DALLAS —
Joe Mitchell doesn’t just want to drain the swamp if he gets elected to Congress in November; he wants to root out corruption across the American government, and he has a roadmap to get it done.
“We’re not taking any corporate PAC money,” Mitchell told the Washington Reporter in an interview. “That means no money from BlackRock, no money from Pfizer, no money from places like Goldman Sachs or Amazon.” But that is only one plank in his anti-corruption plank — and it is one that separates him from a lot of his fellow Republican candidates.
“We’re a big supporter of term limits,” he added. “We think that 12 years in the House and 12 years in the Senate is plenty of time to get your agenda done. The third thing is we have to stop this insider trading that happens. You have people like Nancy Pelosi; they go to Washington, they’re worth about $2. They come out worth $100 million. We need to stop politicians from getting rich off their time in Washington, and we need to make sure that wages go up for everyday Iowans. We also have to stop this lawmaker to lobbyist pipeline. You have these people, they go to Congress, they go to Washington, then they serve for a few terms. They come out; they start making seven figures on K Street. People are sick and tired of that because the system has been rigged against the average worker for a long time.”
“President [Donald] Trump,” Mitchell added, “has done more than any other president has done to chip away at that. But we have to continue to work on the agenda he set out to fulfill, and that means taking down the corruption, making sure our border is secured, making sure that wages go up for every American and for Iowans. They passed the Working Families Tax Cut last summer; this had no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, and no tax on overtime. We had the largest tax returns in the history of the country going to people this year. Republicans in Washington have done a lot, and there’s more to do, and we have to help with the housing crisis.”
For Mitchell, himself a home builder, the housing crisis is something he has firsthand experience with handling. “I’m a home builder,” he said. “I’ve built over 100 homes in Iowa, all across eastern Iowa, in my district, and I’ve employed hundreds of people. I understand how to get the housing costs down. We have to do more for people in my generation. I’m 29 years old. I don’t want to be in Washington when I’m 80 years old; we have to fix things now to make sure that people in my generation have a fair shot at the American Dream.”
One of the ideas that Trump has rolled out is to index capital gains on home sales to inflation in order to lower housing costs — Mitchell told the Reporter that he wants to get it done, if Congress doesn’t ensure that is the law before he takes office.
“Right now, what happens with capital gains is anything under $250,000 for a sole proprietor or under $500,000 for a couple is exempted from capital gains,” he said. “Trump wants to index that or get rid of it. I’m actually for getting rid of the capital gains tax, because I’m somebody who’s always for lowering taxes versus having to raise them. If we index the capital gains tax, more people, when they sell their homes, don’t have to pay tax on the profit they make from the selling of the home, which is not really profit. It just it goes up every year because of inflation; this is a good policy that he has. I hope Congress takes it up. If they haven’t taken it up by the time I get there in January, this will be something I lead on because we have to make sure that Americans who want to go up a level and buy a larger home, or people that want to downsize have options.”
“We have a lot of seniors in the country who have a single family home and they want to downsize into a zero entry condo or something like that,” Mitchell added. “They should be able to do that without fear of having to pay taxes on the profit they make from that home. I am very supportive of that. We have to have deregulation as well, because there’s too much red tape and bureaucracy happening. Washington drives a lot of that, but we must also incentivize states and local municipalities to have a very common sense building code and energy code. We’re going to work on that when I get to Congress. We’re going to make sure that the average age of a first-time homebuyer is no longer 40 years old. It’s far too old to buy your first home and start a family. It needs to be 27, 28, or 29 years old — below 30 years old, like it was for many decades. With my experience as a home builder and as a developer, we’re going to have success in Congress, making sure that we bring the American Dream back to people.”
But in order to advance those Trump-backed policies, Mitchell first needs to hold the seat, which is currently held by Rep. Ashley Hinson (R., Iowa). Mitchell believes that he and all other Iowa Republicans running in competitive races are poised to win in November.
“We have very good candidate quality up and down the ticket,” Mitchell said. “We have Ashley Hinson running for U.S. Senate, who’s done a fantastic job in the current House seat. That’s the one I’m running for. We have Zach Lahn, who’s a phenomenal candidate for governor, and I’m running against this radical left liberal named Lindsay James. She is a person that comes from Portland, Oregon.”
