A Republican from Sioux City who won his second term in the state senate in 2014 may challenge fellow Republican Steve King’s bid for reelection to the U.S. House. Rick Bertrand says “maybe it is time Iowans have a choice” in the fourth congressional district.
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Bertrand, a 46-year-old businessman and commercial real estate developer, says he doesn’t just jump into anything on “a fluke.”
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King, who is 20 years older than Bertrand, was first elected to the U.S. House in 2002 and will be seeking his eighth term this year. Bertrand says he began thinking about running for congress last year, as he saw fellow state Senator Joni Ernst run and win a seat in the U.S. Senate.
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King suggests there have been “well-funded people in Des Moines” who have been trying to recruit someone to run against him for years.
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Bertrand describes himself as a political “survivor” who won a state senate seat that had been held by Democrats for years.
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