Rod Blum Announces Candidacy in Iowa 1st Congressional District Race

Dubuque businessman, Rod Blum, today announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination to Congress from Iowa’s First Congressional District. Blum, a first time candidate in 2012, ran in the Republican primary and nearly upset nominee Ben Lange in a very close race 52% – 47%.

Citing widespread grassroots support and calls for him to run, Blum wrote in an email to voters in the First District, “with so many critical issues facing our country and the support of so many throughout Eastern Iowa, I have decided to enter the race to represent Iowa’s First District in the United States Congress.”

Also important to Blum was the issue of returning control back to local communities from Washington.  “I will fight to keep more of our tax dollars in Iowa so those dollars may strengthen our schools, our infrastructure and our communities.  Keeping your tax dollars here, keeps accountability here, where you have more control how and where they are spent.”

Blum is a native of Dubuque. He received his undergraduate degree in Business from Loras College and his M.B.A. from the University of Dubuque. Following school he took a job in the computer industry and was C.E.O. of a software development company which eventually went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Blum has also been honored as Iowa High-Tech Entrepreneur of the Year by the prestigious award program sponsored by Ernst & Young. He currently is an owner of Digital Canal Software and is also a real estate developer.

A formal campaign event kickoff is planned for later this summer.

More information can be found at RodBlum.com.

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Full Text of the announcement email below –

To the Voters of the First District:

The country we all love is in crisis.  Tenets that made America the greatest country on Earth are under attack. Personal responsibility, fiscal sanity, the sanctity of life, constitutionally limited government and economic freedom are out of fashion in Washington DC.  We all suffer when these principles are abandoned.

Most in Washington believe in the power of the government – I believe in the power of the individual, freedom and liberty.   Millions of Americans, doing what’s best for their families every day, are the miracle of the free market system.  This system of economic freedom has given our families the highest standard of living in the world.  But in the last decade of big government, more regulations and out of control government spending has resulted in lower incomes, higher costs and a smaller middle class.

Perhaps the greatest threat to Iowan families is our ever increasing national debt.  Our leaders in Washington are addicted to spending and their fiscal insanity threatens to destroy our country.  Our national debt has grown by 50% under President Obama and is now a staggering $142,000 per household and is on track to be an astounding $227,000 for every family in Iowa by 2023!  Our children and grandchildren should not start out their adult lives with this huge debt on their backs because we didn’t have the courage to deal with it.

The solution doesn’t lie in ever-increasing taxes and spending; in fact federal tax revenues are projected to set an all-time record this year.  As President Reagan often said, “We can’t spend our way to prosperity”.  He understood that real and lasting prosperity can only be generated through free enterprise in the private sector.  There is simply not a way to raise taxes high enough to balance current spending levels.  The only answer is to send people to Washington who will vote to STOP the out-of-control spending, keep our markets free, and return our country to the limited government mandated by the Constitution.

When I traveled throughout the First District during my 2012 campaign, it confirmed my belief that there is something special about Iowans.  I have been humbled by the number of these Iowans who have reached out to me, asking me to run.  With this outpouring of grassroots support, and the critical issues facing our country, I have decided to enter the race to represent Iowa’s First District in the United States Congress. I will carry the message of Thomas Jefferson to Washington when he said “the government that governs the best is closest to the people.”  I will fight to lessen the influence Washington has over our lives here in Iowa.  I will fight to keep more of our tax dollars in Iowa so those dollars may strengthen our schools, our infrastructure and our communities.  Keeping your tax dollars here, keeps accountability here, where you have more control how and where they are spent.

Changing Washington will not be easy.  But rest assured I am not interested in becoming a career politician; rather I will go to Washington with a passion and belief that we can restore the principles and tenets that made America great.  I ask you to join our team today – TOGETHER we can make Iowan families stronger and brighten the future for many generations to come.