Vulnerable Dem's campaign pitch clashes with 'radical' voting record on top culture war issue
Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District, is trying to reassure voters that she doesn’t support men having access to women’s locker rooms — a stance she believes her opponents have tried to obfuscate.
"I’m a mom with two kids in Iowa public schools. Their education and safety literally keep me up at night. So, when my opponent cherry-picks and twists my record, I have to set it straight," Trone Garriott said in a recent campaign video.
"I oppose letting men in women’s locker rooms," she added.
However, Trone Garriott's voting record from her time in the Iowa legislature is clashing with her assertions, complicating the picture for her as she attempts to flip one of the country’s most competitive House seats and topple incumbent Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa.
Even before Trone Garriott captured the Democratic nomination to run in the district earlier this year, Republicans have sought to highlight parts of her record that seem to show she has championed positions farther left than the campaign she’s currently running.
Many have bashed a Muslim prayer she offered up on the Iowa Senate floor and how, as a Lutheran minister, she officiated a satanic wedding.
However, it was Trone Garriott’s stance on bathroom policy that Vice President J.D. Vance zeroed in on in a campaign speech for Nunn earlier this year.
"His opponent voted to push biological males in girls’ sports as early as kindergarten. She was voting against banning gender transition surgeries for minors," Vance said.
Vance, like other Republican critics, referred to two key votes Trone Garriott cast in the Iowa Senate: one, passed in 2023, prohibits elementary and secondary schools from letting someone enter a bathroom "that does not correspond with the person’s biological sex." A second bill, which became law in 2022, sets the eligibility rules for school and college sports teams based on biological sex.
Trone Garriott voted against both of them.
Her votes seem consistent with previous statements she made in 2023 where she indicated bathroom policies and sports policies looking to restrict participants were based on racial and gender tensions.
"It’s very threatening of the idea of the white, male powerful figure because it muddies the waters and makes things ambiguous and confusing," Trone Garriott said in an address with the United Methodist Church, speaking on politics and faith.
"We see all sorts of responses happening in legislation and in community conflict — a lot more emphasis on really funding and supporting the private schools, the parents’ rights. And within that, the parents’ rights piece is used to enact book bans, sports bans about who can play and who can compete; it’s really couched in a language of there’s a threat to women. And white men are responsible to protect women against threats."
Her campaign did not address how her previous votes and statements align with her current campaign positions, or whether those positions have changed. But in a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Trone Garriott said she stood by her campaign video.
"Sarah does not want men in women’s locker rooms. As a parent, there is nothing more important than the safety of our children, that’s why she will always stand up for a parent’s right to decide what’s best for their children," Zach Schenkman, the spokesperson, said.
In her campaign video, Trone Garriott said she believed too much political attention had been given to the topic.
"Politicians have become too extreme on these issues. I’ll always put kids and families first," Trone Garriott said.
At least one Republican strategist isn't buying the switch in position.
"Even Sarah Trone Garriott's handlers realize her radical record and insane history of woke statements is completely unelectable in Iowa. No amount of false ads or consultant lies will hide the truth about the Wicked Witch of Woke and her sinister trans-for-all obsession," Zach Kraft, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee (RNC) said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Nunn, the district’s current representative, last won re-election in a 51.8% to 47.9% victory over Democratic challenger Lanon Baccam in 2024. With the Democratic nomination in tow, Trone Garriott will face off against Nunn in the Nov. 3 general election.