Republican Joe Mitchell said Friday voters could trust his pledge to combat “corruption” in Congress because his campaign is not accepting corporate political action committee money — a position that he said makes him distinct from other GOP candidates.
Mitchell, the Republican candidate for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, told the crowd gathered at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair that when he launched his campaign in September 2025, one of his first commitments was to not take corporate PAC money.
“We said number one, we’re not taking any corporate PAC money,” Mitchell said. “Right — so no money from BlackRock, no money from Pfizer, no money from Goldman Sachs, no money from any of these huge, gigantic institutions and corporations that have screwed us over for years. I’ll be the only Republican in Congress not taking corporate PAC money, by the way. So we’re going to start that trend.”
Mitchell, a former state lawmaker and the founder of Run Gen Z, a young conservative organization, said he had other plans to reform Washington, D.C., and rein in corporate influence in politics. He highlighted goals to implement term limits, ban insider trading and “stop the lawmaker-to-lobbyist pipeline,” he said.
Three of these four proposals could be tackled through legislation, Mitchell told reporters. But he said preventing politicians from taking corporate PAC money is “a little more difficult,” as it would require a constitutional amendment to overturn the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a ruling that struck down limits on how much money a corporation can directly spend on political campaigns.
Mitchell said he was willing to work with Democrats and others to overturn Citizens United, as well as advance other policies he supports.
“Being the only person not taking corporate PAC money and criticizing the Citizens United court decision in 2010 makes us unique in that part, and we’ll work with Democrats,” Mitchell said. “This is a bipartisan issue. Everything we talk about is pretty much bipartisan issue on the anti-corruption platform that we have, and so we’re willing to work with Democrats in Congress to get those things done. And we think it’s important for the American people, and shouldn’t be a partisan issue.”
Though Mitchell said his campaign does not take corporate PAC money, his campaign has taken $17,500 in funding from political action committees associated with home builders and mortgage industries, Iowa Starting Line, a left-leaning outlet reported. He said these groups are not corporate PACs — “I mean, there’s plenty of Democrats that say, ‘no corporate PAC money,’ that take trade association money,” Mitchell said.
His comments about opposing lawmakers becoming lobbyists has also been a point of scrutiny, as Mitchell was a founder of the Iowa Real Estate Developers Association. Mitchell told reporters he has never been a registered lobbyist at the Iowa State Capitol, and said, “I couldn’t lobby legally because there’s a moratorium for two years, and I’d left the organization before that two years was up for the lobbying period.”
However, he said his experience at the association, as well as working as a regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Trump administration, position him well to take on these issues.
“I actually think that it makes me a better advocate to make sure that we don’t have, you know, former legislators going in there — because I never intended to be a lobbyist, which is why I wasn’t a lobbyist and went back into public service to work for the Trump administration last year,” he said. “And so, I’ve seen firsthand people that have went from being legislators or being Congresspeople to lobbying in D.C., which is a much worse problem.”
Mitchell also said he stood by an earlier statement he made against his general election opponent, state Rep. Lindsay James, a Democratic state lawmaker and ordained Presbyterian minister and chaplain. He called her a “PINO,” or “Pastor In Name Only.” James said in a video response she was “disappointed” by Mitchell’s comments, adding, “it’s not just disappointing to me, it’s disappointing to all pastors and Christians across the state of Iowa.”
The Republican candidate said he believed James’ beliefs on LGBTQ+ issues, particularly acceptance of transgender youth, disqualify her as a pastor.
“I think that, if you’re a pastor and you think that 6-year-olds can change their gender? I don’t think you’re much of a pastor,” Mitchell said. “And a lot of people agree with me on that.”
Friday was first day for The Des Moines Register Political Soapbox, which continues during the 11 days of the fair. See the schedule here.
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