Corkery: Abortion rights, ESA program outrage key for Democrats (2024)

DES MOINES — Cedar Falls Democrat Sarah Corkery said Tuesday that abortion and education could help the party regain ground from Republicans in the state, including in Northeast Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District where she is a candidate.

She said Democrats are reengaged and fired up with a change atop the ticket about issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights and supporting public education, and that this enthusiasm could lead to gains in November.

Corkery said women’s health care rights will be a crucial issue in the fall election and having a woman leading the ticket will help Democrats win.

“The Democratic Party says about 90,000 registered Democrats didn’t vote last cycle,” Corkery told reporters. “Our research … says it’s 250,000 Democrats overall, not just cycle to cycle. So we have a lot of Democrats not engaged. I say, if you’re mad about women’s rights and you’re mad about education, you got to turn up and vote here in Iowa to get anything done.”

Corkery, who is running against incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson of Marion, spoke at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Hinson declined the Register’s invitation to speak at the Soapbox.

The 2nd Congressional District covers 22 counties in Northeast Iowa, including the cities of Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Mason City and Dubuque.

Corkery, a first-time candidate and two-time breast cancer survivor, said she is running to expand access to affordable health care, lower prescription drug costs and codify a right to abortion in all 50 states.

“I truly believe all medical decisions should be between a person and a doctor, and that there should be no government involvement in this conversation at all,” she told reporters after her Soapbox speech. “… This is nobody’s business, but between a woman and her doctor.”

Corkery chastised Hinson and other Republicans who say Democrats support abortion on demand to the point of birth.

Democrats consistently have argued they do not support such abortion policies. Abortions past the point of viability, around 24 weeks gestation, are rare, according to state and federal data. And in such cases, Corkery said women are terminating wanted pregnancies due to medical complications endangering their health and fetal diagnoses likely to result in death in the womb or shortly after birth.

“I really am furious at Ashley Hinson who says people are electively having abortions at 38 weeks or longer. It’s a lie,” Corkery said. “… For me, my son almost died at 38 weeks inside of me. We were both in duress. We both almost died. This is no time for politics or jokes, and to use it as emotional manipulation is wrong.”

Corkery also emphasized the importance of public education, affordable health care and immigration reform.

She called for the end to taxpayer-funded savings accounts for families to send their children to private K-12 schools in Iowa.

Corkery, whose father is a retired Lutheran minister, said Iowa’s private schools are “lovely places,” but most are Christian schools not required, as public schools are, to accept students with disabilities like her son.

“We are Christianizing the next generation and it’s not right,” Corkery said. “We should all be able to have our own beliefs and our own thoughts.”

She also shared her own story of a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, emphasizing the need for better access to health care.

Corkery said she was spurred to run for the U.S. House seat after Hinson initially declined to sign on as a co-sponsor to bipartisan legislation introduced by Iowa GOP U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst that would give metastatic breast cancer patients access to federal support and medical care years sooner than current law allows.

The bill would waive the five-month waiting period for Social Security Disability Insurance and the 24-month waiting period for Medicare benefits for eligible individuals with metastatic breast cancer.

Corkery, who worked on national lobbying efforts to raise money for breast cancer research, said the bill would do away with unnecessary waiting periods and ensure patients get care they need.

Hinson signed on as a co-sponsor in November 2023.

Corkery also cited Hinson’s votes against the bipartisan infrastructure law and legislation capping the price of insulin.

Hinson has said government price controls will ultimately raise premiums for Americans. Instead, she said she favors another bill with several bipartisan provisions that would cap out-of-pocket insulin costs at $50 for seniors on Medicare Part D, allow high-deductible plans to cover insulin costs before the deductible kicks in, increase transparency for patients and promote innovation in the health care space.

Hinson has said she opposed the infrastructure bill because of its large price tag, and has advocated for and helped secure funding for targeted infrastructure updates and various projects in the district.

Corkery has spent more than 25 years as a marketing professional and now operates a small creative branding firm with her husband, Chris.

Hinson, a former state lawmaker and former KCRG-TV news anchor, won re-election last year to a second term by 8 percentage points against Democratic former state Sen. Liz Mathis of Hiawatha. Hinson unseated first-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer in 2020.

The Cook Political Report rates Iowa’s 2nd District as “solid Republican,” meaning the race is not considered competitive and is not likely to become closely contested.

Corkery contends it’s a “flippable” seat with Democrats, Republicans and no-party voters each accounting for roughly a third of all registered voters in the district.