King Challenger, Jim Mowrer, Visits Ames Thursday

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Ames residents can meet the Boone man interested in challenging Steve King, R-Kiron, for his 4th-District 4 congressional seat 8 a.m. Thursday at Cafe Diem.

Jim Mowrer, a 27-year-old Iraq war Veteran, has announced that he intends to seek the Democratic nomination for the seat.

Mowrer is a Boone native and Iowa National Guardsman who has only lived outside Boone when stationed in Iraq and when he worked at the Pentagon.

“That’s where I really saw the problems that a broken Congress can cause,” Mowrer told the Des Moines Register. “A lot of times when we were trying to make things better at the Pentagon — we were trying to care for our soldiers and make sure we had the strongest army in the world, and spend the American people’s and Iowans’ tax dollars wisely — too many times Congress was a hindrance to that. Not a help.”

Mowrer served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006 and his unit the 1-133 Infantry Battalion, served the longest deployment of any unit in the Iraq War – 23 months, according to a release from the campaign.

The Ames stop on Thursday is one of four that stops on his congressional campaign tour. He also plans to visit Boone 5 p.m. Wednesday at Veteran's Memorial Park and visit Mason City Thursday and Sioux City on Friday.