University of Iowa law professor Christina Bohannan, known for her strong stance on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), is eyeing another run in the Democratic primary, potentially setting up a third showdown against Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Bohannan, who has been a vocal critic of Iowa’s ‘Back the Blue Act’ and a supporter of Black Lives Matter demonstrators and sanctuary city policies, previously lost twice to Miller-Meeks.
In 2020, as the chair of the DEI Committee at the University of Iowa Law School, Bohannan witnessed the nationwide unrest following George Floyd’s death. During these protests, several police officers in Iowa City were injured by laser attacks, and another officer in Des Moines was reportedly put in a chokehold.
Bohannan encouraged students and faculty to “support the movement” by contributing to organizations like the Minnesota Freedom Fund and National Bail Out Fund, both of which advocate for reallocating police funds. Her activism extended to working with groups seeking to dismantle ICE and promote sanctuary cities the same year. In 2019, she also financially supported efforts to bail out undocumented immigrants through an organization envisioning a “world without police.”
In response to the tumult of 2020, Iowa legislators introduced the “Back the Blue Act” in 2021. This law aimed to heighten penalties for riot-related offenses, safeguard the personal information of law enforcement officers, and broaden qualified immunity for police.
Bohannan publicly opposed this legislation, expressing her concerns while masked due to COVID. She stated, “I believe this bill unnecessarily creates a divide between law enforcement and groups like Black Lives Matter when our focus should be on uniting these communities.”
Bohannan opposed the legislation publicly and, while wearing a COVID mask, argued: “I really think this bill unnecessarily pits law enforcement against groups like Black Lives Matter and other protestors just at the time when we need to be bringing all of these groups together.”
Bohannan co-authored an op-ed calling parts of the “Back the Blue Act” “dangerous and disturbing” and attacked several of the bill’s central provisions. She objected to the measure making it “a serious misdemeanor to obstruct any street, sidewalk, highway or other public way with the intent to prevent or hinder its lawful use by others.”
She also criticized the bill’s provision making it a serious misdemeanor not to stop for an unmarked law enforcement vehicle driven by a plain-clothes officer, writing, “Those in the BIPOC community, women and others driving at night, would have to pull over for anyone with red or red/blue flashing lights, no matter how unsafe it may be. The penalty for failing to do so could be up to a year in jail.”
Bohannan further took issue with provisions targeting sanctuary city policies and requiring local governments and police departments to enforce state law without discretion. She argued that forcing law enforcement to carry out those mandates “is a recipe for increased tensions and conflict.”
The op-ed also challenged the law’s tougher penalties for riots and unlawful assembly, including increasing rioting from an aggravated misdemeanor to a class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Bohannan and her co-author argued the measure would “likely chill First Amendment speech and assembly, punish harmless activity, and escalate and immunize violence,” concluding that “this bill will make us both less free and less safe.”
Republican National Committee spokesman Zach Kraft said, “Leave it to a DEI professor to say that backing the blue is racist. It is pretty easy to see why ‘Black Lives Matter’ Bohannan is a two-time loser, and she is well on her way to threepeating.”
Bohannan’s political record has also drawn scrutiny in previous campaigns. In 2021, the Washington Free Beacon questioned her description of herself as a former environmental engineer after public records showed that her work at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection from 1991 to 1994 was listed under Florida license records as “Engineering Intern.” The report also said it could not find evidence that Bohannan worked as an engineer at any other point in her career.
Iowa Field Report also highlighted positions Bohannan had posted on an earlier campaign website before launching her congressional campaign. According to those reports, Bohannan described Iowa’s voter ID requirement as a “threat to democratic governance,” argued that prohibiting felons convicted of crimes including rape and murder from voting was also a “threat to democratic governance,” supported allowing Medicaid funding to pay for “gender confirmation surgery” for transgender individuals, and defended teaching critical race theory in Iowa schools, calling it “important work.”
In 2022, Hillary Clinton’s political action committee, Onward Together, contributed $2,500 to Bohannan’s campaign.
