Message to the families of District 31: Norm Luiken wants to be your state Senator.

Luiken, the mayor of Huxley, is the Republican challenger to state Sen. Johnie Hammond, D-Ames, who is seeking a second term in the Senate.

The topic of families permeates Luiken’s campaign, and with four children and eleven grandchildren, it’s a common topic for him.

“We want to be together,” he said of his extended family. “Families supporting one another is kind of a lost art. We, as a family, tried to learn and understand Scripture together at home.”

Luiken and his wife, Jan, are building an addition to their house so all their kids can visit at the same time.

“I like to still sled with my grandkids in the backyard,” he said.

Luiken said Hammond, in her 16 years as a legislator, has “lost touch” with the families she represents.

“I feel like I can represent the mainstream of the 31st District better than the current Senator,” he said.

“I don’t think [Hammond] is pro-family, when you deal with some of the issues that she has voted for,” he said, citing her votes on partial-birth abortion, same-sex marriages and the inheritance tax.

“There are new strategies that we can use to enhance family living,” he said.

In particular, Luiken pledged to improve education in Iowa.

“We’ve lost our emphasis on ensuring that our children know how to read,” he said.

He described reading as “fundamental to being a good citizen” and said he supports making a mandatory comprehension test for all second-graders.

He also suggested two ways to improve teachers: competency testing, with examinations at certification and then at regular intervals afterward, and bonuses for good teachers, paid for by state grants.

Luiken said the state should reimburse families who send their children to private schools but pay taxes that go to the public school system.

“There has to be some form of relief for families who may not choose the public school,” he said.

Luiken said the money for all these educational initiatives would come from the extra $900 million in the state’s general fund.

Senate District 31 includes all of Ames and the towns of Slater, Maxwell, Kelley, Cambridge and Huxley.