Candidate challenging Nunn visits Greenfield

The parade of candidates coming to the area to attract support to get on the ballot for this summer’s primary continued last week as Democrat Xavier Carrigan, a candidate in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District hoping to unseat incumbent Republican Zach Nunn, held a small town hall meeting last Tuesday in Greenfield.

“My town halls haven’t been big, but the ones I’ve had, I’ve been able to sit down with people and have a conversation 1-on-1, 1-on-3, 1-on-5,” Carrigan said in an interview with the newspaper before the event began. “I’m able to address their specific questions rather than make blanket statements.”

In those conversations, Carrigan said he has addressed water quality, affordability and the need for compromise with those who differ politically. He said accessibility to healthcare isn’t enough, it should be affordable. He also stated he’s against career politicians — politicians should see themselves as carrying out a service that is passed on to the next person after a time.

“There are still forces working against the working class — the regular people of this country,” Carrigan said. “If the Epstein files haven’t shown us that there’s a small cabal of people who try to rule or run the world, I don’t know what to tell you. That being said, those levers are still being pulled in the background. I’ve seen some of it firsthand.”

Typically an independent, Carrigan said he joins the Democratic Party when he runs for office because he believes their policies are right, but they often lack the gumption or follow-through. He ran for U.S. House previously in his home state of Ohio.

“On the bottom of my brochure, it says ‘no half-measures’ because as an independent, I agree with their policies, but they aren’t going to get anything done because they have a widget they want to sell for $10, but they go to the table asking for $8,” Carrigan said. “The other person says, ‘no, I’ll give you $4.’ Republicans actually now are saying ‘you’re going to pay me $10 to take it off your hands.’ I believe in the Democrats of the FDR era where the Democrats were doing everything for the working class.”

While Carrigan, of Waukee, has worked in many industries and has international experience teaching, he currently works in change enablement for a financial firm and has also been a DJ for 30 years.

Three pillars Carrigan said he wants to pursue in this election are getting on the ballot before raising enough funds that he must report to the Federal Election Commission, winning the primary without raising more than $500,000 and defeating Nunn with no more than that amount.

“I believe in getting money out of politics — not just in rhetoric, but in action,” Carrigan said. “If I can establish these pillars — even just the first one — I have done everything I set out to do. The next two underscore what is possible. This isn’t going to be the only time I do this. If I don’t make it, people are starting to learn who I am. Once they learn I don’t believe in a party narrative, I believe in a working-class narrative, the possibilities are endless.”