The Senate’s top DOGE Republican will send 24 letters – one to each major federal agency head – demanding a halt to last-minute work-from-home negotiations before President Biden returns to Delaware.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate GOP Policy Committee, made the demand days after crafting legislation for 2025 that would "decentralize" and relocate one-third of the federal workforce outside Washington, D.C.

That bill’s lengthy acronym spells out "DRAIN THE SWAMP Act."

Ernst said that not a single government agency’s office space is half-occupied two-plus years on from the COVID-19 pandemic, and she previously called for the Biden administration to sell off unused real estate for taxpayers’ benefit.

DOGE CAUCUS LEADER ERNST EYES RELOCATION OUT OF DC FOR ONE-THIRD OF FEDERAL WORKERS

In her letters, Ernst laid out that 90% of telework-eligible federal employees are still working from home and only 6% report they are working on a "full-time basis." 

Additionally, she wrote that public-sector unions are purportedly "dictating personnel policy" without regard to federal directives from the Office of Management & Budget (OMB), which is running up a massive tab and leading to wastes of time, space and money.

"The union bosses are rushing to lock in last minute, lavish long-term deals with the lame-duck Biden administration—extending beyond President Trump’s next term in office—guaranteeing that bureaucrats can stay at home for another four years or longer," Ernst wrote in one letter prepped for Office of Personnel Management director Robert Shriver III.

"Apparently, protecting telework perks for public employees is a higher priority than showing up to serve American taxpayers," she wrote, calling Biden’s submission to union demands "shocking and unacceptable."

She noted it was a similarly liberal president who vociferously opposed unionization of public employees in the first place, as Democrat Franklin Roosevelt wrote in a letter to a union steward declining a 1937 invitation to a national federal employee union convention.

"All government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service," Roosevelt said.

TOP DOGE SENATOR DEMANDS ANSWERS ON PLAN TO EXHAUST CHIPS ACT FUNDS BEFORE TRUMP ARRIVES

"It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with government employee organizations."

"The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress."

Ernst suggested federal workers and their union representatives have forgotten Roosevelt’s warning, citing the last-minute push to ratify collective bargaining agreements and telework privilege pacts before President-elect Donald Trump can begin his oversight endeavors through DOGE.

The lawmaker told Fox News Digital on Thursday that her report cited in the letters "exposed that telework abuse is so rampant in Washington that there are more reindeer on Santa’s sleigh than employees showing up at the Department of Energy headquarters."

"As if that was not bad enough, President Biden is working hand in hand with unions to help ink more last-minute contracts allowing for telework privileges for years. Bureaucrats have forgotten their job is to serve the public, and I am happy to remind them with a little Christmas cheer."

In the letter, Ernst pointed out situations she said show union bosses and career agency management have the "government wrapped around their finger."

In the letters, she embedded a photo of former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley while he was serving as Biden’s Social Security Administration chief and who was wearing a Captain America T-shirt alongside a purported union official at a party.

Ernst cited news reports of O’Malley going to Florida to party with union members before endorsing a contract preventing easy reduction of work-from-home ability.

She said O’Malley spent the trip "crooning" Irish ballads on his guitar and drinking alcohol.

"This buddy-buddy relationship between the Social Security Commissioner and the union bosses representing his workforce during what is supposed to be a negotiation resulted in a contract unbelievably slanted towards the union and against the interests of taxpayers and the mission of the agency," she said.

In another case, she pointed to Housing & Urban Development employees who may not have deserved the TFUT or "taxpayer-funded union time" they filed for.

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One such worker successfully claimed compensation while in jail.

Ernst demanded the agencies report data on TFUT claims and payouts, unused or underused real estate holdings designated for use through collective bargaining, and any cases of each agency permitting unions or their employees to use department property at a discount or for free.

"Giving bureaucrats another four-year vacation from the office is unacceptable. Bureaucrats have had enough gap years—it’s time to get them back to work," she said.

Fox News' Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: President-elect Donald Trump is suing the Des Moines Register and its top pollster J. Ann Selzer for "brazen election interference" and fraud over its final 2024 presidential poll showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading him in Iowa, despite his ultimate victory in the state by more than 13 percentage points, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The lawsuit was filed Monday night in Polk County, Iowa under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act and related provisions. It says it seeks "accountability for brazen election interference committed by" the Des Moines Register (DMR) and Selzer "in favor of now-defeated former Democrat candidate Kamala Harris through use of a leaked and manipulated Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted by Selzer and S&C and published by DMR and Gannett in the Des Moines Register on Nov. 2, 2024." 

