Local Republicans might do a double take when they fill out their ballots in the June 2 primary election.

For the first time since 2002, O'Brien County conservatives have a choice to make in a race for the Iowa House of Representatives. Dennis Bush, Lynn Evans and Mark McHugh are all vying for the GOP's nod in District 3, which includes O'Brien and Cherokee counties as well as parts of Plymouth and Sioux counties.

The three-way primary race is indeed a rarity. Current District 3 Rep. Dan Huseman, R-Aurelia, has held office since 1994 and is retiring at year's end. Redistricting led him to represent three different territories during his long tenure, with District 9 and District 53 being his first and second, respectively.

Huseman's lone primary competition came back in 1994 when he squared off against Richard Waterbury for the GOP's nod in District 9. He never faced another primary opponent while representing either District 53 or District 3.

O'Brien County Republicans last saw a contested Iowa House primary race 18 years ago when Royd Chambers faced Ron Sterler for the party's nod in District 5. Chambers won and held the seat until 2013.

The Sentinel-News sent questionnaires to all three Republican candidates running in next week's District 3 primary race. Only Evans and McHugh responded.

• Why are you running?

Lynn Evans: We need good people with the skills, experience and record of success to run for positions when they become available at all levels of government. For many years, I have advised qualified people to run for open seats on school boards, city councils and other elected positions. When I learned that Rep. Huseman had made known of his retirement, it was time for me to follow my own advice and announce my intent to run for the Iowa House of Representatives.

I have always worked to give back to any community in which I have lived and served with the personal goal of leaving it better than what I found it. Throughout my career, I have consistently served on foundation boards, civic clubs and organizations, and economic development committees. This is one more way for me to give back to the communities and people who have been so supportive of me and my family throughout my life and my career.

Mark McHugh: I am running because I have always had a heart of service. My desire to serve first came to the forefront when I enlisted in the Iowa Army National Guard. This is a natural extension of that service.

I am running because as an everyday Iowan, I have a personal stake in the outcome of so many policies that are coming out of Des Moines. When I am done serving, I will be returning to my home and watch my two children grow up under the laws that I help pass.

What qualifies you to represent District 3 in the Iowa House of Representatives?

LE: Having served as superintendent for the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Community School District and the Alta-Aurelia Community School District makes me uniquely qualified to represent District 3 in that I have extensive experience in a number of communities in O'Brien County and Cherokee County. This gives me a deeper understanding of the needs across District 3.

I have had success working with rural economic development efforts. I served as vice president of the Hartley Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) that successfully worked to recruit the current Valero ethanol plant to Hartley, providing a number of high-paying jobs. It also had a positive impact on corn prices. Additionally during this time, HEDC began providing grants and loans for small business expansion and storefront improvements.

I have had successful experiences in working with community members to start or expand four community daycare centers in partnership with the local school districts, providing safe and affordable daycare for young families in our communities.

As a shared superintendent for 11 years, I have been required to simultaneously develop and manage more that one school budget annually, while improving student achievement, increasing access to technology, improving the financial positions of the school districts and keeping local property taxes well below the state average.

Working with young families throughout my career, I have seen first hand how important the need is for expanding access to mental health care services, especially for our young children, and increasing the affordability of health care.

MM: I am most qualified because my roots have always been in the rich soil of northwest Iowa, and I am just like most of the people of the district – get up before sunrise and go to work every day. I have a heart of service. When asked at the forum on KCHE in Cherokee about what a representative does, I was the only one that mentioned the most important aspect of being a representative, and that is constituent service.

I spent most of my working life in the service sector. I know how to listen to people. I am pro-life and believe that life begins at conception. It is not a political belief – it is who I am. I strongly support the Second Amendment, and I am the only candidate in this race that felt strong enough to support the Second Amendment by including it in my initial press release announcing my candidacy.

What political philosophies and ideals represent your own?

LE: As a Republican candidate, I am consistent in my principles as a pro-life, pro-Second Amendment and fiscally conservative leader. We need to protect and promote local control for our counties, cities and school districts.

Additionally, we need to work on tax reform measures that keep our personal income and property taxes low, allowing people to put more of their hard-earned money in their pockets or back into the local economies. We also need to create policies that support entrepreneurship, promote bringing high-paying jobs to rural Iowa and support renewable fuel production.