Mitchell laid out his case against James to the Reporter. “She moved here ten years ago,” he explained. “She immediately ran for office. She missed over 50 percent of her votes this last year in the legislature. When she was there, she was voting to give illegal immigrants state-funded Medicaid benefits, food stamps, and housing assistance. She was voting to allow prisoners get taxpayer-funded sex changes; she’s voted for this incredibly far-left agenda when she was in the legislature. She’s one of these woke pastors like James Talarico down here in Texas. Everything she’s focused on is social issues. And now she’s trying to pivot like every other DSA candidate in the general election, trying to be seen as moderate. Nothing about these people is moderate. They’re the most extreme candidates we’ve ever seen run in the entire country. Lindsay James is the most extreme candidate we’ve ever seen run in Iowa single-handedly.”
While most election prognosticators give Mitchell at least a slight edge, James and her allies are taking no chances ahead of November’s elections. The Reporter previously covered how Dave Bushaw, a left-leaning independent in the race, claimed that he believes that James offered him a job in her congressional office if he withdraws from the race.
Mitchell noted that “none of the news media outside of the Washington Reporter has reported on it; you have been the only ones to report on it thus far. It’s a disgrace that the Gazette and the Des Moines Register and all these other so-called news outlets haven’t picked it up. Think if a Republican would have done that — immediately it would have been front page news. It would have been all over the TV stations as well, but instead she’s a Democrat, so they don’t don’t want to report it.”
While James’s campaign told the Reporter that Bushaw is lying with his allegations, Mitchell disagrees. “I know Dave Bushaw,” he said. “I’ve been able to get to know Dave over the course of this campaign. We disagree on a lot of issues, but he loves this country and he’s an honest guy. Lindsay called him a liar essentially. There are two people in this controversy, and I know both of these people. I served with Lindsay in the legislature. Dave’s not the liar, and it’s so shameful that she has pressured him, and that the Democratic Party has pressured Dave to get out of this race. They say they believe in third parties and independent voices, but they don’t believe in any of that at all. The only thing they believe in is absolute power. That’s what they believe in; it’s been a shame to see the lack of coverage that’s came from this Dave Bushaw story, and I hope more gets covered more before the election.”
Should Mitchell win, he plans to use his experience as one of the youngest legislators in Iowa’s history to the benefit of his constituents. “I understand the games that special interests like to play, as well as how lobbyists work,” he explained. “A lot of times they’re bad actors, and they give the wrong information to legislators, in this case to people in Congress. You have to look out for the people in your community first and foremost, and that means listening to experts in your district, and bypassing some of the special interest groups. That’s why we’re not taking corporate PAC money, because ultimately listening to your constituents is the most important part of the job. That’s what we’re going to do in Washington. We’re excited to get started there, but it’s going to be an uphill battle. We got to build a team. We’ve got to build a coalition of people that wants to take down corruption and ultimately lower the cost for everyday Iowans.”
Mitchell thinks that the political success he has already had should inspire young Americans across the country. “I always said that if I can do it, you can do it,” he said; in addition to serving in the Iowa legislature, Mitchell also co-founded Run Gen Z in order to help elect young conservatives across America.
“I was never an A student in school,” he added. “I wasn’t the valedictorian. I wasn’t the captain of the football team. I was a pretty average student and kid growing up. If you work hard and you go out there and you network and you try to improve every day, that’s what I tried to do, you can do it too. You can go out there and you can be a leader in your community. You can run for school board, you can run for city council, you can run for your state legislative seat, and that’s why we started Run Gen Z. Charlie Kirk was my co-founder with Run Gen Z. He gave me $30,000 for my seed money to start that organization.”
“I met Charlie seven years ago to the date today,” Mitchell said. “We met actually on September 10th, 2019; he had a huge influence in my life, and he’s a big reason why I’m running for this congressional seat; he was a big supporter of mine. He endorsed me for my congressional race, and ultimately, Turning Point endorsed us and they have been great partners. But we have to make sure we carry on the legacy that Charlie started, and that means getting more young people who are conservatives and freedom fighters into Congress.”
Below is a transcript of our interview with Joe Mitchell, lightly edited for clarity.
Washington Reporter:
Joe, why was it important for you, as a candidate for Congress in Iowa, to come here with President Trump?
