State Sen. David Johnson to run as independent in 2018

State Sen. David Johnson, who quit the Iowa Republican Party last year to protest Donald Trump's presidential candidacy, said Monday he will seek re-election as an independent in the November 2018 election.

Johnson, 66, who resides in Ocheyedan far northwest Iowa, has served in the Iowa Legislature since 1999. He represents Senate District 1, which includes Clay, Dickinson, Lyon, Osceola and Palo Alto counties.

"While my fellow independents from Maine to Alaska don’t share a rigid issues agenda, we do share the undeniable view that the two-party system is badly broken. Our goal is to find common ground in our respective statehouses,” Johnson said in a prepared statement. “Politics in Des Moines has reached a bitterly partisan tipping point. Principle must come before party. Constituents must come first, of course, but there are times that call for leadership. This is one of those times.”

Many Republicans are still angry at Johnson's decision to bolt from the GOP in June 2016 while criticizing Trump as a "bigot" unqualified to be president. Republican Party leaders have already targeted Johnson's seat for the 2018 campaign in a district that is one of the most rural and the most conservative in Iowa.

Johnson is a rarity as an independent in the Legislature. An Iowa General Assembly publication entitled, "Our Legislative Heritage," shows that an unaffiliated legislator last served in the Iowa House in 1971-1972. But the last time an independent served in the Iowa Senate was in 1925.

Johnson was a journalist for more than three decades, including 10 years as the owner of the newspaper in his hometown of West Branch. After moving to northwest Iowa, he worked full-time and part-time on an Osceola County dairy farm for 15 years.