A large sized crowd gathered at La Poste in Perry Wednesday evening to hear Democratic candidate for US Senate Retired Admiral Michael Franken speak.

Franken covered several topics in his opening speech, which frequently came back to two overall themes of “Country over Party” and “Country over Self.”

“First we put country over party by recognizing that first of all there’s far more that brings us together than separates us. It’s not a Democrat or Republican position for instance to be an education state. We put country over party when we choose leaders also who put mental health challenges first and foremost. It’s country over self again, and again, and again. Even when it’s hard, even when there’s profit to be made or favors to curry, you must place yourself second. This is an element of servant leadership.”

Franken doesn’t believe Senator Chuck Grassley is listening to Iowans and doing what is right for Iowans. He also talked about protecting women’s rights and their freedom to choose what is right for their bodies and themselves, along with allowing people to marry whoever they want and not undermining those in the LGBTQ+ community.        

Franken is running against Grassley for US Senate in the upcoming November 8th election.