Iowa attack ad speaker's DUI case
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Dallas Center council member Shellie Flockhart pleaded guilty in 2017 to child endangerment and drunken driving.
She fronts a $1 million ad calling Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott dangerous to kids.
Background
Shellie Flockhart is a Dallas Center city council member and local Moms for Liberty activist who appears in an ad sponsored by the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC (an independent political committee that can spend unlimited sums) that put at least $1 million behind it. In the ad she says Democratic candidate Sarah Trone Garriott is "just plain dangerous" to children over her voting record on transgender school issues. The Washington Post's report on Flockhart's 2017 guilty pleas drew attention to the ad as the Des Moines-area race between Trone Garriott and incumbent Republican Zach Nunn shifted toward Democrats, per the Cook Political Report.
How it unfolded
- 2017Police found Flockhart intoxicated with two of her children, ages 8 and 11, in her car; a roadside breath test recorded 0.254 blood alcohol content, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08.
- 2017Flockhart pleaded guilty to child endangerment and drunken driving.
- Earlier this monthThe Des Moines-area race between Trone Garriott and incumbent Republican Zach Nunn shifted to favor Democrats, according to the Cook Political Report.
- Oct 24, 2026The Washington Post reported Flockhart's 2017 guilty pleas; the Congressional Leadership Fund ad featuring her had spent at least $1 million.
- Oct 24, 2026Flockhart posted a message calling the 2017 incident "inexcusable" and a "grave mistake."
Who’s saying what
- Party
- Flockhart says that "when it comes to our kids, Sarah is just plain dangerous," accusing Trone Garriott of endangering children over her voting record on transgender school issues.
- Support
- Flockhart called her own 2017 incident "inexcusable" and a "grave mistake."
- Caution
- Trone Garriott slammed the ad on X, writing, "Paid actors, corrupt politicians, and now this."