FIRST ON FOX: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS AND ABC APOLOGIZE TO TRUMP, ARE FORCED TO PAY $15 MILLION TO SETTLE DEFAMATION SUIT

"Contrary to reality and defying credulity, defendants’ Harris Poll was published three days before Election Day and purported to show Harris leading President Trump in Iowa by three points; President Trump ultimately won Iowa by over thirteen points," the lawsuit states. 

Selzer released her final Des Moines Register-sponsored poll of Iowa just three days before the election, on Nov. 2, showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump by three points. That shock poll showed a seven-point shift from Trump to Harris from September, when he had a four-point lead over the vice president in the same poll. 

But Trump ultimately beat Harris in Iowa by more than 13 percentage points. 

Selzer’s poll, though, had been hyped up by the media ahead of the elections, as her polling predictions in previous elections had been historically accurate. 

Trump attorneys said Selzer’s prediction of Harris’ three point lead in "deep-red Iowa was not reality, it was election-interfering fiction." 

Trump attorneys said Selzer had "prided herself on a mainstream reputation for accuracy despite several far less publicized egregious polling misses in favor of Democrats" and said she "would have the public believe it was merely a coincidence that one of the worst polling misses of her career came just days before the most consequential election in memory, was leaked and happened to go against the Republican candidate." 

SHOCK POLL HAS HARRIS LEADING TRUMP IN IOWA WITH 3-POINT SHIFT TOWARD VICE PRESIDENT IN RED STATE

"The Harris Poll was no ‘miss’ but rather an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election," the lawsuit states, adding that "defendants and their cohorts in the Democrat Party hoped that the Harris Poll would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election." 

"Instead, the November 5 election was a monumental victory for President Trump in both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote, an overwhelming mandate for his America First principles, and the consignment of the radical socialist agenda to the dustbin of history." 

The lawsuit notes that Selzer, after more than 35 years in the industry, "retired in disgrace from polling less than two weeks after this embarrassing rout." 

Trump lawyers argued that "left-wing pollsters have attempted to influence electoral outcomes through manipulated polls that have unacceptable error rates and are not grounded in widely accepted polling methodologies." 

FORMER POLLSTER ANN SELZER HITS BACK AT CRITICISMS OVER IOWA POLL: 'THEY ARE ACCUSING ME OF A CRIME'

"While Selzer is not the only pollster to engage in this corrupt practice, she had a huge platform and following and, thus, a significant and impactful opportunity to deceive voters," the lawsuit states. "As Selzer knows, this type of manipulation creates a narrative of inevitability for Democrat candidates, increases enthusiasm among Democrats, compels Republicans to divert campaign time and money to areas in which they are ahead, and deceives the public into believing that Democrat candidates are performing better than they really are." 

The lawsuit states that Democrats’ "need for fake polling was even more acute than usual in the 2024 Election, given Harris’s many fatal weaknesses as a candidate and lack of appeal to critical swaths of the traditional Democrat base." 

Trump attorneys are suing under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, alleging that defendants "engaged in an ‘unfair act or practice’ because the publication and release of the Harris Poll ‘caused substantial, unavoidable injury to consumers that was not outweighed by any consumer or competitive benefits which the practice produced.’" 

They also said consumers were "badly deceived and misled as to the actual position of the respective candidates in the Iowa Presidential race." 

"Moreover, President Trump, the Trump 2024 Campaign, and other Republicans were forced to divert enormous campaign and financial resources to Iowa based on the deceptive Harris Poll," the lawsuit states, adding that consumers of the Des Moines Register and Iowans who contributed to Trump’s 2024 campaign were "similarly deceived." 

Trump is demanding actual damages upon trial of the case; statutory damages three times the actual damages suffered; an order enjoining defendants’ "ongoing deceptive and misleading acts and practices relating to the Harris Poll and compelling defendants to disclose all information upon which they relied to engage in the deceptive and misleading acts relating to the Harris Poll; attorneys’ fees and costs associated with the case; and any other relief as deemed just and proper by the court. 

The lawsuit Monday night comes just hours after the president-elect said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago that he planned to sue the Des Moines Register and Selzer. 

