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MILLER-MEEKS’ MESSY WEEK: Mariannette Miller-Meeks Says She’ll Hold Town Halls “When Hell Freezes Over”

It’s been a tough week for Mariannette Miller-Meeks. 

After she was caught on video saying she’ll hold town halls “when hell freezes over,” Miller-Meeks has faced local and national blowback for lying about her repeated promise to meet with Iowans.

DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Mariannette Miller-Meeks said it best herself: she will do her job ‘when hell freezes over.’ Miller-Meeks is hiding from Iowans because she can’t defend her record of putting her special interest donors ahead of her constituents.” 

Watch / read more: 

KGAN: “[Miller-Meeks has] been accused of dodging town halls with constituents in person for months. In a video from August 4 that was just discovered in the last day or so by media outlets, Miller-Meeks tells a group of Johnson County Republicans that she’ll hold town hall meetings, Quote, ‘when hell freezes over.’”

KGAN: Rep. Miller- Meeks says she’ll hold town hall ‘when hell freezes over’

  • Whether or not Iowa’s Congressional candidates are holding in-person town halls has become a major focal point this election cycle.
  • Many Republicans across the country have opted out of holding them after some GOP leaders advised against it, following the passing of President Donald Trumps controversial budget bill.
  • So far Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks has joined the other Republicans and hasn’t held a single in-person town hall this year. 
  • Over the past few months the Congresswoman has fielded questions on whether she would have one. 
  • However, in a video of an August Johnson County Republican meeting that came to the spotlight this week in a CNN report, she’s criticized the events and claimed Democrats are turning them into a spectacle.
  • The full video has since been taken off YouTube…
  • “Even now Tom Barton [with the] Cedar Rapids Gazette, ‘when Miller-Meeks gonna hold a town hall,’ when hell freezes over,” Rep. Miller-Meeks said. “You know, I don’t have to hold a town hall so you can come and yell at me. You can yell at me at the county fair and you did.”
CNN: A swing-district Iowa Republican says she’ll hold town halls ‘when hell freezes over’

  • Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks told Johnson County Republicans in an August meeting that she’ll hold town hall meetings “when hell freezes over.”
  • The Republican, who represents one of the nation’s most competitive House districts in southeastern Iowa, has faced questions for months over when she’ll hold a public town hall after promising to do so in April.
  • And in the meeting with the Johnson County Republicans of Iowa — which was later posted on YouTube by the county party, where it went largely unnoticed at the time — she was blunt, saying she’s already being hounded over Medicaid cuts in the GOP’s massive government funding and policy bill.
  • “You know, I don’t have to hold a town hall so you can come and yell at me,” said Miller-Meeks, who won by 799 votes in 2024…
  • Miller-Meeks’ comments came amid scrutiny over her and many other House Republicans refusing to hold public, in-person town halls. 
  • Miller-Meeks told the Johnson County Republicans that she was being pressed on when she’d hold a town hall by Tom Barton, a politics reporter for The Gazette newspaper in Cedar Rapids. “When hell freezes over,” she said.

Iowa Public Radio: Miller-Meeks tells Republicans she will hold a town hall ‘when hell freezes over’ in video

  • Iowa’s 1st District Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks said she won’t hold in-person town halls until people stop confronting Republicans about their support for the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The law, which was signed in July, is expected to cause over 7 million Americans to lose Medicaid coverage.
  • A video recently surfaced from an August meeting with Johnson County Republicans, where Miller-Meeks told them that Republicans like her, who represent swing-districts, have faced harsh criticism over their votes. 
  • ‘When’s Miller-Meeks going to hold a town hall?’ When hell freezes over!” 
  • The Republican won by just 798 votes in the last election. The 1st District is expected to be a toss-up in 2026.


Iowa Politics with Laura Belin: 
Iowans in Congress not doing town halls

  • Although U.S. House members are back in their districts, no one in the Iowa delegation has held any public town hall meetings. I’m not holding my breath. The Gazette reported comments from Miller-Meeks, defending her decision to skip town halls.
  • Telephone town halls or random conversations walking around don’t give constituents the same opportunity as a public event announced in advance.
  • After we recorded the show, I saw this CNN report on a video I missed in August. Speaking to the Johnson County GOP central committee, Miller-Meeks said Cedar Rapids Gazette reporter Tom Barton had been pressing her on when she would hold a town hall. “When hell freezes over,” she said.

Daily Kos: 
House Republican says she’ll hold a town hall ‘when hell freezes over’

  • One of the most vulnerable House Republicans up for reelection in 2026 told her colleagues that she will host a town hall meeting “when hell freezes over.” 
  • CNN obtained audio of Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Republican of Iowa, telling fellow Republicans in August that she has no desire to listen to her constituents yell at her in person—even if it’s literally her job to hear her constituents’ concerns so she can best represent them in Washington. 
  • Really, what Miller-Meeks is afraid of is being captured on video unable to defend herself when constituents ask her legitimate questions about why she is cutting their health care benefits and why she won’t stand up to President Donald Trump’s moronic tariffs, which are harming farmers in her state.

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