Republican state Sen. Jim Carlin launches U.S. Senate bid, will run in a primary against Chuck Grassley if necessary

Republican state Sen. Jim Carlin launched a campaign for the U.S. Senate Monday, jumping into what will be a marquee race in 2022 even as others wait to see whether sitting U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley retires. 

"I appreciate (Grassley's) service, as anybody does," Carlin told the Des Moines Register. "But I didn't get in the race to drop out."

Grassley, 87, is currently serving his seventh term in the U.S. Senate and has not said whether he will run again or step aside. He told reporters earlier this month that a decision is still "several weeks off."

Grassley's grandson, Iowa House Speaker Rep. Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, said during a Sunday edition of WHO's The Insiders that he expects his grandfather to run again.

"As I sit here right now, I think my grandfather is going to be running for re-election, and I have not been led to believe anything otherwise," he said. 

Pat Grassley is among a group of Republicans who would be expected to run if the senator vacates his seat. He has yet to make any public statements about his plans.

Carlin, a 58-year-old trial lawyer and Army veteran, is the first candidate of either party to officially jump into the race. He would not say whether he has taken issue with any of Grassley's leadership specific decisions in the Senate.

During a campaign kickoff speech Monday, Carlin cast himself as an ally of former Republican President Donald Trump and blamed "the political class" for failing to "investigate and hold hearings when millions of Americans had doubt about the legitimate winner of an election."

"People we relied on to tell us the truth let us down by not seeking the truth," he said in the speech, according to prepared remarks. 

There is no evidence of widespread election fraud, and numerous lawsuits challenging the results have been dismissed.

In his role as a state senator, Carlin this year is championing a bill requiring transgender people in Iowa schools to use bathrooms that correspond to the sex listed on their birth certificates, rather than those that match their gender identity.

Carlin said he was motivated to run for the U.S. Senate to protect American freedoms for future generations. 

"Right now, we face mammoth challenges from China, the disintegration of families, the decline of rural Iowa and the threat to free speech from big tech monopolies," he said. "... I see some of these things as an assault on our freedom."

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.