(Radio Iowa) – Retired Admiral Mike Franken has filed more than 64-hundred signatures on nominating petitions in his bid for the Iowa Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate nomination. Franken says he could subtract all the signatures collected in Polk County, Iowa’s most urban county, and still have enough to qualify for the primary ballot — and that’s by design. “I would like to be over represented in rural Iowa. I would like to be fully saturated in the urban areas. I would like to have the voice that spans the needs of a large populous and also be the voice of pragmatic realism and I’d like to really energize the Democratic Party,” Franken says. “What I’ve seen is a sense of forlornness that I would like to erase.”

Former Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer of Cedar Rapids, Dr. Glenn Hurst of Minden and Bob Krause of Burlington have also said they’re running for a chance to challenge Republican Chuck Grassley’s bid for an eighth term in the U.S. Senate. Last Friday, Grassley emphasized that he will have the most seniority of anyone in the senator if he’s reelected this fall. Franken suggests voters should pay attention to policies rather than tenure. “There are things such as seniority and then seniority that leads to, perhaps, lack of verveness and initiative and perhaps lack of broad thought with what’s best for the state and the nation,” Franken says.

Franken’s campaign website is being revamped to include “more substance,” according to Franken, who recently hired a new campaign manager. Franken told reporters he is exceedingly happy with the changes. “In Iowa, you win support by seeing, talking, shaking hands, being part, listening and so we are working hard on that,” Franken says. “But to ensure also we’ve got the necessary finances in the end game to make sure we to ensure that we flood the state with name recognition and also platform positions, etc.”

Franken, who grew up in Sioux County, served 36 years in the military. Franken ran for the U.S. Senate in 2020 and finished second in the Democratic Primary. In other 2022 campaign news, Republican Governor Kim Reynolds is expected to kick off her bid for another term tonight (Wednesday). She’ll speak at a campaign rally on the state fairgrounds. The Des Moines Register is reporting businessman Fred Hubbell, who ran against Reynolds four years ago, has endorsed Deidre DeJear, the Democratic Party’s leading gubernatorial candidate this year.