Hogg forms exploratory committee for possible U.S. Senate run

CEDAR RAPIDS - State Sen. Rob Hogg plans to spend the rest of the summer deciding whether to challenge a 'living legend” - six-term U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley.

'Ultimately, it's for the voters to decide, but I wouldn't have taken this step if I didn't think it was doable,” said Hogg, who Wednesday announced he has formed an exploratory committee to consider challenging Grassley, who plans to seek re-election to a seventh term in 2016.

In announcing his exploratory committee, Hogg, a 48-year-old Cedar Rapids attorney, said that like many Iowans he believes the nation needs 'Congress to work better for all of our citizens and our country's future.”

'In order to get Congress to work better, Iowans know it will require new leadership,” Hogg said.

While he respects Grassley's service to the state and nation, 'that doesn't mean voters don't get the right to make that decision.”

'If they perceive I'm a credible alternative, they can make a change,” he said.

Iowans have been voting for Grassley since 1958 when the New Hartford farmers and union sheet metal worker was elected to the Iowa Legislature. Grassley was elected to the U.S. House in 1974 and the U.S. Senate in 1980. Since then, he has been re-elected with at least 64 percent of the votes.

Grassley is making no assumptions about his re-election, his campaign financed director Anne Roth said.

'Whether he's on the job in Iowa visiting with Iowans in every county every year or working in Washington, where he currently holds the longest consecutive voting record in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Grassley takes his job seriously and takes nothing for granted,” Roth said.

Hogg joins former state lawmakers Bob Krause of Fairfield and Tom Fiegen of Clarence who also are considering the race. Krause and Fiegen ran unsuccessfully in the 2010 Democratic primary.

Among the questions he has to answer before becoming a candidate is whether the can raise funds to mount a credible campaign.

'The biggest thing is we live in a day and age where politics is extraordinarily expensive,” he said. 'So the initial thing is to figure out whether I will I be able to get support financially. That's the reality.”

He's counting on help from people in Cedar Rapids as well as current and former lawmakers he has worked with.

As a champion of climate action - in 2013 he wrote 'America's Climate Century: What Climate Change Means for America in the 21st Century and What Americans Can Do About It” - Hogg hopes to get support from like-minded people and groups calling for solutions to climate change.

He also senses Iowa Democrats are looking forward to the 2016 election after taking a drubbing in 2014.

'As I'm talking to people, I feel the pendulum swinging back,” Hogg said. 'There's growing enthusiasm as people look ahead to the presidential election and people are seeing positive results from national Democratic leadership.”

For more information, visit www.robhogg.org