Pete D’Allesandro.

There are now a half dozen candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for congress in Iowa’s third district.

Pete D’Allesandro of Des Moines has worked in Iowa political circles for the past couple of decades and, in 2016, he managed Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign in Iowa. D’Allesandro says the “core issue” in 2018 will be health care.

“I think we need to move towards a “Medicare for All’ system that will allow folks not to have that burden of worrying about what happens if they get sick,” D’Allesandro says. “I think that’s the best way to do it. That’s what we’re going to talk about in the primary.”

The winner of the primary will face Republican Congressman David Young of Van Meter in the 2018 General Election. D’Allesnadro says he intends to have a “conversation about winning the future” with his Democratic competitors.

“This will be about everyday people’s issues,” D’Allesandro says. “…This is a Democratic family discussion and it is not going to be a Democratic family fight if my campaign has anything to say about it.”

D’Allesandro is an Illinois native who has worked for former Congressman Leonard Boswell and former Governors Tom Vilsack and Chet Culver.