MM: I am the common-sense constitutional conservative in the race. I believe the constitution says what it means and means what it says.

When I read the Second Amendment, for example, it says "...shall not be infringed." I note there is a period at the end of that sentence. It does not say "shall not be infringed as long as it is convenient for the government." When the founders were debating on how to word the Constitution and amendments, they studied state constitutions and laws of other nations. They debated it and toiled over it. I would sure think they considered the phraseology!

What challenges have you overcome in either your personal life or professional career that you believe would aid you as a state representative? Explain.

LE: When my daughter, Erin, was 3 years old, she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia/Lymphoma. She went through three rounds of chemotherapy over an eight-year period, finally undergoing a bone marrow transplant when she was 11.

Anytime a family faces adversity like this, it brings life into perspective. You have a greater appreciation for the sanctity of human life from the time of conception, as the prospect of losing a child disrupts the natural order of things.

I have also become keenly aware of the need for expanded access to affordable health care. The bill for just my daughter's transplant was over $1 million dollars. This doesn't include the costs of the previous eight years of treatment. Ours was an extreme case but there are many families that need affordable health care and there are regulations in our state that can be loosened or reformed that will make health care services more accessible and more affordable.

During my career, I have worked in a number of school districts that are made of multiple communities: Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn, Alta-Aurelia, and earlier in my career North Iowa CSD which is made up of Buffalo Center, Rake, Lakota and Thompson. This has strengthened my skills in successfully working with not only a number of different rural communities, but also working with people that have varying view points.

Most recently, I worked to bring the Alta and Aurelia school districts together. Two former rivals that had tried sharing sports in the 1990s and split up due primarily to a lack of trust. We were able to craft a successful whole-grade sharing agreement that eventually led to a school reorganization by listening to community members, working through differences and rebuilding trust.

Both districts were in severe financial problems prior to sharing. When I retired in June of 2019, the Alta-Aurelia School District was one of the most financially stable districts in the state with a tax rate in the lowest 10 percent. All while improving student achievement, increasing access to technology, increasing academic and extra curricular opportunities, and improving facilities.

The skill and experience in working with people of differing opinions for the common good should be a critical skill for a legislator. This applies not only to working with members of another party. During committee meetings a legislator needs to be able to work with members of their own party. People who may not have the same views on a bill I have. The importance of the skill and experience to work persuasively within committees and to publicly argue bills on the floor of the House is something that is often overlooked.

MM: Nearly all challenges one encounters would in some way aid in their being a state representative.

I watched firsthand my own father struggle with depression, until it ultimately took his life on May 23, 1994, when I was 12 years old. I had to rapidly adapt to an immediate and life-altering set of circumstances. This gave me a personal understanding with our struggles as a state in our mental health system. Unfortunately, after 26 years, this problem is still with us.

On May 22, 2011, I was working at Walmart on Rangeline Road in Joplin, Mo., when an EF-5 tornado took the store down. I placed priority on life and service. After the storm annihilated the store and community, I stood up in the rubble and began digging people out. It was an instinctual sense of service. This forced me to immediately switch gears from customer services and business relations to a humanitarian effort, and I adapted quickly. By having gone through this disaster myself, I can immediately empathize with people as they face natural disasters that are all too common in Iowa, and already have a 'feel' for what they are likely feeling on the ground.

While in the military I learned early on that attention to detail is important, and you must have teamwork. Failure to do so results in life changes for countless people. This is especially important when discussing pieces of legislation, as one word can completely alter the entire meaning of a bill. You must be able to team up with fellow legislators to get legislation passed that affect everyday Iowans.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a significant toll on Iowa's economy. Is there anything you would propose or currently support to help the state's businesses get back on their feet?

LE: The most important steps that can be taken to get businesses back on their feet in the immediacy is to begin to safely open the economy so that businesses that were shut down can open back up. The governor is doing that right now.

The economic impact of the shut down may go on for a number of months or longer. Iowa is in competition with 49 other states economically. We need to continue working on tax reform efforts that encourage entrepreneurship, and that allow taxpayers to keep more of their hard-earned income they can put back into the local economy for goods and services.

MM: I think first we need to find ways to get our state open completely. As we get out of this crisis, I think we need to take a good hard look at all the regulations that we "suspended." If we did not need those regulations in a crisis, do we really need them in general? Getting back on our feet will require the government to get out of businesses and let business owners and entrepreneurs do what they do best – run their business!

