U.S. Rep-elect Cindy Axne, a Democrat, says her election was not about Trump. But some Iowans differ.

Democrat Cindy Axne’s election to the U.S. House this week has Iowa supporters cheering over a new check on President Donald Trump’s power, but the congresswoman-elect doesn't see her victory that way. 

“This has never been about impeachment or pushing forth investigations that people think need to be done,” she said Thursday to the Des Moines Register.

Axne, a small business owner from West Des Moines, defeated Republican U.S. Rep. David Young on Tuesday. The election gave Democrats a majority in the U.S. House, while Republicans maintained control of the U.S. Senate.

Axne has indicated to her swing district that she’ll take a measured approach on Trump.

“This is about checks and balances on our democracy and then pushing the ideas forward to help Iowans, like health care, schools, money in people’s pockets, better-paying jobs, helping our agriculture sector, those types of things," Axne said.

The response shows Axne’s new balancing act. The political geography of the 3rd District is a nearly equal mix of registered Democrats, Republicans and independents. It's a map that also challenged Young, a two-term Republican from Van Meter, who appeared with Trump in the campaign's final days.

Data from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office shows Axne won the election with 169,000 votes, 49 percent of the vote. Young brought in 47.50 percent, losing by roughly 5,000 votes.

Axne tallied big numbers in population-rich Polk County — where Des Moines is located — but lost the district’s 15 other counties, which are mostly rural. Axne said she’s mindful of that as she heads to Washington, D.C.

“I know that Iowans have a varied approach to how they look at things needing to be accomplished,” she told the Register. “I’m taking all of us out there and all of our mindsets … I don’t look at this as a mandate that I’ve got to go out there and push an agenda. My agenda has been one that I think serves everybody in this district.”

The Trump question

Axne didn't often call out Trump by name on the campaign trail. But the president was clearly on the minds of some Axne voters.

Tom Walton, a Des Moines lawyer, said he wants Axne to vote to impeach Trump. He said the eventual results of an investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election "will require every member of Congress to stand up for what they believe in."

Walton added: “It’s not health care or the economy that threatens our democracy."

Axne has said her win is not a referendum on Trump, but a call for change on a wide range of kitchen table issues like health care and the economy. But she told the Register she plans to be tough when her job demands it.

“The most important thing that we can do in this country is stand up and protect our republic, ensure that our democracy is being upheld and that we live by the tenets that our Founding Fathers created,” she said. “We’ve got to absolutely ensure that anybody in an elected position lives up to those ideals."

John Hale, who works as an aging and caregiving consultant in Ankeny, said he voted for Axne because of her independence.

“That’s what we’ve been missing and that’s what we need,” Hale said. He added that he hopes the new makeup of the U.S. House — Democrats won at least 30 seats, ensuring the chamber's flip — will mean less “partisan B.S.” and better representation.

Axne focused much of her 18-month campaign on improving the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 health care law that ensures health insurance access for Americans. Axne said any changes need to protect people with pre-existing conditions. Axne claimed it's an issue with bipartisan support, despite a long Republican history of attempting to repeal the law signed by former President Barack Obama.

Before she’s even sworn into office, Axne is already being forced to talk about Trump and the Mueller investigation. During a Thursday taping of Iowa Press, Axne was asked whether she thought Matt Whitaker, the new acting attorney general and Iowa native, should recuse himself from Mueller’s investigation. Whitaker has made previous remarks that criticized the investigation.

More politics coverage from the Des Moines Register

• Trump names Iowa native Matt Whitaker acting attorney general after Sessions resigns
• What has new Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker said about the Mueller investigation?

Trump appointed Whitaker on Wednesday after firing now former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Democrats in Congress quickly started publicly calling for Whitaker to recuse himself.

Axne said she supports Mueller's investigation and she would back legislation that formally protects his work. But she was less definitive on whether Whitaker should recuse himself.

“We can't be too quick to jump and say this person needs to be recused, this person shouldn't have a chance. We need to ensure that due process is taking its course," Axne said.

The Pelosi question

Matt Strawn, a GOP strategist and former chairman for the Republican Party of Iowa, said Axne will need to be mindful of her narrow win and that a plurality — not a majority — of voters picked her.

Key for many Republicans: Will she support House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to become speaker? Pelosi, who was speaker when Democrats last held the House, is notoriously unpopular with the GOP, a point Young supporters attempted to exploit before the election.

Strawn implied many of the voters in the purple 3rd District would not like their representative to support the California Democrat. 

"(Pelosi) called me the night of the election and congratulated me but that was it," Axne said on Iowa Press. Axne said she remains uncommitted to Pelosi.

"I'm not willing to commit to an answer at this time when I don't know who is stepping up and what they might bring out with them to work best for the people here in our state," she said.

Strawn also said he'll be curious to see if Axne aligns herself with Democratic presidential hopefuls who come to Iowa in the weeks and months ahead. Some are to the left of the policies Axne promoted during the campaign, he said.

"It's a fine needle she's going to have to thread," Strawn said.

Reporter Lee Rood contributed to this report.