Write-in candidate Decker says faith led him into 4th District race
Don Harrold, Executive Editor
editor@enterprisepub.com
Jermaine Decker, an independent write-in candidate for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, said he decided to run for Congress after he started having dreams and visions. “As I’ve grown, faith has kind of taken the lead,” Decker said. “... And I told my wife, it’s like, ‘I need to run for Congress.’”
“It’s the message,” he said. “Honestly. It essentially is a message of us coming together, realizing that, you know, kind of going back to 1776 and the issues then, and even fighting slavery, to where we’re at now. It’s like things haven’t gotten worse, just different packaging.”
Decker said he wants people “to essentially wake up, come together, and kind of draw that line.” He said those conversations are happening outside the mainstream.
“It’s more like the back roads, that back alley talk, you know, getting those conversations going where it’s like, ‘All right, guys, we don’t have to agree on everything,’” he said. “... Essentially plain common sense, like the golden rule.”
Decker said he is half Ho-Chunk and that his mother was Native American. He said he was placed in foster care and was adopted by a white couple he described as “old German folks.” He grew up in Logan. “I never felt any different,” Decker said of his adoptive father. “I mean, he was hard on me just like he was on his own son, proud of me like he was his other.”
“It’s not that I don’t like Trump,” Decker said. He said he is “more independent” and described the two-party system as “the same bird, different wings,” a phrase he attributed to someone else. “I mean, either way you’re screwed,” he said.
“I’m not even necessarily asking people to vote for me,” Decker said. “It’s like, guys, we need to sit here and actually have these conversations. Like I tell people, it’s more about the movement and getting people to come together.”
Decker said immigrants should “come the right way.” He said, “But at the same time, I mean, where Christ preaches of love your neighbors and things like that, I think we can still do things in a dignified way.”
“We need to draw a line, have a sit down and say, ‘Uh-uh, this ain’t flying anymore,’” Decker said. “... Now, it needs to be done peacefully, and I advocate for that very much so.”
“The talk of revolution right now, and I’m just like, ‘Oh,’” he said. “It’s like, I don’t want to see that.”
“But when it’s like three out of five houses I go to where the men are like, ‘Yeah, I either know people or we’re getting organized,’ you know, ’cause everybody knows,” Decker said. “... I feel like everybody’s too scared to talk about it, so I’m starting to talk about it.”
“If this happens, for the community’s sake and my home, I’d rather us be prepared and organized,” he said. “... If I don’t do this, America will be gone. It’s that simple.”
Decker said he fell about 200 signatures short of qualifying for the ballot. He said he made a video showing people how to properly fill out a write-in ballot and that it was taken down under community guidelines.
“I don’t get it. I’ll tell everybody, I don’t get it,” Decker said of transgender issues. “... We just want to be accepted for who we are and built on character and honesty, that’s all that should matter.”
“I think it’s kind of by design in a way,” he said. “And it’s a mental illness issue going on. ... I truly do.”
“I don’t like it,” Decker said of abortion. He said there are cases “where it’s tragic, like, you know, a woman gets raped and things like that.” He said, “I’m going to leave it up to the state, honestly. Like, that’s where I believe it belongs.”
“I don’t like it. I’m not going to lie,” he said of the war in Iran. “... It shows me how blatant the government’s getting just overreaching, ’cause to me, it was the easiest cover-up I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“They’re starting to get heat from the Epstein files and things like that and whatnot, and then bam, we’re at war,” Decker said. “... We’re controlling oil and things like that, and yet our gas prices are so still high.”
Decker said his campaign is on Facebook.
