan said Iowa's "Back the Blue" bills would make the state "less free and less safe" while calling such legislation "dangerous and disturbing."
Iowa House Republicans have bundled into one bill, H-1345, multiple bills previously passed by the Iowa Senate (SF 476). The new “Back the Blue” bill is broad, affecting everything from sick leave for public safety officers to punishments for riots and eluding police. Although some parts of this wide-ranging bill are fine, others are dangerous and disturbing. The bill will likely chill First Amendment speech and assembly, punish harmless activity, and escalate and immunize violence. In short, this bill will make us both less free and less safe.
While the bill is targeted at protests in Iowa City and Des Moines following the murder of George Floyd last summer, it is not unique. Across the country, some 91 similar bills have been introduced into state legislatures, according to the International Center for Not-For-Profit Law. This is part of a concerted, nationwide effort to crack down on protests and to strip law enforcement and local government of any discretion to respond to them.
Now that she's got her sights set on Congress, Bohannan's campaign is attempting to reframe her vote on that bill.
That pivot came after Speaker of the House Mike Johnson campaigned with Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in Iowa last week. Johnson hammered Bohannan on her law enforcement record, including calling out her comments that said protecting police officers was "dangerous and disturbing."
Bohannan's campaign manager, Dan Driscoll, issued a statement defending Bohannan's law enforcement record. "Christina has always fought for local law enforcement," Driscoll said, "which is why in the legislature she introduced legislation to support local police officers injured on the job and voted to toughen penalties on drug dealers and human traffickers. She was clear at the time she opposed this bill because it risked defunding local police and making their jobs more dangerous."
Yet Bohannan's vote on SF 342 is just part of her abysmal record on law enforcement and crime. While Chair of the University of Iowa College of Law's DEI Committee, Bohannan encouraged donations to the National Bail Out Fund, a group that supports the abolition of cash bail, prisons, and police. That group refers to our law enforcement officers as the "country's largest, state-sanctioned gang."
She also solicited donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which has bailed out defendants charged with murder and other violent felonies, as well as sex crimes. The Minnesota Freedom Fund also supports ending cash bail and defunding the police.
It's clear that Bohannan has a record that's soft-on-crime and supports dangerous policy positions like defunding the police, ending cash bail, and abolishing prisons. And she's trying to hide that record from Iowa's voters.
"Liberal Christina Bohannan is trying to hide the truth, but Iowans won't be fooled," said NRCC Spokeswoman Emily Tuttle. "She opposed Iowa's Back the Blue law and continues to side with criminals over the law enforcement officers who keep our communities safe."