Republican Charlie McClintock not accepting outside money in Iowa's District 2 race

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:03]Welcome to Beyond the Podium. I'm Ray Bari. Joining me today is State Senator Charlie Mcccleintoch, who is one of two Republicans running for Iowa's second congressional district. Now, this is an open seat since Congresswoman Ashley Henson is running for the open US Senate race. Charlie, it's good to have you on the program.

[00:00:18]>> Thank you very much. It's good to be here.

[00:00:19]>> In 60 seconds or less, why are you running for Congress?

[00:00:22]>> Popular question everybody always asks.

[00:00:24]Uh, you know, it was one of those things where, uh, back in September, I got a call from a group that, uh, was interested in, uh, having me run for Congress. They give a lot of compelling reasons, and after some discussion with my wife, I decided that, uh, it was something that I was wanted to do, uh, if I could do it my way. Um, within a few weeks, almost a month or so, uh, I ended up parting ways with that consulting group because I couldn't quite do it the way I wanted to and kind of meet some of their expectations. Uh so uh but that was the reason why I I I'm running kind of a unique campaign.

[00:00:56]Not doing the traditional playbook, but uh that's that's how I first got the idea to do it.

[00:01:01]>> And what do you mean by a unique uh way for how you're campaigning?

[00:01:05]>> Well, I tell you, uh maybe you're going to run for Congress someday. You might find this interesting. Um you know, when you get a consultant and you do that, you think, well, you're signing a contract with a consultant. You're not.

[00:01:16]You're actually signing a main contract and then several subcontracts.

[00:01:20]fundraising is a is a big animal, you know, I mean, you know, you get the notifications on your phone, you get the individual dialing, you get the mailing, you know, uh you get media, you know, all those all those subcontracts are different element of of uh bringing in money and all of them get paid separately. It's expensive to run a congressional campaign. You could be spending 20 30,000 a month just in your contractors and subcontractors. And uh they take a big chunk of that by the way, up to 50% depending on how you negotiate your contract. And so to get that money, you think, well, I'll just get it here locally or do that. Vast majority of that you're getting outside the outside your state, outside your district.

[00:02:01]>> So is it are you running like grassroots shoestring budget type of stuff? I just want to understand how the way you're running is unique.

[00:02:08]>> Yeah, I take no money nationwide. Don't seek any. Uh I don't do uh no pack money. None. Uh what you know, I get pack checks sent to me. I don't cash them. Uh I am completely running for the people in district two. Uh I if you want to change the way we're doing things in Congress. Um you have to start with candidate. There's just no way you can say I'm going to win and then go there and change cong change things in Congress. By the time you get there, you're part of it, you know, and you go ask your congressperson. Uh you're you're I assume you live in District 2.

[00:02:39]It's probably Ashley Henson.

[00:02:40]>> Yeah, I live in two.

[00:02:41]>> Go ask her what she does with 40 50% of her time. or any congress person, not just Ashley, ask them what Ask them what they do with their time, 40 50% of it.

[00:02:48]They're dialing for dollars. It It is a big political machine there in DC. And uh I I I don't like it as a voter, and I want to change the way we do things.

[00:03:00]>> And speaking of this race, as I mentioned at the introduction, you're one of two Republicans. Your opponent is former state representative and founder of Run Gen Z, Joe Mitchell. Yes. How do you two differentiate and why should Republicans pick you over him? Uh, I know Joe was in the House with him. I did one term in the House before I went over to the Senate. Um, and uh, he he does he does what I would call the traditional playbook, right? I mean, he's got uh, fund raise a lot of money.

[00:03:27]Um, he he does the regular congressional run, I would say, compared to what I'm doing. Um, so I think that's a a big difference. Um, I was at a foreign with him yesterday. He's uh he does say that he takes no corporate pack money. Uh so kudos for that. Um but some we both did a term limit um declaration for term limits. Um I I say that I won't do more than three terms period anywhere. Uh I would be done in that time. I think uh he's expanded that a little bit more to both both house and senate or whatever.

[00:04:04]it. So, some similarities, but um obviously the big deal being that I I really want to take the money out of it completely. Uh he has more of the traditional way of doing things.

[00:04:17]>> And in this primary, President Trump has made an endorsement. Although his endorsements aren't 100% guaranteed success in the primaries, he has a pretty good endorsement track record of his candidates getting past the primary.

