Cedar Rapids business owner Justin Wasson to run for Iowa Senate 42 seat

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids business owner and community volunteer Justin Wasson is running for an open Iowa Senate seat rural Linn and Benton counties.

Wasson, 33, founder and owner of Affordable Pressure Washing in Cedar Rapids wants to take his experience cleaning up messes to the Statehouse.

“I know how to clean up a mess, and trust me, there are plenty of messes in Des Moines that need to be cleaned up,” he said.

Residents of Senate 42 “need an advocate in Des Moines who will work to support our struggling businesses and farmers, push back against the teaching of far-left ideologies in public schools and fight for the much-needed tax reforms and financial relief our senior citizens deserve,” Wasson said in a campaign announcement.

“We need a real conservative who will stand for real conservative values,” said Wasson, who describes himself as a “standard conservative.”

“I’ve always been pro-life. I’ve always been for school choice and gun rights and lower taxes and less government,” he said.

He’s not the only one who wants to represent the district, which includes Central City, Bertram, Vinton, Ely, Fairfax, Belle Plaine, Mount Vernon and Van Horne.

First-term state Rep. Charlie McClintock, R-Alburnett, plans to run in the district where no incumbent senator lives. Colman Silbernagel of Vinton also has announced for the seat.

Among his priorities is education, which he said has become “hyper-politicized” by critical race theory and other divisive issues. A member of the Iowa Firearms Coalition, Wasson said he feels safer when carrying a weapon.

“I feel like my family is safer when I carry a gun. I feel like my community is safer, too,” Wasson said, adding he will advocate for Iowa being a Second Amendment sanctuary state.

Pointing to the state’s $1 billion-plus surplus, Wasson said taxes are too high and the overpayment should be returned to Iowans. He called for changes in income, property and sales taxes. “We pay too much.”

Wasson, chairman of the Linn County Republican Party, is a longtime community volunteer, having spent countless hours donating his time to Big Brothers Big Sisters, Junior Achievement, Early Childhood Academy, Feed Iowa First and the Wellington Heights Neighborhood Association and many other organizations. He’s a graduate of Kennedy High School and the University of Northern Iowa with a degree in finance and minor in French. A former high school and college tennis player, Wasson coaches tennis at Washington High School.

Wasson and his wife, Andrea, have three children, and live in Bertram Township.

For more on his campaign, visit facebook.com/JustinForIowa.

Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com