Republican leaders in the Iowa House of Representatives met in Ames Tuesday to discuss future goals and the organization’s desire to place a Republican in the vacant house seat in Ames.

Ames was one stop on the GOP’s tour of Iowa.

Majority leader Christopher Rants said a primary goal of the GOP is to win the vacant house district 61 seat in Ames, previously held by Democrat Cecelia Burnett.

“A great deal of emphasis will be put on the upcoming election,” he said.

Brent Siegrist, speaker of the house, said Iowa Republicans are optimistic about the upcoming election and do not agree with some assumptions that college students tend to vote Democratic.

Siegrist and Rants said they think the needs and issues effecting Ames could be met by a Republican candidate.

There has been no word yet as to which candidates will be entering the race.

“Ames is a model town making improvements in education and creating new businesses, jobs, recreation and tourism,” Siegrist said.

He said the GOP would like to take ideas from Ames and put them into action.

Siegrist said the purpose of the Iowa tour is to collect “new ideas and fresh perspectives.”

Apparently, some of the new perspectives Siegrist spoke of are to be coming from Ames. He said it is “important to get out of Des Moines and on the road. Ames is a progressive community.”

The primary for the district 61 election is not yet scheduled, but the election is on Nov. 2.

After spending most of the afternoon in a private meeting, GOP leaders also met with other Republican representatives at ISU’s Food Sciences Building to discuss the crisis in the agriculture economy.

According to a press release, GOP representatives endorsed a five-part bi-partisan plan that calls on the federal government to make necessary changes in farm policy, but said federal banking officials have to give lenders some latitude in order for this to happen.