(Radio Iowa) – Former State Representative Brad Sherman — a pastor from Williamsburg — says he will seek the Republican Party’s 2026 nomination for governor — setting up a likely Primary with Governor Kim Reynolds, who is expected to seek reelection. Sherman says he told Reynolds in November he was likely to run.

“I felt like that was the respectful thing to do and I told her: ‘It’s not like I have some big vendetta against you,'” Sherman told Radio Iowa. “I don’t, but there are some issues that I see differently.” For one, Sherman says he hasn’t seen enough action on property rights. He opposes the Iowa Utilities Commission decision to grant eminent domain authority to Summit Carbon Solutions, so the company can seize land along its pipeline route from unwilling property owners.

“I know people say, ‘Well, it’s going to bring dollars into the state and create some jobs and whathaveyou,'” Sherman says. “Well, it might do that, but anybody that wants to start a business could make that claim and once we set that precedent, nobody’s property is safe from somebody that wants to lobby the government to use eminent domain to take that property for whatever they want it for.” Sherman says more must be done to lower property taxes, too. Governor Reynolds has made cutting income taxes one of top priorities.

“A lower income tax rate is really negligible for the average individual,” Sherman says, “but property tax is where it really hits people hard.” Sherman says business owners tell him Iowa’s property taxes make it hard to make a profit. Sherman, who’s been a pastor since 1979, is the founder of the Solid Rock Christian Church in Coralville. Sherman says he feels called by God to run for governor.

“I’ve prayed about it, my wife and I’ve prayed about it together,” Sherman says, “and we feel like we’re doing this in obedience to God.” Sherman served one term in the Iowa House, co-sponsoring bills to ban same-sex marriage and ban all abortions. He’s the co-founder of “Informed Choice of Iowa” which operates clinics in Iowa City and Burlington to provide pregnancy tests and ultrasounds.

“For years I’ve been studying America’s founding history, you know the Christian history of what the founders of the nation believed and it seems like those values have just been undermined constantly,” Sherman says. “Even though we do the best we can to stand for them and keep them relevant, it seems like the culture has been sliding away from them, so restoring those foundations of freedom, I think that’s the real reason we’re doing this.”

Sherman plans to host a campaign kick off Saturday at the Mason City airport.