DES MOINES, Iowa — Democratic Rep. Rick Olson has held the House District 39 seat representing parts of Des Moines and Pleasant Hill for 10 terms, but Republican challenger Troy Clark, who announced his campaign in July, has high hopes of unseating the incumbent.
Here's what each campaign hopes to address in the statehouse if elected.
Troy Clark has never held political office before, but was a caucus captain for the Trump campaign earlier this year, he told Local 5 News on Tuesday. He grew up in Altoona and has lived on the east side of the metro for most of his life. He currently is building his insurance company.
The main issues Clark said he would address if he won the seat are gun rights and arming teachers in school, maintaining the state's regulations on abortion rights and continuing to cut the state income tax.
"I think we should continue cutting and eventually as far as I am concerned, I think we should eliminate the state income tax altogether," Clark explained. "I think it's a tax that penalizes productivity, and it makes it so hard workers don't want to necessarily work as hard."
Rep. Rick Olson is a 20-year state representative, lawyer and member of the Iowa State Bar Association. Olson's top issues if re-elected include funding public schools, lowering taxes overall and improving women's healthcare.
"To me it would be important to pass a state constitutional amendment which would guarantee a woman's right to choice," Olson said. "That's what we have to work on is to get something, you know, iron clad, in the state constitution."
Rep. Olson added that a lot of the issues he wants to see addressed must come with bipartisan politics.
Now just two weeks out from Election Day, both candidates say they plan to do lots of door knocking with their final bit of time.