Democrat Sarah Corkery is running to unseat the two-term Republican in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District.
The Democrat candidate is running against incumbent Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, who is seeking her third term. WVIK News spoke with Sarah Corkery about her campaign and some of the issues voters say are top priorities leading up to the November 5th election.
WVIK News edited the transcript for clarity.
WVIK News: Thank you so much, Sarah, for joining me today here at WVIK. I would like to talk about your campaign and some of the issues that you support or issues that you think you need more perspectives on. So to start, can I get your full name, please?
Sarah Corkery: You bet. Sarah Corkery, and that's spelled S-A-R-A-H-C-O-R-K-E-R-Y.
WVIK News: Thank you. And what made you decide to run for the Iowa 2nd Congressional District?
Corkery: Well, the reason is we personally have had setbacks in our life and we have turned those into set ups for success. So one of those setbacks was I've had breast cancer twice. And afterwards, we went to Washington, D.C. with a group and we asked Ashley Hinson to co-sponsor a bill that would have waived a waiting period. And she refused. And we asked multiple times. So on October 17th of last year, I filed my federal papers. And on October 17th of last year, she signed that bill. I say she signed it in honor of Sarah Corkery. But it should not take running for Congress to get your elected officials' attention or for them to do the right thing.
WVIK News: What policies that Congresswoman Hinson supports that you disagree with? And why should voters take notice of that?
Corkery: OK, so unrelated to that bill we just talked about, because I can give you the name of that bill in case you want to look it up later, too.
WVIK News: Sure. Go right ahead.
Corkery: So that bill was called the Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act. And if you find it on the Congress website, you'll see she added her name on October 17th. So I think your question was, what is something she agrees with that I disagree with?
WVIK News: Yes, correct.
Corkery: OK, so the main one is she has also co-sponsored a bill called Life at Conception. What that means is she believes and has signed a paper that said life starts at conception. And because of that, it also clearly outlined that they would like a national abortion ban with no exceptions, not rape, incest, or life of the mother. I believe the opposite should be true. I believe we should trust women in conjunction with their doctors to make decisions about how and when they have children and what's best for their medical, emotional, and financial... and what makes the most financial sense for them. And it's complicated. So I really believe the conversation should just be between a person and a doctor. And make that call. And my opponent is the opposite. She will vote for a national abortion ban if she's got the chance.
WVIK News: And sticking with health care, what other policies or ideas would you support if elected to Congress that would help Americans afford health care?
Corkery: She also signed against one that was called Access to Contraception. That should just be a right. People should be able to access contraception, especially people who don't want abortions to happen. We need to provide that care. She did recently propose a bill to make over-the-counter birth control available to women. Which I applaud her on. The national OBGYN group approves of that decision. But to me, it's a little bit too little, too late. Because the only one you'll be allowed to buy over-the-counter is, in fact, the least effective. And I can explain why. The pill, over-the-counter birth control pill, has some hormones in it. But because it's not being regulated by a doctor, they have to put the minimum amount in there because there are complications to people when you change their hormones. And so if a doctor's not involved, they have chosen to make the one with the least amount of hormones as the one you can get over-the-counter. That is also the least effective form of over-the-counter pills you can buy.
WVIK News: And what policies would you support that would differ from Congresswoman Hinson's when it comes to health care? I know you mentioned a few, but are there any others?
Corkery: Oh, yes. There are. Mental health. Ashley Hinson says she cares about her kids, Jax and Max. But when we have had as many school shootings as we have had, we know there is a mental health crisis. We know Iowa is the worst in the nation for number of mental health providers per capita. And because of that, she did not sponsor the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. That would have literally provided more mental health services in public schools to try to keep people safe. She also said she would try to reduce shootings because when we help people who have mental problems, that helps them not create crime. But she chose to vote against that. And then when we had our school shooting in Perry, she said these words. 'It's too bad we cannot legislate away this type of hate.' But she is exactly the person who is supposed to do that. And I'm not bought and sold by the NRA like she is. But I also agree that there's some common sense things we can do. Without taking anyone's gun away. Called make sure children don't have access to guns. If parents give their children guns or make them accessible and a crime happens, they need to be accountable. And here in Iowa, we just need a simple background check run on everybody. Because the loophole in Iowa is if you buy it at a gun sale or from a private person, no background check. Well, it's simple. Run the background check. If you're sure that you will get a gun, then run a background check. It's simple. And I just said three things that we could do today that wouldn't take anybody's gun away from them. So Ashley got that one wrong, too.
WVIK News: What policies or issues have voters been coming up to you and saying we would like legislation on this issue or I'm seeing Congresswoman Hinson or other elected officials within Iowa doing something that I don't agree with? What has been kind of the common issues that you've seen?
