Crusader against traffic enforcement cameras may run for congress

State Representative Walt Rogers, a Republican from Cedar Falls, has formed an exploratory committee, laying the groundwork for a run for congress. 

The announcement from Rogers comes a few weeks after Republican House Speaker Kraig Paulsen revealed he would seek reelection to the statehouse rather than run for the congressional seat now held by Democrat Bruce Braley.

Rogers was first elected to the Iowa House in 2010 and reelected in 2012. He has been a leading critic of traffic enforcement cameras and has spearheaded thus-far unsuccessful efforts to ban the devices.

Two other Republicans are already running in the district. Businessmen Rob Blum of Dubuque and Steve Rathje of Cedar Rapids have both run for congress before.

Read the Rogers announcement below:

Manchester, Iowa – State Representative Walt Rogers of Cedar Falls has announced the creation of an exploratory committee for a potential campaign for Iowa’s open First Congressional District seat. Rogers, speaking Thursday evening at the Delaware County Republican Party’s fall dinner in Manchester, said the exploratory committee will allow him to begin fundraising and laying the groundwork for a possible run.
“I won my seat in the Iowa House on a theme of ‘smaller, smarter government,’” said Rogers. “We have done a lot to move the state in that direction since I was elected, and I think the same approach is desperately needed in Washington, DC.”

First elected in 2010, Rogers has risen quickly in the ranks of the Iowa House: by the end of his freshman term in office, his colleagues had already elected him to their leadership team as an Assistant Majority Leader. Rogers was also nominated by House Speaker Kraig Paulsen as one of only 15 freshman state legislators nationwide to GOPAC’s Emerging Leaders Class of 2012; this year Rogers was named one of four co-chairs of their Emerging Leaders Summit.

According to Speaker Paulsen, “Walt Rogers is one of the hardest workers in the Iowa House.”

Rogers is also known for working to prohibit traffic enforcement cameras in the state, as well as for serving as the floor manager for a number of sensitive pieces of legislation. His efforts, working in cooperation with Governor Branstad, led to the passage of an important government transparency bill which had languished in the legislature for several years.
Rogers serves on the Appropriations, Economic Growth, Education, and Transportation committees and is the Vice Chair of the Administration and Rules Appropriations Committee.

Rogers represents House District 60, which is comprised of much of west Waterloo and southern Cedar Falls, Hudson, and southwestern rural Black Hawk County.

Iowa’s First Congressional District is currently represented by Rep. Bruce Braley, who is running for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Tom Harkin. The district includes 20 counties in central, northern, and eastern Iowa; the largest cities in the district include Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Waterloo, and Cedar Falls.

Walt Rogers has been married to Jenny, a Speech-Language Pathologist employed by Area Education Agency 267, for 33 years; Walt and Jenny have three children and seven grandchildren. Rogers grew up in west Waterloo and currently resides in Cedar Falls.