The small town of Nevada, just 10 miles east of Ames, saw its first potential presidential candidate of 2016 on Sunday.

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) held a town hall style meeting at Quirks Bar and Grill in Nevada, during which he met with local Iowans. Notable attendees of the meeting included Iowa Rep. Dave Deyoe (R-Nevada) as well as Bill Couser, a local farmer who’s been highly involved with the Republican Party of Iowa.

The meeting was intimate, with around 25 to 30 people attending. Santorum began by giving a short speech in which he highlighted the need for manufacturing and low-skill jobs in rural communities.

“The things that create wealth in small towns like this have left,” Santorum said in regards to manufacturing plants.

Santorum also shared his views on the American family. Santorum, a devout Catholic and opponent of same-sex marriage, said keeping the family together, that is maintaining a two-parent household, is increasingly important. Santorum cited government assistance given to single parents as a hinderance to keeping two parents in the picture should a child be born out of wedlock.

“You can’t build a strong economy on broken families,” Santorum said, tying family and economic issues together.

Santorum said he supports the continuation of the renewable fuels standard, or RFS, which has been a boon for corn producers since 2005. He said while he supports the RFS because it could be one component in helping America become independent of foreign oil, he was not a supporter of farm subsidies in a broader sense.

Upon completion of questions from the crowd, Santorum met with attendees, shook hands and even signed a few of his own books one person in the crowd brought along. Following the meeting was a dinner, hosted by the Story County GOP, which Santorum was to attend.