“I Like to Solve Problems and I Like to Help My Neighbors” – Sarah Trone Garriott Kicks Off “Faith in Iowa” Tour, Visiting All of IA-03’s 21 Counties in 21 Days

• Going back to her days as a hospital chaplain to her time in the Iowa Senate, there is a core principle Sarah Trone Garriott has tried to live by.
• “I like to solve problems and I like to help my neighbors,” she said Friday on the first stop of her “Faith In Iowa” tour at Hotel Ottumwa. “That’s why I’ve done everything I’ve done in my life.”
• Trone Garriott, a pastor and Democratic candidate to replace two-term incumbent Zach Nunn in Iowa’s 3rd District to the U.S. House of Representatives, kicked off her tour in Ottumwa… she said she’s aware of the struggles in the community, namely the closure of the MercyOne clinic in February, as well as the increased costs of most things residents rely on.
• “This community deserves to have a representative that shows up for them,” said Trone Garriott, who has won multiple state races in conservative areas. “After his vote to cut healthcare funding closed Ottumwa’s clinic, Zach Nunn has refused to face the people who were affected.”
• Trone Garriott answered questions from a crowd of about 50 people during the stop, which is a 21-county tour in 21 days, reflecting the number of counties in the district.
• From fuel, food and fertilizer to health insurance, Trone Garriott said rising costs are the result of policy decisions made at the federal level.
• “There are a lot of folks choosing between groceries and gas right now. Order No. 1 is putting an end to these chaotic tariffs. They can have a place if they’re thought out, but what we see is chaos that is wreaking havoc on our economy, and they’ve destroyed our soybean markets,” she said. “And the people are paying the bill. We see a lot of corruption where people are making money off of our struggle and our higher costs. Someone is benefiting, but it’s not us right now.
• “Zach Nunn promised he was going to lower costs, but instead, we now have a war in Iran that he is supporting without any congressional oversight. It’s spring planting time and fertilizer is through the roof. About 40% of farmers say they can’t afford their fertilizer. They’re making hard decisions about selling land and getting rid of equipment. It’s been a tough year for our farm economy.”
• “Choosing tax cuts has shown over and over that they don’t benefit our economy, because that money just goes into savings or investments to generate more wealth. It doesn’t actually go to create jobs,” she said.
• “We need to overturn Citizens United, but I filed a term limits bill in the Iowa Senate, and I am willing to back term limits in Congress,” she said. “We need to reform campaign finance so ordinary people can run for office. It’s really hard to be an ordinary person and do this.
• “Right now at the state level, a lot of people are retired or they’re independently wealthy. It’s really hard for a firefighter or a teacher to serve in those roles, and even harder to be able to serve in Washington,” she said. “We really need to change that because the millionaires and billionaires don’t understand what life is like for the majority of us, and they shouldn’t be making the decisions that impact our lives.”
• Trone Garriott also said she would vote to ban stock trading by members of Congress, and she will ban corporate PAC money.
• “My support comes from lots and lots of people helping and supporting my campaign,” she said. “Zach’s comes from political leaders and PAC money. So we’re kind of the opposite there. But it also asks, ‘Who are you beholden to? Who are you working for?'”
• Both political parties have low approval ratings, and Trone Garriott addressed the lack of trust in legislators, something she said didn’t happen overnight. This was an area she believed her past could guide her future.
• “I think the most important thing about building trust is showing up for people. When I was a chaplain, I worked at a children’s hospital in Chicago and my job was to be there and present for everyone,” she said. “I would go floor to floor, talk to people cleaning the rooms, security guards, the parents who couldn’t sleep at night, the kids who were awake.
• “That was how I built trust, by showing up so I could do those things. You all deserve elected leaders who show up for everybody, so that you can hold us accountable, so you can help us understand the issues in a way we need to hear so we can do a better job. That’s just the basics.
• “I am committed when I am in Congress, that I will have good constituent services and my staff will be responsive, that I will be in the district and I will hold open town halls. A lot of people can really feel let down by our political system. We have a lot of really important work ahead of us, and I would love to solve problems together.”

Jefferson Herald: Sarah Trone Garriott has faith in Iowa’s future

• “I have faith in my neighbors here in Iowa to come together and meet the big challenges that are facing us in this time, and I see in the people in my communities as I’m spending time out and about, it renews my faith and what we can do together,” State Sen. Trone Garriott said during her “Faith in Iowa” tour stop at Pickaway Americana on Tuesday.
• Trone Garriott proposed a ban on stock trading for legislators during her time representing Iowa’s 14th district, and said she would support a ban on corporate PACs. 
• This goal aligns with her support for campaign finance reform to help “an ordinary person” run for office, ban gerrymandering and to enact term limits.
• Trone Garriott said she does not support the votes of her opponent, incumbent Republican Zach Nunn, in supporting tariffs and eliminating congressional oversight for the Iran War. She said tariffs cost Iowa families about $1,300 a year and have negatively impacted the farm economy, and that the war is pulling resources away from Americans.
• “The first week of [the Iran War], two Iowans died, two people who were from my district,” Trone Garriott said. “That is a price that is too high to pay for some reckless war.”
• She also expressed concerns for hospital layoffs and clinic closures in anticipation of Medicaid cuts and the possible elimination of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
• “If the ACA goes away, that’s going to make it very hard for a lot of people,” Trone Garriott said. “I’m incredibly concerned about what that could do to our community.”
• Trone Garriott, who also works as a minister on weekends, spent nine years working for a food pantry where she said the need increased every year. When she left in December, she said there were about 32,000 people attending a month, compared to the 16,000 people a month when she started.
• “These were people who were working very hard, they had families, but the economy was not working for them,” Trone Garriott said. “Food is the first place in your budget you can cut corners. You can’t skip on your rent or mortgage, you have to put gas in your car.”
• This was the seventh stop on her “Faith in Iowa” tour, where she will visit 21 counties in 21 days, ending on May 21 in Dallas County.

Raccoon Valley Radio: Democratic Candidate for US House, Sarah Trone-Garriott, Stopped in Jefferson Tuesday

• State Senator Sarah Trone-Garriott was at PickAway Americana where she led off the event talking about her opponent, Republican incumbent Congressman Zach Nunn, not showing up for the people of Iowa’s Third Congressional District and voting on matters that only pertain to wealthy corporate interests and political leadership in Washington, D.C. that contribute funding towards his campaign. 
• Trone-Garriott said the cost of living continues to be on the rise and Nunn voting for tariffs puts more burden on Iowans. She pointed out that Nunn also voted for no Congressional oversight in the war with Iran, which means higher prices on fertilizer, making it more difficult for farmers to have better yields.
• Trone-Garriott touted accountability and showing up for people, which she said is what she has been doing as a pastor and as a state senator. She talked about meeting every member of a rural church that she was a pastor of to get to know everyone and as a state senator in a Republican district, she went to Republican and Independent homes to talk with everyone. 
• She also fielded questions from the audience, including the Farm Bill. She explained her biggest issue with the new legislation that was recently passed by the US House.
• “I am disappointed that they weren’t willing to include something for year round E-15 (gasoline) in there for Iowa farmers that would’ve been a benefit. There’s a promise that there’ll be a vote later on, but we keep hearing that promise and it’s not happening. And especially right now when we have petroleum products and oil so high because of this war, it could be a benefit for the consumer as well.”