Christina Bohannan, a Democratic candidate in a battleground Iowa district, is facing scrutiny from Republicans over past remarks in which she said the state would be viewed as «backwards» without diversity training in schools and argued the nation’s founders were motivated by preserving slavery during the Revolutionary War.

Bohannan, a law professor and former Iowa state representative, is making her third attempt to unseat incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, in the state’s 1st Congressional District after losing by less than a percentage point in 2024. The razor-thin margin has set up a high-stakes rematch this cycle, as Republicans work to defend one of their most competitive seats while highlighting Bohannan’s past positions on diversity, equity and inclusion.

«DEI Queen Christina Bohannan thinks George Floyd is a role model, and George Washington should be cancelled,» Republican National Committee spokesperson Zach Kraft said in a statement to Fox News Digital. «Iowans will channel the spirit of 1776 to reject this two-time loser once again so she can return to her day job calling everyone and everything racist.» 

Bohannan made the remarks now under GOP fire on the podcast «Under the Dome» in 2021.

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Bohannan, then a state representative, said she was «really concerned» about a bill in the Iowa legislature banning diversity training, including implicit bias training, from being taught at public schools and universities. She said that implicit bias, an unconscious attitude a person may have toward someone based on race, is «very real,» and is «serious.»

«I think that it is going to be very divisive if passed,» Bohannan said at the time. «I think that it’s going to send a very bad message about Iowa and that it is going to seem like are kind of this backwards state that doesn’t understand there are things like systemic racism.»

Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed that bill into law in June 2021.

Bohannan also said on the podcast that she was «glad» that a Republican-backed bill banning the 1619 Project, a New York Times initiative that suggests slavery is central to the nation’s founding, failed during the legislative session.

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Christina Bohannan, candidate for Iowa’s first congressional district, listens during a roundtable on affordable housing Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa. (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

The 1619 Project focuses «on the fact that there were some Revolutionary leaders who became supportive of that Revolution because they wanted to preserve the institution of slavery,» Bohannan said, noting there were other reasons for the revolution, such as taxation.

Fox News Digital reached out to Bohannan for comment.

Bohannan has supported diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, as well as police reform and migrant rights groups, for years.

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While in the Iowa legislature, she co-sponsored a bill requiring implicit bias training for health professionals, but the bill never made it out of committee.

As chairwoman of the University of Iowa law school’s DEI Committee, she pushed students to support the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. In a letter to students, she listed five different funds students can donate to, including the Minnesota Freedom Fund and the National Bail Out Fund, which both support defunding the police.

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 16, 2025. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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During a candidate forum in 2020, at the time of Bohannan’s first congressional campaign, she said she was «very active» in Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa, a group focused on abolishing ICE, the Washington Free Beacon reported. A year prior, Bohannan donated money to the Prairieland Freedom Fund to help bail illegal immigrants out of jail. The Prairieland Freedom Fund seeks to establish a «world without police.»

Fox News Digital reached out to Miller-Meeks’ campaign for comment.

Quién es John Phelan

El secretario interino

Hung Cao asumirá como director interino de la Marina. Foto: AP

Judges at the International Criminal Court on Thursday confirmed crimes against humanity charges against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte for deadly anti-drugs crackdowns he allegedly oversaw while in office.

A three-judge panel found unanimously there were «substantial grounds» to believe the ex-leader was responsible for dozens of murders, first as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later as president.

Duterte, 80, was arrested in the Philippines last year and denies the charges against him.

In their 50-page decision, judges found that the evidence shows that Duterte «developed, disseminated and implemented» a policy «to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals.»

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According to prosecutors, police and hit squad members carried out dozens of murders at Duterte’s behest, motivated by the promise of money or to avoid becoming targets themselves.

«For some, killing reached the level of a perverse form of competition,» deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang told the court in pretrial hearings in February.

A date for the start of the trial has not yet been set.

Duterte’s lead defense lawyer Nick Kaufman told judges during the February hearings that he «stands behind his legacy resolutely, and he maintains his innocence absolutely.»

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Former President Rodrigo Duterte speaks inside Southorn Stadium during a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP)

Kaufman argued that the prosecution «cherry-picked» examples of Duterte’s «bombastic rhetoric,» and his client’s words were never intended to incite violence.

Estimates of the death toll during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported to up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.

Duterte has not been present in the courtroom for any hearings, having waived his right to appear. Last month judges found he was fit to stand trial, after postponing an earlier hearing over concerns about his health.

Security officers patrol the airport in Manila, Philippines, after former President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on March 11, 2025. (Aaron Favila/AP)

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ICC prosecutors said in 2018 that they would open a preliminary investigation into the violent drug crackdowns. In a move that human rights activists say was aimed at avoiding accountability, Duterte, who was president at the time, announced a month later that the Philippines would leave the court.

On Wednesday, appeals judges rejected a request from Duterte’s legal team to throw out the case on the grounds that the court did not have jurisdiction because of the Philippine withdrawal.