[00:04:28]Um he chose Joe over you.

[00:04:30]>> Absolutely.

[00:04:31]>> What was your thought when that happened?

[00:04:32]>> Uh I was fine with that. Um, you know, I didn't take any endorsements in my campaign. Um, I had people offer them. I just said, "No, I'm not going to do into that." Get into that. Um, you know, endorsements are a funny thing, too, just in politics in general. I just want to point that out that they can help or hurt, uh, depending on on who's they are and how they and how they work. And we can talk about that more if you want to.

[00:04:53]But, um, in this particular case, you know, I endorsed Trump early. [snorts] I, you know, uh, when he was first running, I think his first trip to Iowa over there, we were in Davenport there.

[00:05:02]I think it was the Adler Theater outside there. It was cold early March. Uh maybe you were there covering it. I don't know.

[00:05:08]>> I was 15, so definitely not.

[00:05:09]>> Oh, okay. All right. Yeah, I forget. Um really coldish standing there outside there on that uh out there on the tarmac. And uh but I was one of the first ones to endorse and um you know, I early on when Trump ran, I I really believed in what he was trying to do. He wanted to go to DC, wanted to change things, you know, that whole drain the swamp thing. And uh uh I I really supported him because I he was somebody that I thought would go do what he said he was going to do, right? And he did to for for the most part he he completed a lot of his um campaign promises. But uh when it comes to that that endorsement, people say you're mad or you this or that. It's like no, I didn't I didn't leave Trump. Trump left me. Um >> do you think it'll hurt you though in this primary?

[00:05:52]>> No, I don't think so. The people that are going to vote for me are going to vote for me because they they see somebody that's going to go there and support the Iowa people, the people of District 2. And and no matter no one can predict what's going to happen in the next three years. Okay? You you you know, or maybe you can, I don't know, but I can't. I have no idea what's going to come up as a topic. But they're they know that they're going to send a candidate that is going to have the best interests of the Iowa people. All right.

[00:06:23]that can't be bought, uh that can't uh that is going to do what the Iowa people want and that is always going to be there to protect their interests and and that's why they will vote for me. Or that they're just sick of Congress.

[00:06:35]They're sick of the way things are done up there. They either they think that Congress is non nonresponsive. They think they're corrupt. They think that they're controlled by money and power and everything. That's not going to be me. And look, if you're happy with the way things are in Congress and you want to vote for me, don't. There's two people on the ballot.

[00:06:52]>> Now, looking at some policies, a big bill Republicans in Congress are trying to push, including uh District 1 rep, Congresswoman Mill Marionette Miller Meeks, is the Save Act. To put it simply, it would require the proof of citizenship when registering to vote in those federal elections, and mail-in voting would largely be eliminated, too.

[00:07:08]Do you like that bill?

[00:07:09]>> Uh, I don't have a problem with the way we're doing things in Iowa, and I think a lot of other states kind of feel the same way that voting should be handled at the state level. Um, were there some issues here and there? Of course. People point that out all the time and they're they're legitimate issues. Overall, I think it's it's uh it's pretty good.

[00:07:28]Now, the Save Act, requiring an ID to vote, I don't think that's that's fine.

[00:07:31]If you want to require an ID to vote, limit limiting it to I know some people want to limit to a driver's license. I think that's probably a bridge too far.

[00:07:38]Um, but a driver's license, you know, military ID, passport, some of those things. If [clears throat] people have those forms of ID, those are validated IDs. Even stateisssued IDs, those are validated IDs. We accept those for so many other things. Why can't you use that to vote as well?

[00:07:55]>> So, your overall stance, would you support or oppose that bill? I guess I should narrow it down.

[00:07:58]>> Uh, so you're we're projecting here.

[00:08:00]You're saying, I'm in Congress. It comes to the House.

[00:08:03]>> It could get [clears throat] re reintroduced next session. You never know, assuming.

[00:08:06]>> Yeah, I think it's pass the House sitting in the Senate, right? Okay. Uh, it's something I would probably support because I believe there's plenty of support for it in district two and I I would vote my district.

[00:08:17]>> Speaking of election related bills, how do you feel about the idea of making election day a federal holiday?

