A Democratic candidate for US Senate spoke to a small crowd Thursday night in Jefferson.

Retired US Navy Admiral Michael Franken made a campaign stop at the home of Rick and Kathy Morain. The Sioux County native and the youngest of nine children is a retired three-star admiral and worked as chief of legislative affairs for the Navy and Marine Corp under the Obama Administration. 

He believes Iowa is in the perfect position for alternative sources of energy with wind and solar, along with diversifying the ethanol industry. He also supports responsible gun ownership and wants to increase federal funding for pre-kindergarten and child care. Franken also believes in bringing jobs that were exported overseas back to the US and increasing legal immigration.

Franken previously ran in the Democratic Primary in 2020 for US Senate and was defeated by Theresa Greenfield. He spoke about what he learned back then that he is using in his bid for the Democratic nomination for US Senate this time.

“We don’t have the headwind of having advocacy groups working against us like we did last time. Secondly, I do realize the importance of money (and) consequently, for instance, we announced our monetary revenue generation and we doubled that of Chuck Grassley for this last reporting period. We have a clean campaign and efficient.” 

 Franken is running against Abby Finkenauer and Glenn Hurst for the Democratic nomination in the June Primary Election.