John Paschen is a Democrat running for Congress because he has a “Paschen” for Iowa.

His main priority is affordable health care, but beyond that, he said he is prioritizing action in Washington.

“[My main goal is] affordable health care yes, but also just getting Washington to do their job,” Paschen said. 

Paschen grew up in the Chicago area, but his family moved to Camanche, Iowa when he was in high school. His family owned a small acreage and he said that was when he learned his first lesson in land stewardship.

“I was interacting with farmers all around my parents house, we had livestock, I joined 4-H, and that’s where I really felt I got my first lesson in land stewardship,” said Paschen.

From there he earned his bachelor’s degree at Iowa State, attended medical school at the University of Iowa and began his career as a pediatrician. 

Paschen does not refer to himself as a politician, and said he has never been a “politics wonk.” He believes, however, that he knows what is and isn’t going to work, especially when it comes to affordable health care.

“I’m not interested in politics. I’ve always supported politics, and I’ve been a lifelong Democrat, but I’m just interested in getting something done,” Paschen said. “I’m interested in helping, helping my patients. I’m interested in trying to help establish some kind of working order in Washington D.C.”

Paschen said his wife, Cynthia, is the one who is really interested in politics. She ran for public office in 2014 before ultimately being defeated by incumbent Herman C. Quirmbach in the Democratic primary. John Paschen said he ran because of his frustration with the work—or lack thereof—in Washington D.C.

“I got into doing this because I was frustrated watching everything that’s happening in Washington, of course I was upset with the 2016 election like many of us were,” Paschen said. “But the thing that pushed me over the edge was when Steve King was on CNN and said we should cut the food stamp program to build the border wall.”

Paschen does not support the border wall, and is critical of representatives who have held up policies as leverage for getting the wall. 

“[Steve King] was talking about taking food out of poor babies mouths for a wall,” Paschen said. “When I heard that, I just couldn’t sit back.”

Paschen also spoke critically about Republican officials using the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, as leverage for the wall. 

“They’ve given temporary funding to [CHIP], but nothing permanent. CHIP has always been bipartisan. Up to this point, everyone has always passed CHIP,” Paschen said. “Now all of a sudden this year, it’s being held up. They’re saying we’ll pass CHIP if you do the wall. At what point is our children’s health negotiable?”

He is also against the Republican tax reform plan, stating it is poorly written and the only ‘accomplishment’ of the Republican Party while having a majority of the house, senate and inhabiting the White House.

“[The tax reform] was hastily written, it took away a lot of people’s individual abilities to deduct, cut the corporate tax rates,” Paschen said. “I feel it was purely a tax cut for the 1 percent.”

Many of Paschen’s political views stem from his experience in the medical field, including his views on marijuana legalization and abortion.

Paschen is against the legalization of recreational marijuana, as the brain is not fully developed until 25 years of age, and marijuana can slow brain development.

“I’m not in favor of recreational marijuana use. I know too much what it can do to the human body. More and more studies have come out about how it affects the developing brain and the brain fully develops at 25 years of age,” Paschen said. “So even if you legalize marijuana at 21, the brain is still developing.”

Paschen did say, however, the punishment for possession is too high, saying too many African American young men are in prison for having an ounce too much of marijuana. 

He also would like to see the classification of marijuana brought down from a Schedule I in the DEA Drug Scheduling system—meaning it has the highest level of potential to create psychological and physiological dependence of all schedule classifications. 

Paschen said if marijuana is brought down to a Schedule II drug, then it can be researched more—as it is very difficult to research the effects of Schedule I drugs—and also can be prescribed by a doctor.

He also would like to make hemp farming legal in Iowa. Paschen said he believes it could financially benefit Iowa.

“What else is a travesty is that farmers can’t grow hemp. It’s a plant that’s in the same species but has no ability to make you high,” Paschen said. “We used to grow it in Iowa all the time. You’ll see it in the ditches sometimes its called ditch weed—but it’s a cash crop and this is the climate to grow it in.”

When it comes to abortion, Paschen’s view is based on his life experiences. In 1995 he was volunteering in Mississippi and during that time he met a doctor nun Sister Dr. Mary Francis. He asked her how she felt about birth control and he said she passes it out like water because Clarksville,Mississippi—the city they were in at the time—had the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country and syphilis rate.

“Their practicality in a crisis kind of forges my view on abortion,” Paschen said. “Abortion is a failure of society on several different levels. But until our society evolves to the point where it is not needed, it has to be available and it has to be safe.”

Paschen said he supports organizations that do everything in their power to make abortion unnecessary—such as Planned Parenthood. He stated in states where these programs were made unavailable, abortion rates went up. 

“You have to have the availability of birth control and that’s one of the things the Affordable Care Act did,” Paschen said.

John Paschen will be running against Paul Dahl, Leann Jacobsen and JD Scholten for the Democratic primary election. The primary election will take place this June.