The lawsuit comes days after ABC News and its top anchor George Stephanopoulos reached a settlement with Trump in his defamation suit, resulting in the network paying the president-elect $15 million. 

The settlement was publicly filed on Saturday, revealing the agreement to avoid a costly trial. According to the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a "Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past." 

Additionally, the network will pay $1 million in Trump’s attorney fees. 

Stephanopoulos and ABC News also had to issue statements of "regret" as an editor's note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024, online article, about comments made earlier this year that prompted Trump to file the defamation lawsuit. The note reads, "ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024."

ABC News said the network was "pleased" to have concluded the case.

"We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing," an ABC News spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The Des Moines Register lawsuit and the ABC News settlement come after a string of legal victories for Trump and his legal team, coordinated by senior legal adviser Boris Epshteyn.

Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan recently granted Special Counsel Jack Smith’s recent request to dismiss his case against Trump related to the 2020 election. Smith also tossed his appeal in the classified records case on Monday after a federal judge dismissed the charges altogether in July, ruling that he was unlawfully appointed as special counsel.

In New York v. Trump, Judge Juan Merchan granted Trump’s request to file a motion to dismiss the charges stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case and removed the sentencing date for the president-elect from the schedule. 

Merchan on Monday night rejected Trump’s July request to overturn the guilty verdict based on presidential immunity. Merchan has not yet ruled on Trump’s official motion to dismiss the charges altogether. 

Trump is also suing CBS News for $10 billion in damages, stating the network practiced "deceptive conduct" for the purpose of election interference in its interview in October with Vice President Kamala Harris.

EXCLUSIVE: A top Republican senator will accuse Meta – the parent company of Facebook – of "shadow banning" and removing social media posts in a letter Tuesday demanding answers from CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the top Republican on the Small Business committee, will, in part, cite a 2022 Washington Post report on social media companies’ "deamplification" of certain Facebook and Instagram content.

The report discussed Meta’s response to "problematic content," which the executive at the time called "borderline" and argued must have reduced reach due to its proclivity to go viral.

In the letter addressed to Zuckerberg’s San Mateo County, California, office, Ernst alleged such content included that of the military as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Virginia.

TOP DOGE SENATOR DEMANDS ANSWERS ON PLAN TO EXHAUST CHIPS ACT FUNDS BEFORE TRUMP ARRIVES

"Your platform, amongst others, provides an unparalleled opportunity to connect the U.S. military with younger generations. That is why I am concerned about Meta’s ongoing shadow banning and removal of the U.S. Armed Services’ posts," Ernst wrote in the letter obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital.

"The defense of our nation is entirely dependent upon the voluntary enlistment of brave women and men willing to put their lives on the line so every American can freely speak their minds."

In remarks to Fox News Digital, Ernst said Americans’ freedoms are only possible through the all-volunteer armed services, which she previously served in.

"I am concerned Meta’s algorithms are hindering our investment in connecting with and recruiting the next generation of warfighters," she added.

"The service and sacrifice of the brave men and women in uniform should be celebrated, not restricted."

In her letter, Ernst accused Meta of sporadically adjusting its violations policies without "clear rationale" and cited reports to Congress showing an increase in content-restriction on military-related postings.

ERNST MEETS WITH HEGSETH

Embedding an image of an Instagram violation warning on one particular post, Ernst listed a handful of such reports and their loss of cyber "reach."

A six-hour suspension of a post on Feb. 29 resulted in the loss of 2,500 impressions and 500 engagements, while a similar situation on March 3 reduced a post’s reach by 5,000 impressions and 1,100 engagements.

Ten posts on the GoArmy social media account were flagged as violating guidelines over a three-day period in September, Ernst said, and the account was briefly put on "non-recommendable" status twice.

The senator said the Army’s public affairs office reported disruptions to several posts, including one featuring the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and one depicting soldiers onboard a helicopter.

HAWLEY CALLS OUT FACEBOOK CEO AFTER SENATE HEARING

In turn, Ernst asked Zuckerberg to lay out the guidelines used to mediate military-related content and how they are communicated to account holders.

She also asked for an explanation as to the apparent suppression of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier post, and actions taken thus far to prevent future shadow-bans that shouldn’t occur.

The lawmaker also demanded an estimate on the cost of the official Pentagon-sanctioned ads that were suppressed.