Joe Mitchell:
It’s an exciting time. We’re fewer than 60 days away from the November 3rd election, which we’re going to perform very well in. There are a lot of misconceptions about Iowa. We have a governor’s race, a U.S. Senate race, two open House races, and we’re going to be very successful. We have very good candidate quality up and down the ticket. We have Ashley Hinson running for U.S. Senate, who’s done a fantastic job in the current House seat. That’s the one I’m running for. We have Zach Lahn, who’s a phenomenal candidate for governor, and I’m running against this radical left liberal named Lindsay James. She is a person that comes from Portland, Oregon. She moved here ten years ago. She immediately ran for office. She missed over 50 percent of her votes this last year in the legislature. When she was there, she was voting to give illegal immigrants state-funded Medicaid benefits, food stamps, and housing assistance. She was voting to allow prisoners get taxpayer-funded sex changes; she’s voted for this incredibly far-left agenda when she was in the legislature. She’s one of these woke pastors like James Talarico down here in Texas. Everything she’s focused on is social issues. And now she’s trying to pivot like every other DSA candidate in the general election, trying to be seen as moderate. Nothing about these people is moderate. They’re the most extreme candidates we’ve ever seen run in the entire country. Lindsay James is the most extreme candidate we’ve ever seen run in Iowa single-handedly. On my campaign, we’re focused on meeting voters. We’re shaking hands. We’re asking for their support on November 3. We’re going to win, and we have the momentum behind us. We’re focused on several key things. Number one, we’re not taking any corporate PAC money; that means no money from BlackRock, no money from Pfizer, no money from places like Goldman Sachs or Amazon. We’re a big supporter of term limits; we think that 12 years in the House and 12 years in the Senate is plenty of time to get your agenda done. The third thing is we have to stop this insider trading that happens. You have people like Nancy Pelosi; they go to Washington, they’re worth about $2. They come out worth $100 million. We need to stop politicians from getting rich off their time in Washington, and we need to make sure that wages go up for everyday Iowans. Finally, we have to stop this lawmaker to lobbyist pipeline. You have these people, they go to Congress, they go to Washington, then they serve for a few terms. They come out; they start making seven figures on K Street. People are sick and tired of that because the system has been rigged against the average worker for a long time. President Trump has done more than any other president has done to chip away at that. But we have to continue to work on the agenda he set out to fulfill, and that means taking down the corruption, making sure our border is secured, making sure that wages go up for every American and for Iowans. They passed the Working Families Tax Cut last summer; this had no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, and no tax on overtime. We had the largest tax returns in the history of the country going to people this year. Republicans in Washington have done a lot, and there’s more to do, and we have to help with the housing crisis. I’m a home builder; I’ve built over 100 homes in Iowa, all across eastern Iowa, in my district, and I’ve employed hundreds of people. I understand how to get the housing costs down. We have to do more for people in my generation. I’m 29 years old. I don’t want to be in Washington when I’m 80 years old; we have to fix things now to make sure that people in my generation have a fair shot at the American Dream.
Washington Reporter:
One of the policies that President Trump has rolled out to address housing costs in particular, is indexing capital gains on home sales to inflation in order to lower those housing costs. You’ve actually built houses. That’s different than a lot of people who are running for Congress. How does that policy affect people in Eastern Iowa?
Joe Mitchell:
Right now, what happens with capital gains is anything under $250,000 for a sole proprietor or under $500,000 for a couple is exempted from capital gains. Trump wants to index that or get rid of it. I’m actually for getting rid of the capital gains tax, because I’m somebody who’s always for lowering taxes versus having to raise them. If we index the capital gains tax, more people, when they sell their homes, don’t have to pay tax on the profit they make from the selling of the home, which is not really profit. It just it goes up every year because of inflation; this is a good policy that he has. I hope Congress takes it up. If they haven’t taken it up by the time I get there in January, this will be something I lead on because we have to make sure that Americans who want to go up a level and buy a larger home, or people that want to downsize have options. We have a lot of seniors in the country who have a single family home and they want to downsize into a zero entry condo or something like that. They should be able to do that without fear of having to pay taxes on the profit they make from that home. I am very supportive of that. We have to have deregulation as well, because there’s too much red tape and bureaucracy happening. Washington drives a lot of that, but we must also incentivize states and local municipalities to have a very common sense building code and energy code. We’re going to work on that when I get to Congress. We’re going to make sure that the average age of a first-time homebuyer is no longer 40 years old. It’s far too old to buy your first home and start a family. It needs to be 27, 28, or 29 years old — below 30 years old, like it was for many decades. With my experience as a home builder and as a developer, we’re going to have success in Congress, making sure that we bring the American Dream back to people.
Washington Reporter:
Even though you’re only 29, you were one of the youngest legislators in Iowa history. How does that experience on the state level impact your vision of what it means to be a legislator in Congress?
Joe Mitchell:
It was good experience to have specifically before coming to Congress because I understand the games that special interests like to play, as well as how lobbyists work. A lot of times they’re bad actors, and they give the wrong information to legislators, in this case to people in Congress. You have to look out for the people in your community first and foremost, and that means listening to experts in your district, and bypassing some of the special interest groups. That’s why we’re not taking corporate PAC money, because ultimately listening to your constituents is the most important part of the job. That’s what we’re going to do in Washington. We’re excited to get started there, but it’s going to be an uphill battle. We got to build a team. We’ve got to build a coalition of people that wants to take down corruption and ultimately lower the cost for everyday Iowans.
