DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – Most candidates for congress run on what they’d do at the federal level. That’s not what Congresswoman Ashley Hinson’s Democratic challenger talked about Tuesday.

Sarah Corkery, a Democrat running in eastern Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District is hoping to win voters by making her campaign about issues that state lawmakers passed.

“Here in Iowa, right, we’ve got the trifecta with the Government [sic], House, and Senate and their stuff they’re pushing through is mean. Coming after our LGBTQ kids last two years ago. Coming against our AEAs, which help disabled kids. Now coming against women’s access to healthcare and it will be contraception yet.” Corkery said.

Corkery says Iowa’s abortion law is too strict. “We need to codify Road [sic] vs Wade first of all. And I truly believe all medical decisions should be between a person and a doctor and that should be no government involvement in this conversation at all. So we’ve got a long ways to go from a six week ban to making sure it’s just a protected health situation,” she said.

Corkery also went after private school vouchers that Republicans in the Iowa Legislature passed. “42 counties don’t even have a private school and 95% of them are Christian, so we know it’s happening. We are Christianizing the next generation and it’s not right,” Corkery said.

So why is this candidate running for Congress talking about all of these state issues? Well, Corkery says that state lawmakers have swung too far to the right, and she’s hoping that will bring people over to her federal campaign.” “We need to get Iowans and Democrats fired up about these issues and out to the polls this fall. Like I said, here’s where we vote and here is where we have a lot of problems to fix,” she said.

There are 23,000 more registered Republican voters than Democrats in the 2nd District. Her focus on state issues will be a test to see if she can win enough over along with enough independents to win.

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Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email him at conner.hendricks@gray.tv; and follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV or on X/Twitter @ConnerReports.

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