EXCLUSIVE: A top U.S. senator is expected to demand that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo explain her reported plans to exhaust the remainder of the CHIPs and Science Act’s multibillion-dollar appropriations before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

"Your recent mandate to the Department of Commerce staff to work overtime–including weekends–spending billions of dollars in funding provided by the CHIPs and Science Act as quickly as possible before President-elect Trump takes office in January is extremely concerning," Senate DOGE Caucus leader Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, writes in a letter that's to be given to Raimondo on Wednesday.

Ernst called on Raimondo, the previous Rhode Island governor, to immediately halt all last-minute spending plans.

Raimondo recently told Politico she’d "like to have really almost all of the money obligated" from what is one of President Biden’s major government spending initiatives "by the time we leave."

‘DOGE’-MEETS-CONGRESS: GOP LAWMAKER AARON BEAN LAUNCHES CAUCUS TO HELP MUSK ‘TAKE ON CRAZYTOWN’

The CHIPs Act, sponsored by then-Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, sought to invest in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, research, development and other related endeavors.

In her letter, Ernst said microchips and other "essential goods" strengthen the U.S. economy and supply chain.

She said that the success of the CHIPs Act hinges on careful planning and execution, which, according to her interpretation, are not reflected in Raimondo's remarks regarding the upcoming final rounds of spending.

"[B]inge buying shopping sprees by bureaucrats shoveling billions out the door before your term expires" are unwise, she said.

"This is not a time to let the CHIPs fall where they may," she said, pointing to reports that nearly $280 billion in COVID-19 response funding was wasted or subject to fraud.

RAMASWAMY OUTLINES DOGE'S VISION

"Shoveling out heaps of taxpayer dollars as fast as possible, with little to no oversight, is part of the reason the United States government is nearly $36 trillion in debt today," Ernst wrote.

In exclusive comments to Fox News Digital, Ernst quipped that while "Black Friday might have come-and-gone, the Biden administration is on a spending spree, convinced every tax dollar must go."

"We’ve never seen bureaucrats work this hard, and you can be sure they made a list and aren’t checking it twice to find out who is naughty and nice. This is backwards and underscores the need for DOGE to shake up Washington and bring some much-needed Iowa common sense to the capital," she said.

In her letter, Ernst wrote that with $25 billion of $53 billion in available appropriations already earmarked, it is difficult to believe the same level of oversight will be given to the last-minute expenditures as there likely was for the first two years’ worth.

In addition to her criticisms and demands that the spending be halted, Ernst asked Raimondo to inform her on several related fronts before the day the new Congress is seated next year.

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Ernst is requesting the total number of ongoing negotiations between Commerce and CHIPs Act fund applicants, the duration of planned CHIPs projects and the amount of money spent via the CHIPs Act both prior to and after Trump’s election win.

She will also ask Raimondo how her team is coordinating with the Trump transition on this matter.

Trump has chosen Cantor-Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to succeed Raimondo on Jan. 20.

Fox News Digital reached out to Raimondo on the general subject of her remarks to Politico. A Raimondo representative directed Fox News Digital to a portion of her interview: "You know, there's a deadline, there's a clear deadline with a change of administration. So, certainly, a deadline focuses the mind. But this was the plan we were on all along to complete this mission. I don't worry terribly about any of the CHIPs money being rolled back, as you say. I mean, the Commerce Department is somewhat unique in so far as everything we've done and are doing is bipartisan," Raimondo said.

Iowa is suing the Biden administration over its alleged refusal to provide access to the citizenship status information of more than 2,000 registered voters whose status was questioned ahead of the 2024 election.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Secretary of State Paul Pate filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, which claims U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) "would not hand over" its "list of noncitizens illegally registered to vote in Iowa."

Federal authorities' "failure meant that the State had to rely on the best — imperfect — data it had available to ensure that no Iowan’s vote was canceled by an illegal, noncitizen vote," Pate and Bird said in a joint statement.

Along with USCIS, the lawsuit names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as defendants.

IOWA REP. MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS BEATS DEM CHALLENGER IN STATE'S 1ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

DHS told Fox News Digital in a statement that the department does not comment on pending litigation, though "USCIS has engaged with Iowa and will continue to correspond with them directly through official channels."

The complaint details how state election officials checked voter rolls against a list of people who identified themselves as noncitizens with the state's Department of Transportation. The vast majority of the 2,176 names had subsequently registered to vote or voted, meaning that some of those people could have become naturalized citizens in the lapsed time.

