Travis Terrell facebook.com/terrellforcongress/

Laura Belin at Bleeding Heartland has been interviewing Democratic candidates running for office in 2026.  You can find the interviews on the Bleeding Heartland YouTube channel along with a summary of the interview and transcript. They are a good way to get to know the candidates.

I would like to highlight Travis Terrell today who is running to oppose Mariannette Miller-Meeks for congress in IA-01.  So far Travis, Bob Krause and Christina Bohannan have announced campaigns and will meet in a primary.

Terrell is out there making the case for Democrats even though he doesn’t have much money, as he says in the interview. He is knocking on doors at night after work and traveling to the reddest parts of the district, reserving a space in a local library to meet with people and hear their concerns. He states that he is unafraid to talk to Republican voters.

“I want to go to places where I’m going to be challenged.. I want to face Republicans because right now one of the biggest gripes a lot of people in this district have is Marianette Miller-Meeks is nowhere to be found.. She’ll come to town for the photo ops but other than that she’s nowhere and she won’t talk to her constituents, she won’t listen to anything from anybody. I want to go to the reddest parts of the state and say you know, you’re not going to agree with me on social issues and I’m not going to lie and say you will but I am going to fight for you on your rights to like, a fair life and to be a worker that’s actually valued by your corporation instead of just walked on.  So in Sigourney I didn’t really get any push back.. Everybody there was great.. They loved hearing my ideas..They were very supportive.” – Travis Terrell

I have to respect someone who is willing to put the work in even though they may be considered a long shot candidate.  He is out there doing the work of Democracy, doing the work that the Democrats have been rightfully criticized for not doing in recent years, that is, showing up, talking to rural voters, small town voters, regardless of party.

If you would like to find out more about Travis Terrell, volunteer with his campaign or help him out with a donation, visit his website at terrellforcongress.com/.