Iowa Senator Brad Zaun is making a push for votes in the final two weeks before the June 3rd Primary. Zaun, a 20th District House of Representatives Republican from Urbandale, has been hitting the campaign trail hard since the Senate adjourned earlier this month. He’s running for the 3rd District Congressional seat being vacated by Congressman Tom Latham, who announced in December he would not be seeking re-election.

Senator Brad Zaun, (R-IA)

Zaun, who has served in the Iowa Senate since 2004, stopped by the KJAN studios Wednesday afternoon. He’s the leader among candidates seeking the 3rd District seat, according to a recent poll by Loras College. Even thought he doesn’t get into following the polls, Zaun says they’re helpful because it shows he needs to work harder to get name recognition, especially with so many voters undecided. Zaun says he “Has a lot of work to do,” because out of 300 likely voters polled, Zaun collected 17.4-percent of the vote, which is still well below the 35-percent required for nomination.

The polls indicated the other candidates, including Robert Cramer, David Young, Matt Schultz and Monte Shaw, all received between 5.3 and 8.3 percent. Just over half of those polled indicated that they were undecided in the upcoming race. Zaun says the reason he is running, has to do with how the national debt will affect his kids. He says he will not pass the debt and spending onto his kids or any other young person.

He says when he gets to Washington, the three areas he won’t touch in terms of cutting spending, are those affecting services for seniors, the disabled and military veterans. Any other subsidies are fair game. Zaun says he is in favor of term limits, and abolishing the Department of Education in Iowa and nationally. He says a bill he’s proposed would give parents the choice of how to educate their children, whether it in a private school or home-school setting.

He says he also has a bill to shut down the “Common Core” curriculum, and create an Education Savings Account that could be used for competent non-public instruction whether that is a private school, homeschooling or online education. On the subject of term limits, Zaun says it’s not up to him to decide how long is too long to stay in office. He says “It’s in God’s hands…if it’s one term, so be it.”

The 3rd Congressional District Zaun is running for, covers an area in the southeastern corner of Iowa. Polk, Dallas, Guthrie, Warren, Madison, Adair, Cass, Pottawattamie, Mills, Fremont, Page, Montgomery, Taylor, Adams, Union and Ringgold counties are also included in the district.