[00:08:23]>> Yeah. Um, I think we have plenty of federal holidays. I'm not sure I would do that. And to be fair, I I just retired last year. I worked for Cedar Rapids Police. Uh, I started there in '94 and worked in law enforcement before that. Um, we not only I and I was in management there, but prior to that as well, um, even as a street officer, um, we were always afforded the ability to go vote. We we never denied that. And even in when I was divisionally in charge, we afforded everybody the opportunity to go vote.

[00:08:54]>> Now, looking at immigration, President Trump focused on this heavily in the campaign and has done so during this term so far. Mass deportations has been a top priority of the administration.

[00:09:03]the border crossings that dropped.

[00:09:05]That's, you know, there's no debate about that.

[00:09:07]>> Negative in some because of people leaving. Yeah.

[00:09:09]>> Right. Uh but the deportation strategy, the public has kind of soured on it if you look at opinion polling. What are your thoughts on the administration's approach so far when it comes to immigration enforcement?

[00:09:20]>> Kudos again to his policy and some of the achievements he's done. I think it proved from administration to administration that it was just handled differently and and again he did what he was elected to do. Some of his execution though uh on policy did not go well and you saw the results of that in the public opinion. A lot of that with the way um things were handled with ICE and some of that stuff and uh that is just how the public responded and the proofs in the pudding on that. So >> and sometimes when we talk about the topic of deportations, one thing that gets brought up is the effect it could have on the workforce. Are are there any concerns on how that type of policy could affect the workforce, especially in an agricultural heavy state like Iowa?

[00:10:00]>> Sure. You're talking about deportations of people that are currently providing services in which we enjoy.

[00:10:07]>> Yeah, >> that's the ar that's not my argument.

[00:10:09]I'm just asking the question, but that's the argument that those who don't favor the deportations, one of them that they bring up. So, I just want to get your thoughts to that. Do you have any concerns? You know, how do you feel >> about I I get that. I've uh talked to business people and to individuals that know people that are here illegally.

[00:10:25]They don't give me names or specifics, but they say, "Look, we'd prefer to have these people here." I I I see this both ways. First of all, uh if they're in the process, they're trying to be here legally and they're contributing and stuff like that. Of course, you want to be sympathetic to that and you want to be able to to do what you can to try to help them with the system. But here's the flip side to that coin. I know people that have personally know people that have come here and done everything correctly to become a citizen of this country. Okay? And when those folks that want to come here and do it legally, they're following the process. When somebody comes here illegally, crosses the border or whatever, however, whatever method they use to come here, they're pushing all they're jumping right to the front of the line. And everybody that's trying to do it right, they're pushing them out of the way to try to get here and do it. And it is illegal. And if we're if we have books on the law, you need to follow the law.

[00:11:23]So I see both sides of the coin. But ultimately, if you want to come here, do it legally. Follow the process. And if the if the law is on the books, let's follow it. If you don't like it, change the process.

[00:11:36]>> Would you favor any changes to the process >> for immigration? Yes.

[00:11:39]>> No. No. But we we are a country of laws and borders and follow the process.

[00:11:44]>> Now I want to talk about the economy. Um prices of everyday goods including gas has increased. You know that can't be argued. U for the grocery store prices sometimes that get that gets attributed to tariffs. For the gas prices that gets attributed to the Iran war. Let's start with the tariffs and those increases.

[00:12:02]Should the tariffs be reversed considering the impact they've had so far?

[00:12:05]>> I I I also understand the tariffs and why it was done and stuff like that.

[00:12:09]again uh some of the execution of policy here did not go as planned and it has a trickle down effect. Uh the you know the the economy is affected by that. It's same with the what you're talking about with fuel. Uh you know I'm paying the same high fuel prices you are. People don't appreciate it and there will be you know earlier you were talking about the public opinion on that. There's going to be public opinion and push back on that and we could potentially feel it in June and in November. So be prepared for that. you know, I mean, if if um if people can't afford to travel or go to work or uh food and things like that, people will respond to that in and in the polls.

[00:12:50]>> If you were in Congress, any suggestions you would have to how we get those prices down?

[00:12:55]>> Well, you know, this comes up too.

[00:12:58]Everybody, not everybody, a lot of people want to blame the president or even Congress to a certain extent for everything that is economy related.

[00:13:08]That's not correct. I mean, there are some things clearly that a president can affect the economy with very quickly.

