(Radio Iowa) – A lawyer who spent most of his career in Arizona and retired in Iowa four years ago says he plans to seek one of Iowa’s U.S. Senate seats in 2026. Richard Sherzan of Coralville says the government needs to work with businesses, laborers, and colleges to meet America’s 21st century needs.

“We Americans need to create and develop a new, under the U.S. Constitution, a new formal, long-term public-private economic partnership that can compete and win against China particularly, in the 21st century,” Sherzan said. Sherzan calls it a “New West” agenda and he says it will compete against President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda. Sherzan says public-private partnerships have helped the U.S. during previous times of crisis.

“The American democratic government intervened to provide the leadership and direction that were needed to realize and to reach goals that were required for the security and prosperity of the American people,” Sherzan said, “and that’s the kind of time we’re in now.” Sherzan, who is 78, is a Vietnam veteran who grew up in Des Moines and got his law degree from Drake University. He worked on Arizona Senator Morris Udall’s 1976 Iowa Caucus campaign and won one term in the Iowa House in 1978. While living in Arizona, Sherzan indicated he’d run for the U.S. Senate twice, but withdrew before the Arizona Democratic Party’s U-S Senate Primaries in 2016 and 2018.

There are five other Democrats campaigning in Iowa for the seat currently held by Republican Joni Ernst, who is not seeking reelection in 2026.