Sarah Thompson
Sarah Trone Garriott to take on Zach Nunn
Democratic contender for District 3 of the United States Representatives Sarah Trone Garriott of West Des Moines has faith in Iowans.
“We’re calling this the faith in Iowa tour because I have faith in the people of Iowa to come together and meet the big challenges that we have today,” she said.
Trone Garriott spoke at an event in Osceola last week where she discussed her plans for healthcare, fixing corruption in Washington and restoring voters’ faith in government, as she looks to take the seat held by Zach Nunn-R.
Healthcare
Trone Garriott said Iowans have been struggling with healthcare, from recruiting and retaining physicians and nurses to decreasing access to mental health services to pharmacies closing and rising healthcare costs.
“Zach Nunn went and voted to cut Medicaid and that has devastated our state,” she said. “We were hanging by a thread and a billion dollars in Medicaid cuts every year is just going to push so many of our healthcare providers right over the edge.”
Stating that Nunn had said it was a “myth” that cuts would close rural hospitals, she said that is already being seen as clinics around the state have closed or will be closing, which causes not just loss of jobs but also loss of access to closer healthcare.
She spoke of how Nunn wants to do away with the Affordable Care Act and the implications that will have on millions of Iowans, especially those with preexisting conditions.
“Iowa is number two in the nation for new cancer diagnosis. We’re climbing to number one,” she said. “We need to make sure that our neighbors - when they come through their treatment, when they’re under treatment - that they can get healthcare coverage, that they can get access to care.”
She also spoke of the reduction in healthcare for Iowans as a result of Medicaid cuts.
“My biggest priority is we’ve got to make sure that we protect Iowa healthcare and stabilize it and build it out so that people are getting the care they need,” she said.
On the topic of Iowa’s water quality, Trone Garriott noted the $25 million going towards Central Iowa Water Works to upgrade infrastructure for nitrate removal, but said that doesn’t solve the underlying problem. She credited Gov. Reynolds for responding to public pressure on the issue, but said more needs to be done to keep all sorts of non-water runoff from going into waterways.
With Iowa’s rising cancer rates, Trone Garriott said those rates are related to environmental factors including water and radon, and was appreciative to see the state take paths to make passive radon removal systems part of new construction. Cost of living
With the rising inflation, Trone Garriott said wages have not kept pace. She spoke against Nunn who ran on a platform of lowering costs, but had acted differently.
“He voted to support those chaotic tariffs that are raising the costs on Iowa families about $1,300 a family per year and we get nothing for that,” she said.
She said the tariffs are hitting Iowa farmers hard, with many running through their cash reserves as they look for ways to cut corners, with some resorting to selling their land and farm foreclosures rising.
Also hurting costs of living is the war with Iran, which Trone Garriott said Nunn voted to continue without any congressional oversight. “Zach Nunn’s not willing to face you. He knows people are upset. He knows folks are struggling and he’s not willing to come out and see you and hear what’s on your mind,” she said.
In touch
Trone Garriott said for a great majority of the people serving in Washington, D.C., they are out of touch with what life is like for the majority of the country.
“They’re wealthy. They don’t understand what it’s like to have to scrimp and save, to not be able to provide everything you need, to have to pay for groceries with change, to really cut corners to get by.”
Part of being in touch, she said, is showing up for your neighbors and constituents and being there for them, attributes she said helped her win an Iowa Senate seat in Republican districts.
“I was able to win those districts and serve them well because I showed up for all my neighbors,” she said. “It’s really important to show up and be there.”
She said it’s equally important to be there for everyone regardless of their political affiliation, something she has experience with as a parish pastor and former hospital chaplain.
“I’ve really taken that to heart as my call is to serve all the neighbors and be there for everyone, whether I agree with them or not, whether we have the same political affiliation or not, whether or not we share the same beliefs,” she said. “They are my neighbors, and I’m called to love them and care for them and help them.”
Along the lines of being out of touch, Trone Garriott said many of her colleagues in the state legislature aren’t familiar with public schools don’t spending time with students or teachers in public schools - yet make decisions that affect those schools. Those decision must then be acted upon by local school boards, which is where constituents place the blame.
“State legislators are the ones who are deciding how much our school boards have to work with and we’ve got really great schools that are working very hard to make the best of resources they have,” she said.
She echoed statements similar to other Democratic candidates about the school voucher system, including the need for accountability with taxpayer’s dollars. She said a con of the voucher system is that private schools are paid “on time,” whereas public schools are paid a year later, which hinders the ability to grow programs when they are paid based on the prior year’s enrollment numbers.
Government rework Trone Garriott talked about how the United States doesn’t really have a true balance of powers, addressing what feels like a “rigged” political system and the need to rebuild faith in the government.
“Iowans have lost that trust that we need and I’m working really hard to build it back,” she said. “I know to build trust you’ve got to show up, you’ve got to work hard, you have to help your neighbors, you have to listen.”
That includes elected leaders standing up for the people who put them there, calling for a change in Washington to get Congress working for their constituents again.
“We need elected leaders who understand the importance of bringing people together to solve big problems and we need elected leaders who understand what’s going on in folks’ lives,” she said.
Overall, she said that people need to get out to the polls and vote.
“We need to show people the power of their votes and in the state of Iowa, so many of our elections have been decided by a handful of votes,” she said. “Your vote matters. It matters significantly.”
Trone Garriott also spoke on the need for the Supreme Court of the United States to have a code of ethics, term limits for state and federal offices, needing to fix the immigration system while also securing the border with trained, qualified people and the need to protect citizens’ voting rights.
About
Trone Garriott has served in the Iowa Senate since 2020, when she was elected over incumbent Charles Schneider-R in Dist. 22. In 2022, re-districting saw had her move residences to the west side of her old district to take on the incumbent Republican Jake Chapman, the Iowa Senate President in Dist. 14. She won with 15,093 votes to Chapman’s 14,218. She is the ranking member of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
Her name will be the only one on the Democratic side of the ballot June 2. Democrat Xavier Carrigan had launched his bid for the 3rd Congressional District, but did not meet the state’s signature requirements.
Carrigan announced in April that he is still running as a write-in candidate.