Likewise, both long-term trade disputes and the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly impacted Iowa's ag economy. Is there anything you would propose or currently support to help the state's farmers and ag industry stabilize?

LE: Locally in Iowa, we need to support expanded markets for our ag products. We need to do a better job of supporting ethanol production. This, to me, just makes good sense as it checks off so many boxes.

Ethanol production has a positive impact on corn prices. It's a cleaner burning fuel. It is generally less expensive at the pump for the consumer. Distillers' grains are a major co-product of the ethanol production process and are used as a high-energy feed additive for the dairy, beef, swine and poultry producers, and they have alternative uses as burning fuel, fertilizer and weed inhibitors. I would like to see a proposal that requires E15 and E85 pumps at all filling stations in Iowa.

We also need to support smaller, regional packing plants and meat processing facilities. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weakness in having only four or five major players in the meat packing industry with large-scale facilities. When one is shut down, it creates a major bottleneck in the food supply chain and it has very negative effects on livestock prices for the producers, as well as higher prices for the consumer.

MM: It is the worst-kept secret that Iowa is an agriculture state. I think to address the impacts, we really need to look at ways to deregulate the industry as much as we can and allow our ag businesses to flourish once again. We need more paths from farm to market. The best way to establish those paths are to encourage agricultural entrepreneurship by reducing or eliminating so many hurdles that our producers face.

Are there any new policies or currently-proposed programs that you would push for in Des Moines? If so, what are they, why are they important to you and how would they affect Iowa and District 3?

LE: We have had some temporary loosening of regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic that should be considered as permanent changes. The loosening of regulations for some occupational licenses helps provide workers in difficult-to-fill technical jobs by making it easier to be licensed across state lines. In Iowa, we have a skilled workforce shortage and this change could help reduce that shortage and have a positive impact on the economy.

We also need to evaluate the temporary loosening of regulations in the medical field during the COVID-19 pandemic. The loosening of the state's certificate of need rules requiring government permission before expanding services is one that would increase access to health care services and help keep medical costs down. Telemedicine has been encouraged as an option during the COVID-19 pandemic. Requirements have been removed temporarily for face-to-face appointments for some medical needs. This is a regulation that I would like to see changed through legislation. It increases options for patients and has the potential to decrease medical costs.

We need to continue the work started on getting language in our Constitution of Iowa that supports the citizen's right to keep and bear arms. Iowa currently does not have this language in its Constitution. To amend the Constitution requires it to be passed twice in the Legislature with an election in between. It has passed once and needs to be passed again. It then goes to a vote of the people.

Additionally, we need to amend the Constitution of Iowa so that it can no longer be interpreted as abortion is a right in this state. The heart beat bill, that protects the rights of our unborn, was passed and put into law was overturned by the courts because it was interpreted as there was a right to have an abortion. Again, this amendment needs to be passed twice by the Legislature before it goes out to a vote of the people. It has been passed once. This is work that I want to see continued.

MM: First, we must pass the pro-life proposed amendment to the Iowa Constitution. It passed in 2020. We have an election in 2020. We need it to pass again in 2021. Without life, no other issue matters. Life is paramount.

Second, I want to continue our trend in supporting the Second Amendment. Iowa is one of only a handful of states that does not have Second Amendment language in its constitution. We need this to happen.

Third, we must finally tackle our state's mental health situation. I watched my own father struggle with severe depression until it took his life. It is personal to me and we need to finally stop running from it and address it.

Fourth, in talking with voters, I have learned that Iowa DCI does not have a cold case unit. I have done some research on the matter and found out that in 2011 when federal funding ran out for cold cases, Iowa did not step up and fill in the gap. Iowa currently has hundreds of unsolved cold cases.

All four of these policy positions affect Iowa and District 3. District 3 is just like me in that it overwhelmingly supports life at conception. District 3 is just like me in that it strongly supports our Second Amendment rights. District 3 has a mental care facility in Cherokee that is directly affected by mental health policies. Because District 3 supports life, as people find out about our situation with an unacceptable backlog of communities and families without closure, and offenders not being held accountable, they understand the need to reestablish the cold case unit with Iowa DCI.