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Former Rep. from Carroll ponders Senate bid

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June 19th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

A former state legislator and candidate for governor says he’s considering a run for the U.S. Senate. Fifty-five-year-old Rod Roberts served 10 years in the Iowa House, representing the Carroll area, before he ran for governor. Roberts got about nine percent of the votes cast in the 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary that Terry Branstad won. Roberts says he doesn’t want to be “impulsive” about running for the U.S. Senate and will announce his decision by the end of the summer.

“In a field of multiple candidates in a compressed timeline, you really have to think about the potential support that’s out there, the resources to put a viable campaign together,” Roberts says. “So now it’s: Can you do it in kind of a sprint to the finish line?” Roberts says just as he felt “called” to be an ordained minister in the Church of Christ, he feels a “calling” to public service. “When that’s in your background and that’s kind of how you’re wired, this comes very naturally to me to consider an opportunity like this, especially when you place a high regard on what others are saying to you,” Roberts says. “You know as that comes to you, you don’t just ignore it or disregard it. You think about it pretty seriously and I am.”

Governor Branstad appointed Roberts to serve as director of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, a job Roberts would have to leave if he runs for the senate. “I do have a job I enjoy and people I enjoy working with and that weighs in my thinking, too,” Roberts says. Roberts is active on the online social network Twitter and his recent Tweets have addressed federal issues like immigration reform and the need for a “conservative candidate” to run for Iowa’s U.S. Senate seat in 2014.

(Radio Iowa)