State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald
State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald has reached a decision on whether he will join other Democrats who want to become governor.
“After talking to a lot of family, friends, strong Democrats, I’ve decided I’m not going to place my name in nomination this year. Democrats have three good candidates out there and I look to running on the ticket with any one of them,” Fitzgerald told Radio Iowa.
He says there wasn’t any one particular thing that made him decide not to run for governor. “I think it was a combination of things and it boiled down to I can serve the State of Iowa better as state treasurer,” he says.
Fitzgerald was first elected in 1982 and will run for his eight term in 2014. Republican Governor Terry Branstad has been preparing to run for another term in 2014.
Fitzgerald says Branstad is not unbeatable. “I do have a lot of respect for Governor Branstad, and he will be a tough candidate to beat, but he is beatable,” Fitzgerald says.
“There’s a year and two months until that election and a lot of issues for our state need to be addressed. And I think if Democrats can send the message of what needs to be done to help middle class Iowans raise their income — which is probably the most important issue right now –if we can get that message out, we can win the governor’s office.”
State Representative Tyler Olson of Cedar Rapids and former legislator Bob Krause are running on the Democratic side and State Senator Jack Hatch of Des Moines is actively campaigning — though he hasn’t officially announced he is running.