A Boone County native has announced his candidacy for the Iowa House District 47 seat.

Hans Erickson is from Boone and graduated from Boone High School.  The Democrat candidate then went on to Drake University where he studied history and music.  While at Drake, Erickson tells Raccoon Valley Radio that he was a legal intern  for Governor Chet Culver’s office and he interned with the Iowa Senate’s research staff.

After he graduated from Drake in 2008, he went into the insurance industry.  Erickson recently went back to Drake and will graduate with his Master’s Degree in Public Administration this year.  While he is working on his master’s, Erickson adds that he clerked for State Senator Daryl Beall.

He says he wants to run for the House seat because now is a great opportunity to figure out a way to grow smaller communities by having a vibrant business sector.

“Well, the problems I see are in our small towns.  We’re going such a great job of keeping our young people and our graduates in the state of Iowa.  But they’re all staying in places like Des Moines and our small towns are kind of starving.  We need to create policies that bring more small business and more mid-sized businesses to small towns so we can retain our youth and retain our talent.”

To learn about Erickson, contact him through his email at erickson.hans@gmail.com.