Iowa-born congressman running for Democratic presidential nomination

NEW YORK CITY — A California congressman with north-central Iowa ties has thrown his hat into the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

38-year-old Eric Swalwell lived in Iowa until the age of five. His father worked in law enforcement in Sac City before moving to Algona to serve as the community’s police chief for three years from 1984 to 1986.

Swalwell made his decision to run for the White House official on Monday night on CBS’s “The Late Show”.  “I’ve talked to kids who sit in their classroom afraid that’ll be the next victim of gun violence, and I see Washington doing nothing about it after the moments of silence, and they see lawmakers who love their guns more than you love her kids.”

Swalwell says he sees a country where nothing gets done.  “I talk to teachers and truckers and nurses, and they feel like they’re just running in place and it’s not adding up to anything. I talk to people who are just like me who are the first in their family to go to college and got a lot of student debt, can’t buy a home, can’t start a business.”

Swalwell says he wants to get the country moving again. “I see a country in quicksand, unable to solve problems and threats from abroad, unable to make life better for people here at home. Nothing gets done.”

Swalwell says tackling student debt and gun violence were among the reasons he jumped into the Democratic primary race.  “None of that is going to change until we get a leader who is willing to big on the issues we take on, be bold in the solutions we offer, and do good in the way that we govern. I’m ready to solve these problems. I’m running for president United States.”

Swalwell was elected in 2012 to represent California’s 15^th Congressional District which is located near San Francisco and Oakland.