Republican Ginny Caligiuri to announce 2nd District congressional candidacy

An Osceola Republican is jumping into the race to try to defeat U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District.

Ginny Caligiuri plans to formally announce her candidacy Thursday in Osceola, according to a news release issued Monday.

Caligiuri (pronounced Cal-a-jury) says she is 'pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, pro-Israel and pro-Constitution.”

A former bank vice president and a small-business owner, Caligiuri has been active in GOP politics. She and her husband, Tony, the president of Boyt Harness Company of Osceola, hosted Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in 2007 and Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump in 2016.

In her announcement, Caligiuri noted that President Donald Trump won the 2nd Congressional District in the 2016 presidential election, and she plans 'to help him accomplish what he was elected to do.”

Caligiuri is the second person to seek the GOP's nomination to run against Loebsack, an Iowa City Democrat.

Christopher Peters, a Coralville surgeon, announced his candidacy for the nomination last summer.

Peters was the Republican nominee for the post in 2016, losing to Loebsack in a low-key campaign.

Peters got widespread attention during the campaign for announcing that he would not vote for Trump. He has since been more conciliatory toward the president.

Caligiuri is planning a 24-county listening tour in the district beginning March 19.

The deadline for filing nomination papers is March 16.

Loebsack, who was first elected in 2006, plans to file nomination papers next week to seek a seventh term.