One Iowa Republican is taking a stab at Washington politics, but is looking to a different arena.

Congressman Jim Ross Lightfoot, representative from the 3rd District, decided to give up his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and run for the U.S. Senate.

Up against incumbent Tom Harkin, Lightfoot is a Shenandoah native who represents most of southern Iowa and some of central Iowa, including Story County. Lightfoot first ran for office in 1984, when Harkin gave up his representative seat in a run for the senate.

After high school, the congressman served in the army in 1956 and the army reserves from 1957-64. He then worked as a police officer for three years. Lightfoot was also a farm editor for KMA Radio in Shenandoah from 1961 to 1970. For the next six years, he was a manager at a farm equipment manufacturing company. Lightfoot entered the political arena in 1984.

According to his campaign, Lightfoot’s education plan is to make college more affordable. He wants to change current banking laws to shift loans from government to private funding. The loans would then be backed by government money, Lightfoot said. He also favors dismantling the Department of Education.

Also, Lightfoot endorsed legislation for people paying interest on their student loans. The effort would allow a tax deduction from taxes owed to the government, said Will Lynch of the Lightfoot campaign. Lightfoot voted for increases in work study programs and to install the ICN in classrooms throughout Iowa. The ICN is seen as beneficial to high schools, community colleges and four-year colleges.

He opposes inheritance taxes, which he said cause Iowans to sell their farms in order to pay the inheritance tax. He said keeping young people on farms is important to Iowa.

Lightfoot’s record includes voting for the Freedom to Farm Act, Balanced Budget Amendment, Welfare Reform, a terms limit amendment, NAFTA and voted against the Clinton Deficit Plan, the Brady Handgun Purchase and cutting missile funds.