Morrison draws from personal experiences in his aim for Iowa House seat

STUART — Ryan Morrison brings a gathering of life experiences into a race for the Iowa House District 20 with incumbent Ray Sorensen II (R-Greenfield) in the Nov. 3 election.

Morrison (D-Stuart) is a Dexter native who holds degrees in business and finance, he owns the Stuart Country Kitchen, a real estate company and is the Stuart Chamber of Commerce President.

"This COVID-19 thing has shown us that there is much work to do in protecting our small businesses and rural communities," Morrison told the Free Press. "I think this is a good time to start fighting for those things."

Morrison said that at the top of his list of staples for his campaign are supporting small businesses, which he includes farmers in. He said the pandemic has been a very trying time for small businesses of all kinds and programs for helping a bad situation like this should be established before they are needed.

Another main point of Morrison’s campaign is on rural education, where he describes there is currently a pattern to shift funding away from public education.

Morrison said rural infrastructure, like broadband access, is an important focus of his right now, as are finding affordable housing options in small communities. He would also like to reform the healthcare world so that insurance companies can’t dictate care as much as they currently do.

Morrison said that he hopes people see by the amount of time he puts into his community that he cares about small communities like Stuart and seeing them succeed.

“I don’t want other families to have to go through the challenges I have had to go through. I want everyone to get a fair shake and I want people to start thinking about rural communities as an option to raise their families, to live, work and stay,” Morrison said. “I’m open to ideas. I’m not a person who gets bogged down in one point of view and refuses to be flexible.”