Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks has changed her voting address back to her Ottumwa home outside southeastern Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, Wappello County voting records show.
That means she won’t be able to vote for herself in her coming race for reelection — or for any other 1st District candidate.
Miller-Meeks, who has been registered to vote in Scott County since 2022, changed her address on her voter registration in July, the Quad-City Times first reported.
She was first elected to represent southeastern Iowa in Congress in 2020, serving a district that included her Wappello County home.
When Iowa redrew its congressional districts after the 2020 census, Miller-Meeks’ Ottumwa home became part of south-central Iowa’s 3rd District represented by U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn.
“Dr. Miller-Meeks moved her residency back to their property in Ottumwa to be by her husband’s side,” her campaign manager Peter Owens said in a statement. “Miller-Meeks has lived in Southeast Iowa for almost 40 years and remains committed to serving the people of Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, having held over 280 events in all 20 counties this year alone.”
In October 2022, Miller-Meeks changed her voter registration from her Ottumwa address to the address of now-Lt. Gov. Chris Cournoyer, a LeClaire Republican who was then a state senator and lives in the 1st District.
Miller-Meeks in 2024 changed her voter registration address to an apartment in Davenport.
Federal law requires members of Congress live in the state they represent, but they don’t have to live in the district.
Iowa law defines a voter’s residence as “the place which the person declares is the person’s home with the intent to remain there permanently or for a definite, or indefinite, or indeterminable length of time.”
Property tax records list Miller-Meeks and her husband owning land in Ottumwa.
She reported a mortgage on her “personal residence in Ottumwa” in her 2024 congressional disclosure report. And Miller-Meeks lists Ottumwa as her address on campaign forms filed with the Federal Election Commission.
After redistricting, Miller-Meeks said she would not sell her house in Ottumwa but would take up residence in the redrawn 1st District.
Miller-Meeks responded to questions about her legal residency during a televised debate in October 2024, saying she was “honest” when she said after redistricting that she would not sell her Wapello County property.
“In Iowa, land is valuable and we hold onto it, so I have a property there,” Miller-Meeks said.
Miller-Meeks is seeking a fourth term in 2026, with the 1st District race among national Democrats’ top targets in their bid to gain control of Congress.
In an episode of Iowa Press taped Friday, Dec. 19, Matt Paul, principal and director of Cornerstone Public Affairs lobbying firm who has worked for state-level Democrats and ran Hillary Clinton’s victorious 2016 Iowa caucus campaign, was asked what Democrats in the state have to do differently in 2026 to flip seats.
Paul said Democratic candidates must outline their vision to improve Iowans’ lives and tackle issues such as water quality, health care and cost of living. He signaled Democrats could look to make questions surrounding GOP candidates’ residency an issue.
“I think we’ve got to be prepared for Republicans to get really strong and real negative in these races,” Paul said. “But there’s a lot of opportunity around just plain and simple residency. There are these questions about where Rep. Miller-Meeks lives and where she’s registered to vote. … There are all kinds of these residency questions that have to be sorted out as we move forward. But I think we’ve got to be able to capitalize on what is a really good environment.”
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X at @marissajpayne.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks changes voting address back to Ottumwa
Reporting by Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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