Republican Iowa congressional candidate Joe Mitchell told a crowd in Clive on Wednesday that if voters send him to Washington next week, he wants a seat on the House Oversight Committee for one reason above the rest: to go after Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Speaking at a Make Iowa Healthy Again get-out-the-vote rally hosted by MAHA PAC — headlined by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Mitchell recounted his grandmother's death following a COVID-19 vaccination before describing a conversation he said he had with a member of Congress on a steering committee.
"And they said there was a mandate here in the nursing home, so she went from a perfectly healthy 93-year-old to dead within two weeks," Mitchell said, according to Breitbart's account of the rally.
"And I just talked to a member of Congress who's on one of the steering committees, and she said, 'When you're elected next Tuesday, which committees would you like to be on?' And I said, 'I want to be on oversight because I want to investigate the hell out of Anthony Fauci for what he did to this country.'"
Breitbart reported that the line drew cheers from the audience, with some attendees standing in response.
Mitchell said MAHA Action endorsed only 13 candidates nationwide, including himself and Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn."
The rally came six days before the November 3 midterm elections, in a race that has drawn attention well beyond Iowa. Mitchell is running for Iowa's 2nd Congressional District seat left open by Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for the Senate.
Immigration Dominates the District Race
According to Iowa Public Radio, the contest between Mitchell and Democrat Lindsay James is among the nation's most competitive midterm congressional races, with Libertarian Rick Stewart and independent Dave Bushaw also on the ballot. IPR reported that both major-party candidates have pledged to maintain secure American borders, and that some district voters are weary of immigration crackdowns two years after Republicans took Washington in 2024.
At a September 12 Republican fundraiser in Iowa City, Mitchell went after James's legislative record, saying she "missed over half her votes in the Legislature, and when she was there, she was voting to give illegal immigrants housing benefits, state Medicaid and food stamps." IPR reported that Mitchell appeared to reference SF 2422, a law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in June that revokes food assistance eligibility from some immigrant groups, and that James was absent from both House votes on the legislation. Fox News reported she missed 177 of 342 votes, or 51.7%, in the 2026 legislative session, according to IPR.
IPR also reported that James has distanced herself from her party's approach to immigration, while Mitchell has worked to tie her to Biden-era border policy. The outlet quoted Elizabeth Duff-Popplewell, a Presbyterian minister in Waterloo who works with immigrant communities, describing the destabilizing effect of Trump administration policies on those communities.
Fauci Oversight Push Follows Years of GOP Demands
Mitchell's vow lands as the Make America Healthy Again movement, tied to Kennedy's HHS, pushes for accountability over the federal COVID-19 response. Fauci, who has long been a target of Republican oversight efforts on Capitol Hill, is not a member of Congress and has faced repeated calls for testimony and investigation from GOP lawmakers.
It is not yet known whether Republican leadership would grant Mitchell the Oversight seat he described seeking, or whether that conversation with a member of Congress happened as he recounted it. The committee assignment process depends on the outcome of the November 3 election and on House Republican steering decisions made afterward.
For voters in the 2nd District, the pitch is simple: a first-time candidate promising no corporate PAC money and a committee seat aimed at Fauci and the agencies that shut down schools and businesses. Whether that message carries a swing district that both parties are watching is the question Tuesday answers.
Our Take
Patriots, this is what accountability looks like when it comes from outside the Beltway. Joe Mitchell is not a committee chairman with a gavel and a donor list — he is a candidate telling Iowans exactly what he will do with power before they hand it to him. No hedging. No consultant-approved language about "reviewing the matter." Just a man who buried his grandmother and wants answers from the bureaucrat who presided over the mandates.
Why does this matter? Because Fauci spent years telling Americans to trust him, while the agencies he ran resisted transparency at every turn. Republicans in Congress have held hearings, issued subpoenas and produced reports — and the American people are still waiting for real consequences. A new voice on Oversight with personal skin in the game is exactly the kind of pressure the administrative state fears.
And notice the contrast in this race. Mitchell is refusing corporate PAC money while his opponent skipped more than half her legislative votes, according to Fox News reporting cited by Iowa Public Radio. Iowans can send a message Tuesday: that the era of politicians who hide from votes and protect the bureaucracy is over. The question is whether they will.
