| New bombshell reporting uncovered that Mariannette Miller-Meeks rented a condo in Washington, D.C. from two lobbyists who made millions lobbying for the pharmaceutical industry.
Reporting found that “while sitting on a House subcommittee that oversees drug pricing,” Miller-Meeks rented from “two lobbyists who frequented The Hill’s list of Washington’s top lobbyists” who “made nearly $2 million lobbying on behalf of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).”
Miller-Meeks and the lobbyist both “confirmed the relationship,” but refused to be transparent about the rental arrangement, “declin[ing] to make the lease available for review” or “say for how long the lease lasted.”
DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Mariannette Miller-Meeks finds new ways every day to prove she is in the pocket of the special interests: not only did she take hundreds of thousands in campaign cash from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries while voting their way, Miller-Meeks lived under the roof of and paid rent to Big Pharma lobbyists making millions off Iowans’ pain. Miller-Meeks owes Iowans answers about the circumstances of her shady lobbyist living arrangement.”
Key points from the report in Iowa Starting Line:
- While sitting on a House subcommittee that oversees drug pricing, Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks was renting her DC apartment from lobbyists paid millions to fight prescription drug cost reforms on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry.
- Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks rented a Washington, D.C. apartment from two lobbyists whose firm was paid $1.8 million to lobby Congress on behalf of one of the pharmaceutical industry’s main trade groups.
- Miller-Meeks rented a row house apartment in Washington, DC’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, just two blocks south of the Capitol. Her landlords, Carlyle “Carl” Thorsen and James “Alec” French, are two lobbyists who frequented The Hill’s list of Washington’s top lobbyists. The pair founded Washington, DC lobbying firm Thorsen French Advocacy, which made nearly $2 million lobbying on behalf of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
- Both Thorsen and a spokesperson for Miller-Meeks separately confirmed the relationship to Iowa Starting Line.
- The campaign declined to make the lease available for review, saying standard residential leases are not reported on financial disclosure forms. A spokesperson also declined to say for how long the lease lasted.
- Miller-Meeks sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health and chairs the Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Health. Over the course of her career, she has taken $264,498 from the pharmaceutical industry, according to Open Secrets. She was widely criticized during her 2024 campaign for taking money from insulin manufacturer Eli Lilly & Co’s corporate PAC the same day she voted against capping insulin prices for seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act.
- Miller-Meeks’ rental agreement with Thorsen and French does not appear anywhere in her annual House financial disclosure reports for 2023 or 2024—the two filing years that cover the period in question. Those filings, which she certified as “true, complete, and correct,” list her investment accounts, her mortgage on an out-of-district property in Ottumwa, and other financial relationships in detail, but contain no reference to Thorsen, French, or the Capitol Hill apartment.
- Iowa Starting Line reviewed all of Miller-Meeks’ financial disclosures dating back to her first filing in 2020—none of them reference the rental arrangement.
- From 2011 to 2025, Thorsen French Advocacy received $30,000 per quarter—$1.8 million in total—from PhRMA, according to US Senate lobbying disclosure records. The firm specifically lobbied on “issues related to drug pricing.” The firm lobbied against the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act and the Drug Competition Enhancement Act, two bipartisan bills aimed at lowering drug costs by targeting practices employed by the pharmaceutical industry.
- When French retired last year, the firm’s name was changed to Radius Advocacy. There, Thorsen, who was counsel for the House Judiciary committee and formerly worked for House Republican leaders, continues to work out of the same rowhouse he rented to the Iowa Congresswoman.
- Former US Rep. Dave Loebsack, a Democrat who represented much of Miller-Meeks’ district, said the arrangement with lobbyists reflects poor judgment regardless of its legality.
- “If I were in Congress, for the life of me, I wouldn’t rent from a lobbyist,” Loebsack told Iowa Starting Line. “Why would I want to tie myself to a lobbyist? It’s a judgment issue. Don’t care if it’s a Democrat or a Republican.”
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