Leaders of the Scott County Republican Party have chosen their candidate for the state senate. Tuesday night, precinct captains from the 45th District selected Michael Gonzales to run for the seat formerly held by Joe Seng of Davenport who died last month.
Gonzales lives in Davenport and is a sergeant with the LeClaire Police Department. And he says even though his parents are democrats, their interest in politics rubbed off on him.
"It was just that ideology of being involved in your community, being involved in your neighborhood, and serving that my parents instilled in us."
He had been thinking about waiting until retirement to run for office, but decided to take this opportunity to run for the Iowa Senate.
If elected, Gonzales says he would like to limit government regulation in favor of local control, and that includes funding for education. His wife works for the Davenport schools.
"It's disheartening, aggravating, and disappointing to hear that teachers have to pay for supplies ouf of their own wallet. That shouldn't happen."
There was one other candidate for the republican nomination - Denise Hollebeck of Davenport, former school board president and current trustee for the Eastern Iowa Community Colleges.
Democrats are scheduled to choose their candidate on November 10th, with the special election in District 45 set for December 27th.
