Mike Franken. (file photo)

Retired three-star Admiral Michael Franken is making a second run for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. He says his career in the military and public service sets him ahead of the five other Democrats in the field.

“The country is in a rather troubled state. The political dysfunction, the animosity of the situation we are between the parties, and the need to get things done. The lack of leadership we see in our elected leaders suggests an individual of an accomplishment and who has done leadership before can do some good,” Franken says.

He says the divide is not just between Republicans and Democrats — but also between members of his own party. “I would say to the extremes on the Democratic party, for the benefit of the whole we need to get to the center and approve as written,” Franken says. “Now if you don’t do that, elections are lost.”

Franken addressed the current situation with the shipping crisis in American and ships unable to unload their cargo. “We do something about triple-shifting to move commodities out of the S pods and A pods. We use alternate means of shipping — hopefully more trains because of the efficiencies associated with that,” he says. “I would love to see an enhanced barge traffic on our nation’s inland waterways.”

Franken says the increased barge traffic could Council Bluffs, Davenport, and possibly Sioux City. He says he also supports biofuels. “As we track out the future of electric vehicles and the reducing amount of gas use –there needs to be a window for this — and maybe it’s not corn-based. But I see what the Brazilians have done with G-E manufactured gas turbines to produce electricity with ethanol,” Franken says.

Franken is a Sioux County native who has a residence in Woodbury County. He held a variety of positions in the U.S. Navy and was the only one in the decision process to vote against the invasion of Iraq. Franken finished second to Theresa Greenfield in 2020 in a bid to challenge Republican Senator Joni Ernst. He is running this time to try and unseat incumbent Republican Chuck Grassley.

(By Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)