Corkery: The top three issues I repeatedly hear are women want access to make reproductive health choices with their doctor. End of story. What does that mean? We need to codify a law to protect women's rights to have access to abortion. We really do. Because of things like ectopic pregnancies that are not viable. But if now someone finds out they're pregnant and most women don't know they're pregnant until after six weeks, now a doctor has to decide when and if a patient's life is in jeopardy before they are allowed to do a procedure called a DNC and give them an abortion pill. And we are chasing away our doctors. We also have the least number of doctors, OBGYN doctors, in Iowa compared to the capita. So per capita we have the least number of OBGYN providers and we are scaring them away because they don't want to practice here under these laws. So number one, women's access to healthcare, reproductive rights. Number two, education. The voucher program, which is a state issue, is vastly unpopular by most of Iowans. And third, the environment, making sure we find ways to protect this rich soil and keep it around for as long as we can by reducing erosion and reducing contaminations that get into our waters. We are also the second-highest rate in Iowa for cancer incidents. And we are, in fact, the only state with a rising amount of cancer. And I think we know why we need to clean up our bridges, excuse me our water and our earth. And be sure that we leave it better than we found it. So again its abortion, education and the environment. That's what real Iowans are talking about.
WVIK News: Thank you so much, Sarah. And sticking with the environment — that you brought up and mentioned agricultural runoff, microplastics, PFAS chemicals. Have you been hearing any ideas that you support that would help clean up Iowa's waterways?
Corkery: Yes! There are so many things that we can do. I met with a tremendous farmer named Liz Garst, G-A-R-S-T. I met with her for a long time and she really took the time to explain the core of the problem is that we need to maintain the health of our dirt. And there are some simple farming things we can do. I am not here to tell a farmer how to do their job, but I think we all agree we want the dirt to stay available and be healthy. And so what we need to do — why the Farm bill is being held up right now is because of two reasons. One is tied to SNAP and some people would like to cap the amount of SNAP, which would protect it, but we all know the cost of living is going to go up. And the other reason it's being held up is because we tried to put some environmental policies in there to help farmers reduce problems with farming. And that is being negotiated now between the Democrats and the Republicans. But we all know that we're seeing the water, the rain come down harder and faster which means there is more run off. There are a lot of tools to help farmers not spray near waterways, which they're already not doing, but further reducing the amount that gets in there. So I think we gotta throw a goal out of, let's say we pick one, soil erosion. Let's just say that. So here's what I learned from Liz Garst. She said, at the rate of erosion we are experiencing now, farmers can legally lose up to five tons of topsoil per acre. That's five tons of topsoil per acre per year. At that rate, according to Liz Garst, Northwest Iowa will run out of topsoil in 50 years, and Northeast Iowa will run out of topsoil in 100 years. Well, we need to look further past that. I think we would all like to see these beautiful crops coming in in the harvest well beyond 100 years. So again, we'll throw out a number. I don't think that should be an allowable amount, but that is what it currently is. So let's get some smart people working on this and find ways to make sure that we are around and have a great topsoil for much longer than 100 years.
WVIK News: And you mentioned one of the other issues that voters are interested in, top priority for them is education. I know in Iowa, it's pretty much partisan lines for the Iowa School Voucher Program. So I'm assuming, but correct me if I'm wrong here, that you are not a supporter of the School Voucher Program in Iowa?
Corkery: You are correct. I am against the Voucher Program. I believe public dollars belong in public schools. And they've been so vastly underfunded at 2.5% for a long time that we have a lot of ground to make up. So we cannot divert resources away from our public schools. People used to move to Iowa because our public schools were so strong. I fear this voucher bill is really a way to set up a two -party class system. Rich people and people who can afford these, or even they... What the voucher program is supposed to do is help give parents choice. Well, they've always had choice. So do they have to spend more? Yes. And every parent I have talked to on this issue, Republican, Democrat, Catholic, they all say, this isn't really accomplishing what we'd hoped. There's not a whole bunch of new students coming in. It's just costing the state a lot of money. So it's a problem, and this solution didn't work. And sometimes you have to say, we made the wrong choice. And that's okay, but we need to fix it. Because also public schools are places where people with disabilities are allowed to go. Since 1990, when the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, that meant disabled kids got a public education too. And we actually have a child with a disability who has benefited from public school. And you know who doesn't have to take a kid with a disability? Church schools, private schools. They get to pick and choose. That's not fair. That's not fair to our public schools. They're also not held to the same accountability, both for test standards and auditing. Our own Rob Sand thought it was a mistake that they took the auditing out of the voucher bill. So this is the truth. Parents get $7,000 or $8,000 to use for this private school. They pick their school, they give them that money. The only thing that's illegal is the school can't give a kickback to the parent. So they can use the money for a new football field, new uniform, all of it. So it's not fair. I mean, our public school board, they have such oversight and accountability of every single dollar. And so to think of these millions of dollars going, you know, spending, and we have no idea where it's going. Well, Rob Sand also quotes scripture, and he says, 'lead us not into temptation'. And that is because when you are taking care of that much money, mistakes will happen to even people who are well intended. So that's why we have an auditing system for public dollars. Again, that's why public dollars belong in public schools.
