Miller-Meeks Seeking 2nd Congressional District Nomination

Mariannette Miller-Meeks

Oskaloosa, Iowa – There’s not been any real candidate meet and greets since the pandemic started. That lack of public knowledge may prove to be a real challenge for some candidates.

Mariannette Miller-Meeks is seeking the Republican nomination in the 2nd Congressional District to run against Rita Hart, the Democratic candidate, to fill the seat vacated by retiring Congressman Dave Loebsack.

Miller-Meeks retired from the US Army, a Lt. Colonel, and then went into private practice as an ophthalmology specialist.

Miller-Meeks has been a candidate for the office before, taking on the popular incumbent Loebsack.

For Miller-Meeks, it became apparent to her that this election was going to be very different than those before. “We really needed to have someone that had experience in healthcare, in the military, [and] small business experience to try to retake the House and continue the economic policies of President Trump.”

After watching the Democratic debate, Miller-Meeks said she wants to help navigate “where we’re going on healthcare.”

“I saw the Democratic debate, talking about Medicare for all, which is, you know, a single-payer government-run system, and then free health care for illegal aliens and forgiving all student loan debt. I became very concerned about what that meant for the future of our country and what that meant for our economy. And people who know me know that I never give up, I never quit fighting,” Miller-Meeks added.

When it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, “None of us wanted this pandemic. It’s, you know, fraught with hardship and heartbreak for many people.”

“Every day, I’m dealing with trying to help somebody to get unemployment or grants or PPP. You know people are turning to whoever they can to get assistance,” Miller-Meeks said. “I’m sorry. It’s a very emotional thing to see people’s dreams and hard work just evaporated overnight because of a virus, it’s just heart wrenching for all of us.”

Helping small businesses recover, Miller-Meeks explained, “We need to continue to help with small business forgivable loans. I think that’s been one of the things that we need to continue going forward. I do realize that that increases our deficits, but these are unprecedented times. These companies are suffering, not because there was not a demand for the type of service they offered, but because we in government asked them to shut down in order to protect the health of our citizens.”

“It’s interesting when you’re running a campaign to know that you have a skill set that is so needed in not only in your state but in Congress,” said Miller-Meeks. “So I think again it underscores why we need to elect somebody to Congress that has that skill set. Not only do we need to help to get out of this pandemic and grow our economy, but we need to be able to prepare for the next pandemic. And so, again, there’s never been a better time to elect somebody that has the variety of skill sets that I have.”

Miller-Meeks and fellow candidate Robert Schilling have been in heated contest lately. “Primaries are difficult because you’re trying to distinguish yourself from other candidates who are of the same party. My campaign has been focused on the issues. From the moment we launched our campaign, we launched a campaign talking about health care that’s accessible, affordable, and gives people a choice. We’ve talked about skills training and apprenticeships that we need to prepare our workforce for the 21st century, and that’s especially critically important now, as we see the unemployment numbers. We know that we’re going to have to retool our economy and also the skill set of people that are applying for jobs, and the type of jobs that are going to be available.”

You can learn more about Marianette Miller-Meeks by visiting her website at – https://millermeeks2020.com/

Posted by on May 24 2020. Filed under Local News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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