Pro-DEI University of Iowa law professor Christina Bohannon (D-IA), who opposed Iowa’s ‘Back the Blue Act’ while defending Black Lives Matter protesters and sanctuary city policies, is a few months away from Iowa’s Democratic primary and could face Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks for a third consecutive term if she wins the nomination after losing to the Republican incumbent the first two times.
Bohannon chaired the University of Iowa Law School’s DEI committee in 2020, the same year riots and protests occurred nationwide. george floyd. several officers in iowa city faced with The injuries occurred after protesters shined lasers at them. In Des Moines, other officials were InjuredWhich also includes the person who was allegedly kept in chokehold.
At that time, Bohannon to plead strongly Students and staff will “support the movement” by donating to the Minnesota Freedom Fund and the National Bail Out Fund, two radical nonprofits that support defunding the police.
That same year, Bohannon accepted Being “very active” in a group that worked to dismantle ICE and establish sanctuary cities. In 2019 he Donation To bail out illegal aliens through a group that dreamed of achieving a “world without police.”
Following the violent events of 2020, Iowa lawmakers passed the “Back the Blue Act” in 2021. increased Penalties for riots and other protest-related crimes, law enforcement officers were protected from publicly disclosing personal information, and qualified immunity protections were expanded for police.
Bohannon publicly protested the legislation and, while wearing a COVID mask, argued: “I really think this bill unnecessarily puts law enforcement at odds against groups like Black Lives Matter and other protesters at a time when we need to bring all these groups together.”
Bohannon co-wrote an op-ed calling Parts of the “Back the Blue Act” are “alarming and disturbing” and several central provisions of the bill have been attacked. He objected to the measure and made it a serious offense to “obstruct any street, footpath, highway or other public way with intent to prevent or hinder the lawful use thereof by others”.
He also criticized the bill’s provision that makes it a felony offense to fail to stop an unmarked law enforcement vehicle driven by a plainclothes officer, writing, “People from the BIPOC community, women, and others driving at night are required to stop for anyone with a red or red/blue flashing light, no matter how unsafe. Failure to do so can result in a penalty of up to a year in jail.”
Bohannon took issue with provisions targeting sanctuary city policies and requiring local governments and police departments to enforce state law without discretion. He argued that forcing law enforcement to carry out those mandates “is a recipe for increased tension and conflict.”
The op-ed also challenged the law’s tough penalties for rioting and unlawful assembly, which range from a serious misdemeanor to a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison for aggravated rioting. Bohannan and his co-authors argued that the measure would “chill First Amendment speech and assembly, punish harmless activity, and increase and immunize violence,” concluding that “this bill will make us less free and less safe.”
Republican National Committee spokesman Zach Kraft said, “Leave it to a DEI professor to say that supporting blue is racist. It’s pretty easy to see why ‘Black Lives Matter’ Bohannon has lost twice, and is on his way to threepeating.”
Bohannon’s political record has also been scrutinized in previous campaigns. In 2021, Washington Free Beacon questioned Public records following his own description as a former environmental engineer show that his work at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection from 1991 to 1994 was listed as “Engineering Intern” under Florida license records. The report also said it did not find evidence that Bohannon had worked as an engineer at any other time in his career.
The Iowa Field Report also highlights posts that Bohannon posted on a former campaign website before launching his congressional campaign. According to those reports, Bohannon described Iowa’s voter ID requirement as a “threat to democratic governance”, argued that barring felons convicted of crimes including rape and murder from voting was also a “threat to democratic governance”, supported allowing Medicaid funding to pay for “gender confirmation surgery” for transgender individuals, and defended teaching critical race theory in Iowa schools, calling it “important work.”
In 2022, Hillary Clinton’s political action committee, Onward Together, Contribution $2,500 to Bohannon’s campaign.
