The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

OTTUMWA, IOWA -- Iowa's 2nd Congressional District may see a newcomer to politics on the ballot in November's elections.

Republican candidate John Archer, of Bettendorf, Iowa, will run against Dan Dolan and ultimately, if he wins his party's bid, against democratic incumbent Dave Loebsack for the district's seat.

Archer was inspired to run for Congress for his two young children, whom he wants to grow up in a "better America than the one they live in today".

During a visit to Ottumwa Monday afternoon, he said job creation, energy independence and a cut in spending are the primary focuses of his campaign and beyond.

"A couple of areas that I think we really need to take a look at with respect to spending is privatizing Amtrak, that would save millions of dollars, if not billions of dollars, right off the bat," he said. "I don't see any reason why government should be involved in home mortgage industry, that's Freddie Mack and Fannie Mae and we've heard about those two time and time again here in the recent past. So privatize as many things as possible and really shrink the size of government - a limited government in other words."

Archer has worked for John Deere for over a decade, and said his experience with the company is just one element that would make him a better opponent to Congressman Loebsack than Dolan.

"Experience, execution - we have a fantastic team that we have put in place and we're just executing our strategy ,and finally - philosophy," he said. "I really believe that this is a ground-up and not a top-down philosophy where we're going to spend a lot more time here in the second district, in the 24 counties that make up the second district with either our primary opponent or the winner of the democratic primary."