A Republican congressional candidate in Iowa backed by Donald Trump was recorded during college making graphic comments about his manhood, challenging Black friends to compare themselves and delivering a series of startling remarks about Black women.
Joe Mitchell, 29, is seeking the Republican nomination in Iowa’s closely watched 2nd Congressional District with endorsements from Trump and Turning Point Action.
The footage, recorded while Mitchell was a student at Drake University, shows him discussing the size of his “d***” and referring to “Black women.” He also says he wanted to “f*** J*****e,” identifying a Black woman on whom he reportedly had a crush.
“I want to marry one,” Mitchell says in the video while discussing Black women.
A woman who was friends with Mitchell in college provided the video to Our News Outlet. She was not present in the room when it was recorded but said the incident occurred in 2017, when Mitchell was 19. The two have not spoken since their college years.
Asked about his views, Mitchell says he wants his future children “to not be white,” adding that he does not like “f***ing white people.” He then asks, “Why do you think I hang out with people that aren’t white?”
The recording also shows Mitchell challenging the people questioning him to a contest centered on their manhood.
“Let’s f***ing measure them. Prove it to me. Prove it to me right now,” he says, repeating, “Forfeit! Forfeit! Forfeit!”
Iowa Republican congressional candidate Joe Mitchell and President Donald Trump
A 2019 photograph shows Iowa Republican congressional candidate Joe Mitchell, left, alongside former conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in 2025
According to a video obtained by Our News Outlet, Mitchell was filmed in 2017, at age 19, saying he wanted to “f***” a Black woman he liked and making disparaging comments about white women
“You guys are the racist ones,” Mitchell says as he stands before a wall placard featuring Bernie Sanders, who was then a Democrat and is now an independent senator.
An attorney representing the Mitchell campaign did not challenge the video’s authenticity. Instead, the attorney accused his political opponents of attempting to “damage his campaign.”
Two Snapchat screenshots supplied to Our News Outlet also appear to show Mitchell referring to alcohol-related violations during his time at college.
In one post, captured in a screenshot by a source, Mitchell shared a selfie claiming he had received “2 alcohol violations in a week.”
A second screenshot shows Mitchell writing that he was “taking lots of xanx tonight,” followed by the words, “and no one will stop me.”
Our News Outlet sent the video and Snapchat screenshots to the Mitchell campaign for comment.
In a statement responding to the material, Mitchell said he has “grown up” since the posts and video were made.
“My entire generation has had a camera in their face since we were born. I was 19, in college, and I have grown up,” Mitchell said.
“Since graduating college, I found some better friends, launched my own small business, launched a nonprofit, and built countless affordable homes all over Northeast Iowa. I achieved the American Dream, and I’m running for Congress so every American can reach their full potential.”
A college-aged Mitchell is seen boasting about alcohol violations in the screenshot of a Snapchat obtained by Our News Outlet
Another screenshot of a Snapchat obtained by Our News Outlet shows a college-aged Mitchell
An Iowa Democratic operative, who was friends with Mitchell in college, told Our News Outlet that the candidate hasn’t ‘drunk or dated in a while because he has been so focused on the campaign.’
The woman who provided Our News Outlet with the videos, a school friend who has not spoken to Mitchell since college, said she expected him to blame the alcohol.
‘We are all drunk and young once, but that doesn’t make us any less accountable for our words,’ she said.
She told Our News Outlet she came forward because voters deserve ‘the full picture’ of who they are electing.
Polling in the district, typically considered slightly favorable to Republicans, has shown a neck-and-neck race between Mitchell and his Democratic opponent, Lindsay James.
The House Majority PAC, aligned with congressional Democrats, noted in August that in an initial head-to-head matchup, James led Mitchell 46 percent to 45 percent.
A second source, a male who also knew Mitchell at the time the video was taken, believes the statements were indicative of his views then.
Mitchell is running in a tight contest against his Democratic opponent Lindsay James
The male source also revealed that Mitchell, on numerous occasions, claimed that he ‘did not want white children, he frequently lamented that’ and asked other people who were in the room when the 2017 videos were taken to ‘hook him up with black women.’
Mitchell was ‘insane, he was a clown… he was basically known for being a ridiculous person,’ said the source who hasn’t spoken to Mitchell since college.
An attorney for his campaign rejected ‘false accusations’ that he was known for being ‘ridiculous.’
Mitchell’s campaign provided Our News Outlet an image of him with Trump in 2015.
‘Joe was a Republican and has always been a Republican. Joe has always been a strong Trump supporter, and those facts became too uncomfortable with Democrats in his social group when he got elected,’ Andrew Turner, a former Iowa Democratic operative, told Our News Outlet.
‘Now they want to see him fail and are pushing this garbage because it would hurt them too much to confront the fact they were always friends with a Trump supporter who never changed in how he treated them as a friend. They all loved him,’ Turner added.
A second woman, who said a couple of her friends dated Mitchell in college, also said the behavior portrayed in the video is ‘consistent with his behavior’ at the time, though she admitted she no longer knew him.
Mitchell’s campaign provided Our News Outlet an image of him with Trump in 2015
Eric Branstad, a longtime Republican political operative in Iowa and son of the Hawkeye State’s former governor, Terry Branstad, came to Mitchell’s defense.
‘These people sending this kind of stuff are jealous of success, and of how hard he works,’ Branstad told Our News Outlet.
‘Joe is as clean as they come, as far as any drugs or alcohol or partying. We were all in college once, and I’m sure we had some good and bad nights,’ Branstad added.
Mitchell became the youngest-ever state lawmaker when he was elected in 2018 at the age of 20 while still at Drake University.
He founded Run GenZ, a national 501(c)4) nonprofit organization aimed at recruiting young conservatives to run for office.
While leading the group, Mitchell partnered with powerhouse conservative organizations such as Turning Point USA and the American Legislative Exchange Council.
He’s also been a Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics, and briefly served in two roles in the second Trump administration, including the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Great Plains regional administrator.
Chief Operating Officer of Turning Point Action Tyler Bowyer (L) presents next-generation expected representatives Amanda McKinney, former Sheriff Mark Lamb, Joe Mitchell and Michael Alfonso during Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 21, 2025
Mitchell has been endorsed by Turning Point Action in his congressional race
Outside of politics, Mitchell also runs a real estate development firm.
The Cook Political Report categorizes it as a ‘toss-up’ race. Mitchell’s district, rated to have a R+4 partisan voter index, would typically not draw much national interest.
However, in a cycle such as this year, the president’s policies are alienating voters even in critical swing states like Iowa that have voted for Trump three times.
Democrats see a fighting chance in the key Heartland state, where the cost of living has risen due to the war in Iran and rising diesel prices are hitting this fall, as early voting coincides with harvest season.
