Candidates for county, state, and federal political races visited Guthrie Center Saturday at an event hosted by the county Republicans group.

As the group has not gotten to visit town festivals amid the COVID-19 pandemic this summer, they decided to hold a free grill out at Mitchell Park as a chance for candidates to meet with voters. Current County Auditor and Republican candidate Dani Fink spoke at the event, as well as the candidate for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District race David Young, and State Senate District 10 incumbent Jake Chapman. In Young’s remarks he spoke of his pride as a capitalist, the founding fathers’ writing of the U.S. Constitution, and of his opponent Cindy Axne recently voting in the House by proxy, as the House approved allowing Congress members to vote by proxy due to the pandemic this past May.

Young encouraged attendees to get out to the polls, “This is the most consequential election that we will ever face as Americans. They always say ‘Oh, this election’s going to be a big one, it means a lot.’ This is the one, folks, where we determine are we going to be true to our values as a republic or are we going to veer and slouch towards socialism.”

Chapman spoke passionately about not wanting to defund the police, and mentioned his opponent Warren Varley of Stuart calling him “Trump’s Lieutenant,” which Chapman said he’s proud of that badge of honor, “The question every voter should be asking themselves, ‘Who is in the best position to once again make America great?’ And I think, I know that the record shows that Republicans with Donald Trump leading the way that we will once again, because he’s done it once before make America great.”

Around 50 people attended the event, and County Chair Paul Hawkins thanked those who attended and the committee members, in particular Lynn Zajicek, that made it a success.