OCHEYEDAN, Iowa - State Sen. David Johnson has announced his intention to seek re-election to a fifth term in 2018 in a rare but not unprecedented campaign.
The Ocheyedan lawmaker, 66, changed his voter registration to “no party” in June 2016, joining a growing number of statehouse independents across the nation.
“While my fellow independents from Maine to Alaska don’t share a rigid issues agenda, we do share the undeniable view that the two-party system is badly broken. Our goal is to find common ground in our respective statehouses,” Johnson said. “Politics in Des Moines has reached a bitterly partisan tipping point. Principle must come before party. Constituents must come first, of course, but there are times that call for leadership. This is one of those times.”
He represents Senate District 1, which comprises Clay, Dickinson, Lyon, Osceola and Palo Alto counties. Johnson said constituents of all political stripes have encouraged him to run again.
“They are Republicans, Democrats and independents, and I am honored and humbled by their support,” he said. “I believe in representing everyone to the best of my ability.”
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Johnson was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives as a Republican in 1998 after winning a three-way primary. Voters gave him a second House term, then Johnson went on to win four Senate terms. Now running as an independent, if re-elected Johnson would be the first declared independent to win an Iowa Senate seat since 1923. The last independent House member served in 1971-72.
