Sarah Trone Garriott is running for Congress in IA-03, which includes the city of Des Moines. And you guys, Sarah has done it all: she is a Lutheran Minister, worked as a hospital chaplain, and has worked for a food pantry network for the last nine years.
In addition to her life of service, she has also served in the Iowa State Senate since 2020.
“There are a lot of ways to serve your community, and I was always listening for those opportunities to help people. Running for Congress is just another way for me to do that.”
Sarah goes on to say that people in her community, her neighbors, her friends, are hurting right now. They are working hard, but goods are getting more expensive, and it’s getting harder and harder to get by.
Sarah’s life of service has uniquely positioned her to serve her community in Congress and bring the values of IA-03 to Washington, DC, in January.
“I just think it’s really important that people have a representative who is there for them. And so my work has been, in large part, showing up for my neighbors.”
Sarah calls herself a “rare Iowa Democrat” – one serving in a largely Republican district. Friends, it won’t be so rare after we sweep Iowa in November! LETS GO >>>
One thing I really respect about Sarah is that she knows the value of being responsive to her community and constituents. Sarah has knocked on thousands of doors of Democratic, Republican, and Independent households and holds regular open town hall meetings.
In fact, she just wrapped up a town hall series in which she held a meeting in every county in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District within one month. That’s 21 counties, 21 town halls, in 30 days!
Sarah is hearing a lot of feedback on the doors and in these town hall meetings.
Sarah’s opponent, Rep. Zach Nunn, voted for the Medicaid cuts in the Big Ugly Bill. It has already led to the closing of clinics, putting their hospitals on the endangered list.
“Thousands of my neighbors can’t find a doctor for just basic primary care in their community, and they’re having to drive an hour just to get that basic care that’s going to end up hurting people and raising costs on everyone.”
Sarah is hearing directly from her community – people are losing their primary care providers, they don’t know where to see a dentist, and there aren’t any nearby providers who are easily accessible.
“So it’s not theoretical anymore. It’s actually happening in this moment.”
And Sarah’s opponent is actively contributing to the cuts that are closing off access to care, while calling it a myth that the Medicaid cuts were going to close rural hospitals.
He has never done an open town hall in the four years since he’s been in office. He is not hearing the concerns directly from his community. UNACCEPTABLE.
Rising costs are also on everyone’s mind – not just the cost of everyday goods, but the tariffs and the war in Iran have also skyrocketed the price of fuel and farm diesel, which has had a terrible impact on Iowa farmers.
“In the nine years that I worked for a food pantry network here in the Des Moines metro area, we saw the number of people we were assisting go from 16,000 unique individuals every month to 32,000.”
Our hard-working families are having to make tough choices between food and filling up their car – some turning to assistance, just to cover the basics.
And in Iowa, the Midwest-nice of helping your neighbors and connecting with charity networks has not been sufficient to meet the community’s needs, especially after Republicans cut SNAP benefits.
Sarah has been talking with her community about “how they can use their voice, not just in talking to their elected leaders, but participating in the electoral process and getting organized to make sure that their voices are even stronger when they’re working together.”
And that is just the kind of compassionate leadership that we need in Congress right now – someone who deeply cares about her community and understands what it takes to serve the people.
Sarah won her primary election earlier in June, so now we’re full steam ahead to November.
IA-03 is considered a “Toss-Up” seat by Cook Political Report, which means it’s a must-win seat in order to win back the House majority in November.
It’s a Republican-leaning district (PVI is R+2), so you know Sarah needs your support! “People out there can help us connect with the community by sharing a good word, by helping to support our campaign so we can get the message out. We’re showing up in every way we can, but we need a lot of help to do that.”
You can find Sarah’s website at https://sarahforiowa.com/
Chicagoland friends – Des Moines is not that far! A quick weekend road trip is just what you need to feel great about restoring the House majority and fighting for our Democracy!
And with your support, Sarah will join me in Congress in 6 months. And on Day 1? She’s going to work towards an anti-corruption agenda so that our government actually serves its people and communities.
For her, that means passing term limits, banning stock trading, establishing a code of ethics for the Supreme Court, and passing campaign finance reform, including getting big (corporate) money out of politics.
“We need to get some protections in place … so that the people’s voices are always protected in the process, and that we can’t have folks who are in this to get rich and treat these like lifetime appointments and benefit themselves. It’s got to be about public service.”
This is going to be a really dynamic next set of months for Sarah, IA-03, and we’re so excited about her success!
We’ll be back with more soon –
Congresswoman Lauren Underwood
DCCC Red-to-Blue Co-Chair
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