(Radio Iowa) – State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott is running for the Democratic nomination in Iowa’s third congressional district, which Republican Zach Nunn has represented since 2023. Trone Garriott of West Des Moines is a Lutheran pastor who has served in the Iowa legislature since 2021. Trone Garriott says she’s running for congress to take on the political establishment and stand up for reproductive freedom.

State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott (D-West Des Moines) (official photo)

Trone Garriott, who is 46, says the General Election race in Iowa’s third congressional district will be one of the closest in the country.

In 2022, Republican Zach Nunn won the district by just two-thousand votes and won reelection last year by a nearly four percent margin. Trone Garriott says she’s no stranger to tough elections. Due to the once-a-decade reshuffling of district lines and the timing of elections, Trone Garriott has won three races in the past four years for a seat in the Iowa Senate. She’s the first Democrat to announce a run in the third district.

Trone Garriott has been a hospital chaplain and has served congregations in rural Virginia and suburban Des Moines. Since 2017, she been coordinator of interfaith engagement for the Des Moines Area Religious Council Food Pantry Network.