T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM — Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Steen speaks at the Marshall County Pachyderm Herd during the regular Friday meeting. He is one of five Republican candidates. The others are Iowa Rep. Eddie Andrews, Rep. Randy Feenstra, Zach Lahn and former Iowa Rep. Brad Sherman.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Steen visited Marshalltown on Friday to speak at the Marshall County Pachyderm Herd.

HIs message is that he is the only candidate with the business background combined with insider knowledge to make good things happen for Iowa.

A resident of Runnels, Steen is the former director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services (DAS). For over four years – from 2021 until August – he ran the operations of the state of Iowa, stewarding tax dollars. There he remained until Steen submitted his resignation to make his bid for the governor’s chair.

“Right now, we are in the middle of a very challenging time in our state,” Steen said. “With the governor deciding not to run again, flat out, the Democrats are smelling blood in the water. They are doing everything they can to come in and decimate our state, and flip us from red to blue. I jump in this race to protect our culture and protect our freedom.”

The governor of Iowa is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the state, he said. There are three things the CEO must be able to do. The first is they must be able to operate.

“Right now there is not a single person who has a resume that can stand up against mine from an operational perspective,” Steen said. “. . . I can operate this state on day one, because I’ve been doing it for five years.”

The second thing the governor has to do is understand culture. He spent years traveling the state and got to know it well.

“We have grit. We solve problems. We get up early. We go to bed late. We’re not afraid to tackle challenging situations. We get dirty when we do it, clean up and we go get dirty again,” Steen said. “We need somebody to champion that culture on a regular basis so we understand who we truly are in Iowa.”

He said he intends to be the largest promoter of skilled trades Iowa has ever seen. Youth are not learning real world skills and need a pathway into the trades industry. While it’s happening in some communities, that should be expanded, Steen said.

He wants to bring families back to dinner tables every day and promote local churches rising as local churches again.

“When the SNAP benefits were taken away, I said this was an opportunity for the local community, local church, local nonprofits to rise up and take over what the government has screwed up in our community,” Steen said. “We the people need to take care of our communities. . . . One thing I know about being in the belly of the beast is the government is awesome at screwing things up. We cannot rely on the government. We have to rely on ourselves.”

The third thing the governor needs to do is understand policy. According to Steen, he was unanimously confirmed by the Iowa Senate to serve in the DAS role.

“Every single legislator knew I was good at my job, knew I could work with the legislature to get policy through,” he said.

Steen then said eminent domain is a huge issue and on his first day if elected, he will sign a bill protecting private property from eminent domain abuse. Property tax reform and zero-based budgeting are additional issues he will champion. He added that he is an absolute champion for life.

“I think the six-week (abortion) ban is wonderful, but we need to go further,” Steen said. “At the end of the day, you’re looking at an Evangelical Christian conservative that is not going to sit back. I will fight for your families the same way I will fight for mine.”

Two gubernatorial candidates who are sitting back, he said, are Democrat Rob Sand and Republican Randy Feenstra. While in the DAS, Steen said Sand would not show up to meetings and played politics with sensitive financial information. He looks forward to a time when he can ask Sand why those actions were taken. Regarding Feenstra, Steen said he does not show up or take unscripted questions.

Faith is an aspect very important to the candidate. Steen said at the age of 30 he hit his knees and gave himself over to Jesus Christ. When he stood up, he knew he was a different person and asked what he should do.

“I felt very clearly I was supposed to plan and prepare for high levels of leadership,” Steen said.

During his speech, he brought up the “doom and gloom” in New York City, Minneapolis and throughout the country, and said it is evil trying to take over good.

“We need to be willing to stand up and speak truth to those situations,” Steen said. “We need to know who our hero is – the Lord – and we also need to know what we need to do as patriots of this country.”

Steen and his wife Kasey have been married 13 years and have two boys, Ryker and Maverick.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.