[00:13:15]Things like war uh and uh even though we don't don't have a declaration of war, but certainly conflicts around the world can shoot up the prices of things like fuel and stuff like that. And policy can also affect tariffs and um bills that we pass can also affect the economy very quickly. We see that in the state legislature. the the big beautiful bill when that was passed that was passed for for what we dealt with in Iowa that cost us a tremendous amount of money in the legislature. So we saw increases uh across the board that directly affected not only because it hit midyear um that affected not only our budget but also our state reserves and and and other areas as well. So I don't want to say that everything is the president's fault when it comes to stuff like that but don't have your head in the sand. uh there's a lot of decisions made at the federal level that can have a direct impact on states.

[00:14:08]>> So then if you're in Congress any [clears throat] s I guess to kind of reiterate the question what can be done to fix the problem that's been started?

[00:14:15]>> Well the president needs to work directly with the Congress. He just does and uh the individual representatives and senators need to take the best interests of their constituents into mind before they blanketly agree to any policy. And you know that that might set rough with people, but that's what needs to happen.

[00:14:35]>> Speaking on the other part of that topic, the gas prices that's attributed to the Iran war with this now in hindsight. Should that conflict have even started?

[00:14:43]>> I don't I don't I have you know, I did 21 years in the Iowa Army National Guard. You know, my my dad was a medic in Korea. My son is uh is also in the Army Guard. You know, he just got back from Iraq. So I don't I don't have a problem with uh uh the um a strong stance on military and defense and things like that. So no issue with what the president has done. Somebody had to deal with Iran and he wasn't afraid to do it and so I support his his policies there. However, be prepared for the impact, right? Um and we're feeling that now.

[00:15:15]>> So then should there be a pull out so those gas prices can go back down?

[00:15:19]>> Well, what do you mean by pull out? You mean pull our ships out of the straight?

[00:15:22]pull the pull back on what's being done in the conflict so far so the gas prices could go back down.

[00:15:28]>> Well, I think I don't think it was handled poorly to where we put all that, you know, with the handling through air power and even through having our ships over there with the way we're doing the blockade now. I don't think that that was handled poorly at all. Now, do we want to have military assets sitting over there for the next 10 years? I don't think that that's a good idea. We need to come to a conclusion here. So, and I think most people feel that way, >> right, Charlie? The question is though, the gas prices aspect of it, not the the execution of it. The effect of this war is that the gas prices have raised to the point where we're seeing 415 at the >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm paying the same prices.

[00:16:04]>> So, how do we get it done?

[00:16:06]>> Okay, two things on this. We we do need to come to a resolution on that which I think the president and his administration is working on >> but not to the point that we you know cry uncle every time uh it gets painful with a country that clearly does doesn't like the United States and would do anything to take us out or our allies.

[00:16:25]Uh it doesn't work that way. If if gas prices go up and all of a sudden we're going to say all right that's it. We got to you know forget our national interest or our you know protection uh because of that. That's not the answer either. So, >> and before we move on from the economy, I want to bring this up because this is sometimes talked about a lot by congressional Republicans when they get a trifecta. It's about the future of entitlement spending for programs like Social Security and uh Medicare. What's your stances on the future of those programs?

[00:16:55]>> Oh, they're they're going to be around uh and we do need to fund them. Um when you say my stance on it, like do >> you do you support keeping them funded adequately?

[00:17:06]>> Yes. Yes. Yes.

[00:17:07]>> Okay. Now, I do have a few lightning run ones. Let's to get through these quickly. Shorter ones, you know, uh these ones should should be easy. So, supporter post term limits for members of Congress. You indicated it earlier.

[00:17:19]>> Uh I'll self-impose them on myself.

[00:17:21]Yeah.

[00:17:21]>> Which was the three terms?

[00:17:22]>> Yeah.

[00:17:23]>> Got it.

[00:17:23]>> And that's either chamber. So, >> three for the House and Senate.

[00:17:27]>> No, not both. That's either or. So, >> Oh, so three if you Okay.

[00:17:31]>> Either or. Full or partial? I'm not going to be up there that long. So, I I literally could do a turn of six years and be done.

[00:17:38]>> Uh, banning stock trading for members of Congress. Do you support or oppose that?

[00:17:41]>> Ban them. I I've already done a public uh um agreement or whatever you want to call it that I'll do no individual stock trades, period.