Pate told county elections officials during the state’s early voting to challenge the ballots cast by any of the individuals named on the list and have them cast a provisional ballot instead.

Pro-voting groups sued Pate over the move, though days later a judge ruled against them and allowed those named on Pate’s list to cast provisional ballots.

MISSOURI LAW REQUIRING PHOTO ID TO VOTE REMAINS INTACT: ‘HUGE WIN FOR ELECTION SECURITY’

At least 500 of the identified individuals proved their citizenship status and had their votes counted, the Des Moines Register reported, citing preliminary information collected from 97 of the state's 99 counties.

Another 74 ballots were rejected, according to the Register, mostly because those people did not return to prove their citizenship status.

Most of the people on Pate's list did not vote in the 2024 election, according to the Register's data from county auditors.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Republican Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks has successfully fended off Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan in the race for the state's 1st Congressional District, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. 

Miller-Meeks has served in the U.S. House since 2021, and currently represents the state’s 1st Congressional District, which includes cities such as Davenport and Iowa City in the southeastern portion of the state. 

She flipped her seat from blue to red in 2020 and saw this year’s race move from a "likely" victory for Republicans to a toss-up. She won her 2020 race by a slim margin of just six votes but expanded that advantage in 2022.

REP. MILLER-MEEKS BEATS BACK CONSERVATIVE PRIMARY CHALLENGE IN IOWA RACE

Miller-Meeks fended off a GOP primary challenger earlier in the cycle who accused her of voting "against you and the Republican platform over 40% of the time," while she pitched herself to voters as a "proven conservative."

The Iowa Republican received endorsements from the Trump orbit amid her election cycle, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell and former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"There is no better conservative fighter for Iowa's First Congressional District than Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks. I am proud to endorse and serve beside Mariannette to deliver for the American people and help claw back disastrous policies from the Biden administration," House Speaker Mike Johnson said in his endorsement of Miller-Meeks earlier in the election cycle. 

Miller-Meeks is a doctor and military veteran who served in the U.S. Army for 24 years before retiring as a lieutenant colonel. 

Democratic challenger Bohannon is a law professor at the University of Iowa College of Law, who previously served in the Iowa state House of Representatives from 2021 to 2023. She campaigned on making the Iowa public school system top-rate nationally, instituting "common-sense gun laws," fighting to "put Roe v. Wade back into federal law" and vowing to "work with anyone to secure the border."

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The pair sparred during a debate last month that included exchanges on abortion and the economy, as well as immigration reform. Miller-Meeks, similar to Republicans across the nation, pinned blame for the illegal immigration crisis on the Biden-Harris administration following former President Donald Trump's White House border policies. 

"Trump-era policies that reduced the amount of illegal immigrants coming across our border, that helped to keep down the amount of illegal drugs, illegal fentanyl, that our customs and border protections agents actually felt like they were doing their job," Miller-Meeks said during the debate.

Bohannan argued that a bipartisan piece of legislation this year that would have addressed the border but argued Republicans "killed it." Republicans have said the immigration bill would have further worsened the crisis, and that the legislation was essentially dead on arrival. 

GREG GUTFELD: MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS 'MISSED AN OPPORTUNITY' TO GRILL COVID ERA OFFICIAL ON THE LIVES RUINED

"We had a golden opportunity recently to pass the strictest border security bill that we have seen in this country in a very long time, maybe ever. And Rep. Miller-Meeks and her party in the House killed it," Bohannan said last month.

Miller-Meeks previously defeated Bohannan in the 2022 general election, 53% to 47%. The 1st district as a whole went for Trump in the 2020 election, voting for him by about three percentage points over President Biden.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Fox News Digital's Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

An incumbent Iowa Republican seeking re-election to the House has accused her Democratic opponent of "wasting taxpayer money" by pursuing a recount of their close contest.

The Associated Press has not yet called the race in Iowa's 1st Congressional District, where Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, leads Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan by just 801 votes. Bohannan requested a recount last week.

"Four counties in IA-01 have completed their recounts and I’ve gained 2 votes. Once again Christina Bohannan and the Dems are wasting taxpayer money," Miller-Meeks posted on X Thursday. She has previously declared victory and her campaign is confident in her lead. 

CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OBSERVERS DEPLOY TO IOWA FOR RECOUNT IN UNCALLED HOUSE RACE

Congressional election observers from the House Committee on Administration were deployed to Iowa to monitor the uncalled race this week.

