ralph watts

The 19th Iowa Congressional District will have a new representative to start 2019, as current State Representative Ralph Watts has announced his intentions to retire after his term expires.

Watts, a 73-year-old republican from Adel, first took office in the Iowa State House in 2003 in what was originally the 47th District. He’s in the midst of his eighth two-year term and is a member of several committees, including commerce, labor, state government and veterans affairs. Watts told Raccoon Valley Radio his thought process on making his decision. “As I told people, there maybe is a time in your life to run, and there’s a time in your life to stop running. I’ve been there 16 years, and I didn’t intend to make a lifetime career of it when I went there. And I’ve tried my darndest to try to keep government out of their back pockets during that time. It comes time where you just need to do something different, and move onto other things, whatever that might be. And I decided it was time for me to make a change and allow someone else to run for the House.”

Watts still has nearly a full year left in the legislature, so he has no plans to take it easy the rest of the way. To hear more from Watts and about the current Iowa legislative session, listen to today’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.