Washington Reporter:
You also founded Run Gen Z, to get young Republicans like yourself to run for state and local office. What have you learned over the years that you ran that organization about where young people are at in America?
Joe Mitchell:
I always said that if I can do it, you can do it. I was never an A student in school; I wasn’t the valedictorian. I wasn’t the captain of the football team. I was a pretty average student and kid growing up. If you work hard and you go out there and you network and you try to improve every day, that’s what I tried to do, you can do it too. You can go out there and you can be a leader in your community. You can run for school board, you can run for city council, you can run for your state legislative seat, and that’s why we started Run Gen Z. Charlie Kirk was my co-founder with Run Gen Z. He gave me $30,000 for my seed money to start that organization. I met Charlie seven years ago to the date today. We met actually on September 10th, 2019; he had a huge influence in my life, and he’s a big reason why I’m running for this congressional seat; he was a big supporter of mine. He endorsed me for my congressional race, and ultimately, Turning Point endorsed us and they have been great partners. But we have to make sure we carry on the legacy that Charlie started, and that means getting more young people who are conservatives and freedom fighters into Congress.
Washington Reporter:
Do you remember the events of September 11th?
Joe Mitchell:
Yes.
Washington Reporter:
About 25 percent of Americans either were not born then or have no recollection of that. You’ll be one of the youngest people in Congress should you win, and most people in your age group don’t remember 9/11. We’re coming up on the 25th anniversary of it this year. What are your thoughts on that?
Joe Mitchell:
I was four and a half at the time, and I remember that my mom was getting ready for the day; she would have a Bible study Tuesday mornings, and I was in the living room, and she was getting ready in her bathroom, and she heard heard over the radio that the North Tower had been hit by a plane, and she came in and turned the station to the news and saw it playing on the news, and that’s really what I remember. It hurts me. It’s horrifying, and it’s stuck in my memory until today. She went to her Bible study. She told me later on, and she told all the women in her Bible study what had happened. And people didn’t grasp what happened in the first couple hours. Then, as the day dragged on, you started seeing people everywhere, and people are horrified that we had terrorists that can come over here and do something so horrible. They took out thousands of Americans on our soil. It was the deadliest attack on American soil ever. We have to remember that 25 years later, we now have a socialist Muslim as Mayor of New York City. We said that we never forget, yet we have Zorhan Mamdani elected as Mayor of New York City. We’re fighting against communists right now. I’ve said since the beginning, this is common sense versus crazy, but it’s since become common sense versus crazy. Now it’s common sense versus communism. That’s what we’re fighting against; I’m fighting against that in my race as well. It’s radical left Lindsay James, who comes from Portland, Oregon, and we’re fighting against that all around the country. We have to stand strong. We have to support good conservative candidates, but it’s more than that. Now it’s just supporting good common sense candidates, and that’s what I am. That’s why we’re running for office and for Congress, and I think we’re going to do well in November. I appreciate the support from the president, from his team, and from all the people here at the Republican convention.
Washington Reporter:
I’ve seen a little bit on the campaign trail from you about how the story that we wrote about the independent candidate in your race, Dave Bushaw, telling me that Lindsay James showed up at his farm, and in his mind, she offered him a job in exchange for him dropping out of the race. How has that been received by voters? You were talking about putting an end to corruption. If what he is alleging is true, that’s a crime. Is that something that people are responding to in your campaign?
Joe Mitchell:
None of the news media outside of the Washington Reporter has reported on it; you have been the only ones to report on it thus far. It’s a disgrace that the Gazette and the Des Moines Register and all these other so-called news outlets haven’t picked it up. Think if a Republican would have done that — immediately it would have been front page news. It would have been all over the TV stations as well, but instead she’s a Democrat, so they don’t don’t want to report it. I know Dave Bushaw. I’ve been able to get to know Dave over the course of this campaign. We disagree on a lot of issues, but he loves this country and he’s an honest guy. Lindsay called him a liar essentially. There are two people in this controversy, and I know both of these people. I served with Lindsay in the legislature. Dave’s not the liar, and it’s so shameful that she has pressured him, and that the Democratic Party has pressured Dave to get out of this race. They say they believe in third parties and independent voices, but they don’t believe in any of that at all. The only thing they believe in is absolute power. That’s what they believe in; it’s been a shame to see the lack of coverage that’s came from this Dave Bushaw story, and I hope more gets covered more before the election.
