When Kevin Techau announced in April he was running as a Democrat in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, the former U.S. Attorney and first-time candidate said it was because “our state deserves better than the self-serving politicians who put corporate greed over the needs of everyday families.” Techau was the first, and so far only, candidate to launch a challenge to Ashley Hinson, the three-term Republican incumbent who currently represents the district.
In a statement on Monday, Techau said he still “adamantly believe[s] Iowa’s Second Congressional District deserves better leadership than what we’re getting from Ashley Hinson,” and that “Iowans deserve leaders rooted in decency, facts, and the rule of law,” before announcing he was ending his campaign due to a lack of money.
“It is regrettable that too much of our politics is about money,” Techau wrote. “And I still hold out hope that with greater civic engagement, democracy rather than dollars, will ultimately prevail. But campaigns aren’t just about convictions — they require resources to be competitive. And the reality is, this campaign’s fundraising simply hasn’t met the threshold level that this race demands. As such, I am announcing effective today, that I am suspending my campaign for Congress.”
Linn County Democratic Party Chair Bret Nilles told the Gazette he was surprised by Techau’s withdrawal from the race.
“I think there’s still a lot of people out there who are considering running, and it’s still early in the election cycle,” Nilles said. He added that “there are still opportunities out there to have a good candidate to reclaim the seat for the Democratic Party.”
A Democratic challenger having trouble raising money in the 2nd District is nothing new. In the 2024 election cycle, first-time candidate Sarah Corkery struggled with fundraising for her entire campaign. Corkery, who launched her run in October 2023, was the only Democrat to enter the 2024 race in the last election. She received little support from the state party and none from the national party, who instead focused on promoting the Democratic challengers in the 1st and 3rd Districts.
The Democratic candidate in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, Ryan Melton, received no outside help for his grassroots campaign in 2024, but Melton expected none, because he’d been ignored by the party when he ran as the Democratic candidate in the 4th in 2022. In both 2022 and 2024, Melton was the only Democrat to run in the solidly Republican 4th Congressional District.
Melton was running again in the 4th this year. Once more, he was the only Democrat to enter the race, even though it appears that incumbent Republican Randy Feenstra will run for governor instead of reelection to Congress. But two weeks ago, Melton announced he was suspending his campaign after he “was notified due to reorganization at the company [he’d] long worked for” that he was losing his job.
Hinson, with all the fundraising advantages of an incumbent, not only vastly outraised Corkery in 2024, she also spent more than five times the amount the Democrat did in the race. Hinson beat Corkery by 15 percentage points in the Nov. 5 election.
The Democratic challengers in the 1st and 3rd districts, Christina Bohannan and Lanon Baccom, both raised more money in 2024 than Republican incumbents Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn. Both lost, as did Melton, who raised a fraction of what Feenstra did.
“I’m proud of the campaign we built, of the conversations we’ve had with Iowans, and of the values we’ve stood for,” Techau said in his statement on Monday. “But in this political environment, with all that is at stake, the responsible choice is to step aside.”
Techau and Melton withdrawing means there are currently no Democratic candidates in Iowa’s 2nd and 4th Congressional Districts. In the 1st District, three Democrats — Travis Terrell, Bob Krause and Christina Bohannan — are running. Two Democrats — Sarah Trone Garriott and Jennifer Konfrst — are running for their party’s nomination in the June primary in the 3rd District.
