During Christina Bohannan’s brief political career, the Iowa Democrat has put her experience as an environmental engineer front and center. "As a law professor, an environmental engineer and a mother, I believe I have the skills, energy and passion that Iowa City needs at this critical point in time," Bohannan wrote in May 2020.
Left out of Bohannan's description is that the extent of her environmental engineering career was an internship over two decades ago.
A Washington Free Beacon review of Bohannan’s résumé on file at the University of Iowa finds that the full extent of her engineering experience came as she earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Florida, where she graduated in 1994. Her résumé lists three years of work from 1991 to 1994 as an engineer for Florida's Department of Environmental Protection. Florida public records show Bohannan never achieved a rank higher than "engineering intern."
Now that Bohannan is running for Congress against Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R., Iowa), her experience as an environmental engineer has been highlighted by her campaign and allies. 314 Action, a liberal group that backs scientist candidates, endorsed Bohannan for Congress in large part due to her experience as an environmental engineer.
"Christina is an environmental engineer and law professor who's ready to take the fight for pro-science policies to the floor of the U.S. House," the group wrote. A local Democratic official said last year that Bohannan's "experience as an environmental engineer will be of critical importance for improving Iowa's water quality issues." Bohannan's campaign website describes her as a "former engineer."
Bohannan did not respond to a request for comment about her work experience as an intern in Florida. The Free Beacon was unable to find any sign of engineering work at any other point in her career.
Bohannan went to the University of Florida for law school immediately after earning her undergraduate degree. After a stint as a judicial clerk in Alabama, she became a visiting law professor at the University of Iowa, where she remains employed.
Bohannan is at least the second former intern that 314 Action endorsed. Former congressman Joe Cunningham (D., S.C.) in 2020 campaigned as an ocean engineer, even though he did not have an engineering license in South Carolina. The extent of his engineering experience was, like Bohannan’s, working as an intern in Florida. Cunningham lost his 2020 reelection campaign.
314 Action touts Cunningham’s work as an "ocean engineer" on its fundraising page for his current run for South Carolina governor.
Bohannan is running for Iowa's Second Congressional District, which Miller-Meeks won by just six votes in 2020. Miller-Meeks's opponent in that election, Rita Hart, worked with Democrats including lawyer Marc Elias in a failed attempt to overturn the result through a vote in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.