Former state Rep. Brad Sherman says he was the first candidate to enter the race for the 2026 Republican nomination for Iowa governor.

“I wasn’t looking for another career,” he said during a visit to Fort Dodge Friday.

He said he and his wife, Carole, prayed about his possible run for governor.

“We felt that God made it clear that it’s his will that I run for this office,” he said.

Now in a four-way race for the Republican nomination to replace Gov. Kim Reynolds, he’s emphasizing his wide range of life experiences and his integrity.

“I believe deeply in truth and integrity,” he said. “I won’t be bought. Government is not going to be for sale. I want to see government reflect truth and integrity.”

He said if he is elected, he will move to curtail the power of eminent domain if that isn’t done by the legislature this year. He said that no private company that isn’t a common carrier or utility should have the power to take land from unwilling sellers.

On his web site, he described eminent domain in more colorful terms.

“Eminent domain is a dangerous creature which must be confined under constant guard behind high walls with iron gates,” he wrote.

Sherman said he also wants to establish independent studies on the high cancer rate in Iowa that will be done by people and organizations that have no conflict of interest.

“We need solid data, then we can act on it,” he said.

His long range goal as governor would be to put “good patriotic common sense principles into our education system.”

Sherman added that he wants to replace “common core with common sense.”

He said that if he becomes governor, he expects to have to deal with property tax reform. Although lawmakers have spent a lot of time on that this year, Sherman said “it doesn’t look like anything meaningful is going to get done.”

Sherman is a native of Missouri who moved to Iowa in 1981. He is a minister at Solid Rock Christian Church in Coralville. He is also the co-founder of Informed Choices Medical Clinics, which have been described as pro-life pregnancy centers.

He served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 2023 to 2025.