[00:17:49]>> Who are you supporting in the Republican primary for governor?

[00:17:51]>> I endorsed Adam Steam.

[00:17:53]>> And who's one Democrat you could see yourself reaching across the aisle to work with if elected to Congress?

[00:17:59]>> Uh oh. What's his name? the uh guy out of Pennsylvania. I love that guy.

[00:18:04]>> Senator Federman.

[00:18:05]>> Federman. I love that guy. He's cool.

[00:18:07]>> You're the second Republican we've had on to tell us that.

[00:18:09]>> Yeah, he's kind of cool. I didn't like him at first, but he's really come around. Yeah, he used to be a mayor and uh you know, he was uh he was kind of neat, his career, if you kind of watch it and follow it a little bit, although his name didn't come to me right away.

[00:18:20]So, anyway, go ahead. Sorry. Lightning round.

[00:18:21]>> We're done now. Done with lightning round. I have one more political question, then we'll get to our final.

[00:18:26]So Iowa's House races this year are seen as, you know, very competitive, especially this district, district 2, it's a Trump plus 10 district, but you know, throughout the country, these special election results, Democrats are either flipping or getting really close.

[00:18:38]The president's legislative district in Florida flipped.

[00:18:42]>> Um, so if you win this primary, what do you see as the path to hold the seat for the Republicans?

[00:18:48]>> Oh, I think you know, Ashley took district two by plus 16, right? But this Ashley is not running now. So this is this is going to be different. And we talked about earlier that a lot of public opinion could flip uh how people are voting including no party. And there you know there's more no party than there is uh uh you there's rep it goes like this. I believe Republican uh outweighs the Democrats you know registered voters and then the no party uh outweighs that. So no party uh can make a big difference in in which way this goes. So it depends a lot on those as well. And then the other factor that we need to put in there is [snorts] uh how disheartened people are going to be. It's midterm, so it's not going to have that same turnout traditionally that we have in a presidential uh term.

[00:19:31]But you look at the the top of the ticket is the governor right now. What's going to happen because we have five candidates and they're kind of different, you know, and they each have this strong base for each one that are pretty passionate about it. Only one of them is going to win. What if the other four of their base gets, you know, upset or disheartened and says, "I'm not going to go vote." Okay, you don't see that on the Democratic side. You know, uh they're pretty pretty well behind Rob San for governor. And so, you start taking all these factors into play, we could have a low turnout. So, as Republicans, we need to do a good job and make sure that we coales behind whoever wins in June and then get out there and vote in uh November as well.

[00:20:14]some of these factors if um if the stars are aligned both good and bad on for the parties on how you see it uh it could go very very poorly for Republicans.

[00:20:24]>> My question for the final one steers away from politics. Do you have any hobbies?

[00:20:29]>> Oh, I have very little free time right now. Uh but um yeah, I I I have a few.

[00:20:36]Uh I I need to do more outdoor stuff.

[00:20:39]Uh, but if I'm indoor and I have a little bit of free time, I like to watch the Cooking Channel and cook. And, uh, I do play a little bit of Xbox every now and again.

[00:20:47]>> You're the second gamer we've had on for the series. So, what are you playing right now? Now, now I have to ask.

[00:20:51]>> Uh, Art Raiders. Uh, I've been doing a little bit of that on there. Uh, kind of a little bit of a stress release.

[00:20:57]Otherwise, the classic stuff, Fallout, you know, uh, that type of thing. A lot of single player stuff. I'm no good at really the online, you know, uh, although Arc Raiders can be, uh, uh, PvP as well, but, uh, I'm not really good at some of that stuff. Those kids are quick, man. I [laughter] you spot in, next thing you know, you're dead. I'm old. I don't have those same reflexes.

[00:21:17]>> Good choice on the on the Fallout series. Uh, Charlie, I want to thank you so much for coming down here for the interview. It's been a pleasure to have you.

[00:21:23]>> Absolutely. Thank you for having me. I We do a lot of interviews now, you know, on the campaign trail, and they've all been excellent. So, thank you.

[00:21:30]>> Sounds good. And thank you for tuning in to this edition of Beyond the Podium. We have all the other interviews with this year's candidates on iNaznewsow.com. For now, Ray Bari, Iowa's news now.