Clive, Iowa — Republican Iowa congressional candidate Joe Mitchell vowed to investigate former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci if elected to Congress, expressing his desire to serve on an oversight committee while recounting his grandmother’s death following a COVID-19 vaccination during a Make Iowa Healthy Again rally Wednesday.

MAHA PAC hosted the October 28 “Get Out the Vote Rally” in Clive, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines, ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. Speakers included Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Republican Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn, Republican congressional candidate Joe Mitchell, and other Republican candidates, elected officials, and health, consumer, and agricultural advocates.

“My grandmother, who was 93 years old in 2022. She was a very healthy 93-year-old, by the way,” Mitchell said. “And we send her to a nursing home. This is several years after COVID. We send her to a nursing home, and they give her the COVID vaccine. Without anybody’s consent.”

“And they said there was a mandate here in the nursing home, so she went from a perfectly healthy 93-year-old to dead within two weeks,” he continued.

“Within two weeks, and so this is where the story of MAHA is personal to me because I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of Anthony Fauci. Are you?” Mitchell asked, prompting members of the crowd to shout “no.”

“And I just talked to a member of Congress who’s on one of the steering committees, and she said, ‘When you’re elected next Tuesday, which committees would you like to be on?'” Mitchell recounted.

“And I said, ‘I want to be on oversight because I want to investigate the hell out of Anthony Fauci for what he did to this country,'” Mitchell declared, drawing cheers from the audience, with some attendees standing in response.

Mitchell said MAHA Action endorsed only 13 candidates nationwide, including himself and Republican Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn, before explaining what he believes contributed to his endorsement.

“Part of the reason was I’m the only Republican in the entire country running for Congress who’s not going to be taking corporate PAC money in D.C. Not a single dime,” Mitchell said.

“So that means no money from BlackRock, no money from Pfizer, no money from Cisco, no money from these huge multinational corporations that have been running Washington for years,” he continued.

“And for me, that was a big pillar of my campaign because I said there’s too many politicians in Washington specifically that are bought and paid for, and they’re bought and paid for by big pharma, big ag, big food, and we don’t want those people dictating our lives anymore,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell’s remarks come as Republican lawmakers continue calling for accountability over Fauci’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. In August, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) called for a “COVID reckoning,” accusing Fauci of helping fund gain-of-function research that may have contributed to the pandemic, covering up COVID-19’s origins, and promoting COVID-19 vaccines, while declaring, “I want to make sure that Anthony Fauci’s reputation is completely destroyed.”

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) similarly accused Fauci and other officials of withholding information from Americans, stating, “People’s lives were ruined with this, and these people ought to be held accountable,” and adding, “I want to see this guy go to jail.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also argued that Fauci could face charges for “lying to Congress” and “destroying records,” although he acknowledged that those alleged offenses were covered by former President Joe Biden’s pardon.

Mitchell, a former Iowa state representative endorsed by President Donald Trump, is facing Democrat state Rep. Lindsay James in the November 3 general election for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. The seat is currently held by Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), who is running for the U.S. Senate. Trump endorsed Mitchell on January 27, highlighting his previous service at the Department of Housing and Urban Development during his administration and his distinction as the youngest state legislator in Iowa history. “Joe has proven he has the Courage and Wisdom to deliver strong results for the incredible people of his wonderful State and Nation,” Trump wrote.

Mitchell has also characterized James as being “Left, FAR Left.” “If you think it’s okay to use our taxpayer dollars to pay for a sex change for a prisoner, you shouldn’t be dealing with healthcare, you shouldn’t be dealing with education, you shouldn’t be dealing with our tax policy, you shouldn’t be involved in politics as far as I’m concerned,” he stated.

James previously apologized for being a white woman on her 2020 Iowa state legislative campaign website, as Breitbart News reported in June. In a section titled “A Confession,” James wrote, “I am a white, cis-gender, able bodied, middle class, college educated woman,” adding, “There is no doubt that I have worked hard to get where I am in my life, but I have also benefited greatly from privilege.”

During an interview, James was asked whether she considered someone living in Iowa to be an Iowan “regardless of immigration status.” “Yeah! I am all about making sure people have healthcare and resources they need,” James responded.

During a March 2023 interview concerning legislation banning puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and gender-transition surgeries for children under 18, James said, “Every evidence-based U.S. medical society affirms that gender affirming care is medically necessary and can be lifesaving.” “No one wants a politician making private medical decisions that parents and kids should be making with their doctors,” James added. James also voted against the legislation, which was signed into law in 2023. 

She voted against a 2022 bill restricting participation in female school sports to biological females and legislation requiring school bathrooms to correspond with students’ biological sex.

In 2025, James voted against SF 418, which prohibited instruction on gender identity theories in kindergarten through sixth grade, removed gender identity as a protected class under the Iowa Civil Rights Act, and established a statutory definition of sex as male or female. She has also voted against legislation requiring parental notification when students sought to change their gender at school.

During an October debate with Mitchell, a moderator repeatedly pressed James to explain why she missed 177 of 342 Iowa House votes since launching her congressional campaign, more than half of the votes taken during that period. James did not directly answer the questions, according to Townhall. Among the votes she missed in April and May were measures concerning property tax reductions, strengthening criminal penalties for animal torture, and limiting screen time in public schools. Townhall reported that James missed those votes while hosting campaign events across Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.

James has also opposed major Republican tax legislation, voting against Iowa’s 2022 income tax overhaul, which established a 3.9 percent flat income tax. At the federal level, she called for repealing the Working Families Tax Cuts in September, following her May statement that lawmakers needed to “undo the OBBB.”