Democratic Candidate Sarah Garriott Complains Iowa Leaders Are Too White, Too Christian, Too Male
Iowa Democratic state senator Sarah Trone Garriott is criticizing the state’s elected officials for being too white, too Christian and too male.
Garriott, an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America currently running for Congress in Iowa’s 3rd District, made the comments in a YouTube interview with Sebastian Onofre. When asked what inspired her to run for federal office, she framed her candidacy as part of an effort to diversify Iowa’s ruling class. (RELATED: Benjamin Schauer issues important response against ‘intense wave’ of online backlash)
“I just wanted different types of people to be in leadership positions,” Garriott said, explaining that she was inspired by friends her age who came forward first. “I realized I was frustrated with some things about our state government. I thought it wasn’t fair for someone else to fix the problem; maybe I should step up and make the change I wanted to see.”
She added that Iowa’s leadership is “not a very diverse group” and remains “majority white, majority Christian, majority older men,” presenting “tremendous opportunities to bring different types of people who represent our community into leadership positions.”
Garriott has taken strong public positions on diversity, equity and inclusion.
When the Iowa Senate voted to ban DEI offices, staff and programs in state government and public colleges, Garriott proclaimed the move would “harm our state” and “effectively criminalize these efforts to strengthen our workforce,” according to Radio Iowa.
In a separate speech to the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church, she criticized “white patriarchy” as rooted in “male power, violence and domination,” linking it to a rise in Christian nationalism. She attributed the phenomenon to prominent evangelist Billy Graham and encouraged worshipers to counter it by building relationships with neighbors and ensuring they “have a voice in their government.”
In the same speech, Garriott described the LGBT and transgender movement as “very threatening to the idea of a white, male, powerful figure, because it blurs the lines and makes things ambiguous and confusing.”
IA-03 Democratic candidate Sarah Trone Garriott — a Christian minister — complains that Iowan representatives are “mostly Christian.” pic.twitter.com/c1RvSZpkBv
– RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 17, 2026
Republican National Committee spokesman Zach Kraft told the Daily Caller that Garriott built her career as a “woke warrior.”
“From bashing white men to fighting against wasting taxpayer dollars on DEI in the Iowa Senate, Sarah Trone Garriott has built her career as a woke warrior. Just don’t ask her, a white, Christian minister, to do what she says and step aside for a more ‘diverse’ candidate,” Kraft said. “Iowans want nothing to do with this radical left-wing weirdo and will categorically reject her and her insane ideas.”
Garriott did not respond to the caller’s request for comment.