Bohannan's campaign said in a statement last week that they want to ensure "every voter is heard" and pledged to "accept the results regardless of outcome." 

Republicans have already clinched a razor-thin House majority, but a GOP victory in Iowa would allow the factious conference some room for dissent without log jamming President-elect Trump's agenda in the next Congress.

DEMOCRAT BOB CASEY CONCEDES PENNSYLVANIA SENATE RACE TO DAVE MCCORMICK, ENDING RECOUNT

Republican incumbents held onto Iowa’s three other congressional seats, including the competitive 3rd District where Zach Nunn fended off a challenge from Democrat Lanon Baccam.

Republican incumbents Ashley Hinson in the 2nd District and Randy Feenstra in the 4th District won decisively. Hinson defeated Democrat Sarah Corkery. Feenstra defeated Democrat Ryan Melton.

DEMOCRATS ADVANCE 5 MORE BIDEN JUDICIAL NOMINEES

So far, Republicans have claimed 219 seats in the House of Representatives while Democrats have held on to 213. 

There are still two uncalled races in California's 13th and 45th Congressional Districts, where Republican incumbents are defending their seats by extremely close margins. 

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The race in Iowa's 1st Congressional District is a rematch. Miller-Meeks previously defeated Bohannan by a much larger margin of 7 percentage points in 2022. 

Miller-Meeks earned a first term in Congress representing Iowa’s 2nd District when she defeated Democrat Rita Hart by just six votes in 2020.

Fox News Digital's Danielle Wallace and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Congressional election observers are being deployed to Iowa to monitor the recount in an uncalled House race. 

The House Committee on Administration, which provides oversight of federal elections, announced on X that "Congressional Election Observers are being deployed to Iowa to observe the recount of the First Congressional District race." 

Chairman Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wisc., "is committed to ensuring an accurate count of all legal ballots," the committee's GOP leadership said. 

"We must make sure that every legal ballot is counted accurately," Steil added in a statement. "This Congress, we recruited a record number of Congressional Election Observers and continue to run the most robust Program in the history of the House to ensure fairness and accuracy in our election results. I want to thank each of our Election Observers and my colleagues for sharing their staff's time as a commitment to strengthening our elections."

Democrat Christina Bohannan’s campaign on Thursday requested the recount in her bid against Republican incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks to represent Iowa’s 1st District. The initial tally puts Bohannan fewer than 1,000 votes — less than a percentage point — behind Miller-Meeks.

SIZE OF SLIM REPUBLICAN HOUSE MAJORITY HANGS ON 5 UNCALLED RACES

The contest is a much tighter rematch of 2022, when Miller-Meeks won by 7 percentage points. Miller-Meeks earned a first term in Congress representing Iowa’s 2nd District when she defeated Democrat Rita Hart by just six votes in 2020.

Miller-Meeks has declared victory and said she was confident in her lead.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Miller-Meeks’ campaign accused Bohannan and other Democrats of being "election deniers."

"This is a delaying tactic to thwart the will of the people," the statement said. "A recount won’t meaningfully change the outcome of this race as the congresswoman’s lead is mathematically impossible to overcome."

HOUSE LAUNCHES POLL WATCHER PROGRAM AMID GOP-WIDE PUSH FOR ELECTION SECURITY

Bohannan’s campaign said in a statement that the recount will make certain "that every voter is heard," but that they have "full trust in this process and will accept the results regardless of the outcome."

Steil's announcement comes as part of a GOP poll watcher program launched by the House in September in the party's push for election security. 

Eight weeks before the election, the House Committee on Administration moved to boost accountability efforts at the polls for more than a dozen House races expected to come down to razor-thin margins through the Election Observer Program. Congressional staffers were eligible to volunteer for a training program that would set them up to be poll watchers to then be sent out to districts, not including their own, if requested by a congressional candidate in a close race.

Republican incumbents held onto Iowa’s three other congressional seats, including the competitive 3rd District where Zach Nunn fended off a challenge from Democrat Lanon Baccam.

Republican incumbents Ashley Hinson in the 2nd District and Randy Feenstra in the 4th District won decisively. Hinson defeated Democrat Sarah Corkery. Feenstra defeated Democrat Ryan Melton.

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Republicans so far have won enough seats to control the House, completing the party’s sweep into power and securing their hold alongside President-elect Trump.

Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind and the Associated Press contributed to this report.