Dem hopes to unseat King

COUNCIL BLUFFS — A 26-year-old man hopes to challenge U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, for the right to represent western Iowa in Congress.

Democrat Mike Denklau will announce his campaign today in Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Des Moines. Former Omaha congressional candidate Jim Esch will introduce Denklau at noon in the Council Bluffs Public Library, 400 Willow Ave.

Denklau is the first Democrat to declare for the 5th District U.S. House seat in 2010.

An Iowa native, he moved to Council Bluffs in the summer after deciding it was time to return from New York and do something for the state.

“I thought I could stay here (in New York),” Denklau said. “Or I could go and help out where there is a need.”

Denklau said the “need’’ arises from King’s representation.

“It really struck me that he didn’t represent the values that I grew up with as a kid,” he said.

King is known for his outspoken comments on topics ranging from illegal immigration to President Barack Obama. He has said he makes bold statements intentionally to draw attention to points of view he believes are important.

King has won four successive elections in the 5th Congressional District by wide margins over his challengers. The numbers are in his favor — the 32-county district has 141,000 registered Republicans and 99,000 registered Democrats.

“It is daunting,’’ Denklau said, “but there’s a lot of opportunity here.”

Denklau went to work for Lehman Brothers in New York City after graduating from the University of Iowa in 2006.

After Lehman filed for bankruptcy last year, Denklau helped handle government stimulus funds as an employee of Barclays, the British bank that purchased Lehman. King strongly opposed the government’s rescue of the financial sector.

Denklau calls himself a fiscally conservative Democrat. He said his experience in the financial sector could serve him well in Congress.

Government needs to encourage industry that fits with western Iowa, he said. He pointed to the development of wind farms and the advent of wind farm training at Iowa community colleges. Those programs are bringing in students from all over the country.

“They are bringing young people to the district, and there’s a good likelihood they might stay in Iowa, because that’s where the wind farms are,” he said.

Denklau grew up in Blue Grass, a town of about 1,200 near Davenport.

Although he’s from the eastern side of the state, Denklau said, western Iowans don’t need to worry. “Rural Iowa is not something I’m a stranger to,” he said.

As to residency, the U.S. Constitution requires only that a House member be an “inhabitant” of the state in which he is elected.

“Mike is inexperienced in the political field,” said Sue Lett, chairwoman of the Pottawattamie County Democratic Party. “I’m not sure if that will help or hinder him.”

But, she said, he has reached out to important Democrats such as U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley and former Rep. Berkley Bedell, the last Democrat to represent western Iowa in Congress. That will help him lay the foundation for a good campaign, Lett said.

Rob Hubler of Council Bluffs, who lost to King in the 2008 election, does not plan to run again.

“Mike is a good guy who has got a lot of time, he’s got a commitment. He seems to be working real hard,” Hubler said. “He needs to prove himself to be the candidate that I think he can be.”

Contact the writer:

444-1310, elizabeth.ahlin@owh.com

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