WVIK News: And if that is the wrong way of going about education with the school voucher program, what needs to be done to help our Department of Education and just Iowan schools in general be able to succeed?
Corkery: First of all, get rid of the voucher bill because it's costing us millions of dollars and it's already over budget. And so to just admit we tried this, the results did not end up where we wanted, which is more kids in private schools. We're giving parent choice, right? Then it's time to say back that up, quit that. Then we need to back and fully fund our AEAs. It's a lot to fix, but we need to do it. And the reason we know why is because we all know that kids are important and they all, it's the great level playing field is public education. So if we really mean it, we need to put our money where our mouth is and find that money. To give them more resources. End of story.
WVIK News: And moving on to, I know for some voters, this is a priority, border security, helping with the asylum system in place in the United States. What policies would you support if elected in Congress that would help kind of solve the issues that we're seeing at the border?
Corkery: I would go back and review the plan that good, hardworking Republicans worked on with good, hardworking Democrats. That plan would have given us more border agents. It was actually approved plan by the border agents. It would have given the president the ability to shut the whole thing down if needed. And who blocked it? Extreme conservative Republicans blocked it. And that was again a political play. Let's not give anybody a win this close to the election. Well, Iowans are tired of people playing politics with their lives. If this is such a serious issue, take care of it. We have many ways. I just wish for maybe one year, everybody just closed their eyes and said, we don't care what letters behind your name, let's work together and get this done. How much more would get done if we weren't worried about who got the credit for it? But unfortunately, that's where we are. So we have to find ways to have common ground with our friends. You know, Liz Mathis, when she was in the State Senate, she used to have what she called Meat Mondays, M -E -A -T, because she went to dinner with the farmers and talked about issues. And she said she made the most relationships there and not under the dome. Well, we can also do that when we get to D .C. I like to eat meat, too. (laughs)
WVIK News: And is there any issues I may not have asked you about that is important for your campaign, an issue that voters care about?
Corkery: You know, it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I really think we need to use this as a public education opportunity. A lot of people think breast cancer is fixed and solved. No, people are still dying of metastatic breast cancer. I put a video on my public Facebook candidate page of my friend Cassie Beal. I would encourage you to go watch it. The family has allowed me to use it on social media, but it will make you cry. She says, I'm Cassie Beal. I'm 40-some years old. I think she was 30-something years old. And she said, I'm dying of metastatic breast cancer. It has spread to my lung and my brain. And she chokes up and she says, my kids are 9 and 11. And it breaks your heart, because she died of metastatic breast cancer. And that is the bill I went out to champion, and that's the bill Ashley Hinson said no to. And that video was made for Ashley Hinson. That is who Cassie made that video for. So we need to say her name, Cassie Beal, because she died. She died from metastatic breast cancer. And people need to know this is serious, and it's not solved. And everybody who has cancer now knows Ashley Hinson will not be there for you when you need her. And that is not someone who should be representing Northeast Iowa.
WVIK News: And at this point, the final question I have is, and you've kind of answered this throughout the interview, but a voter who is still undecided, I know we're under 20 days to Election Day, what would you say to them that they should cast their vote for you instead of Congresswoman Hinson?
Corkery: If you're undecided, here is the real reason you should vote for me. The Democratic Party is great, but they have not given us a dollar. I'm not a Republican, so of course we haven't gotten money there. I'm also not bought and sold by any big interest. You can look at our fundraising numbers. We're at like $450,000 with $3,000 of PAC money. So I am truly a free agent. If you put me out in Washington, D.C., I vote for the 800,000 people who I will talk to, all of them, because guess what else? I went to the Club 45 office in Decorah, and for two hours I took questions from Republicans, and I went in and said I'm not here to change anybody's mind. I'm here to listen, and I'm here to talk. And we had a civil conversation, and that's a great place to start. But I don't know if Northeast Iowa is going to get another shot at this, because the Democratic Party chose to focus on the 1st and 3rd District. From day one they told me they would not help us, but we did it anyway because we believe in Northeast Iowa. And the polls are showing that we are right neck and neck with her. So you've got a chance to get in somebody who doesn't even have to work for the Democratic Party. I get to work for truly the people. I don't know that you're going to get many more chances like this. So because we didn't get picked by the party, we got a shot at getting a moderate Democrat who I underspent my corporate budget at a large financial institution by over a million dollars the last two years, just because we didn't need to spend it. And you know what? I think we need more people like that in government too.
WVIK News: All right. Thank you so much, Sarah, for taking the time out of your day today and speaking with WVIK. And with that, that's all the questions I have for you.
Corkery: Okay. Thanks for your time.
WVIK News: No problem. Thank you, Sarah.
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