One of my goals when I decided to run for Congress this year was to elevate our political discourse. Throughout the campaign, I’ve rejected partisan talking points in favor of nuanced and realistic discussions about the issues that matter in Iowa’s 2nd District.

My campaign team and I have tried to avoid discussing the presidential election. Some Democrats have accused me of endorsing Donald Trump because I wouldn’t disavow him, while some Republicans accused me of disavowing Trump because I wouldn’t endorse him. As an independent-minded Republican in a Democrat-leaning district, I hoped to make the point that presidential politics shouldn’t dominate our political conversations to the extent that it has.

A large number of former and current Republican politicians have now repudiated Trump. All of them have far more political clout than I do, and to be honest, I don’t think people should care so much about what I think. But I cannot avoid the issue any longer.

Trump’s remarks about women that surfaced last week — along with his well-documented pattern of disparaging remarks about women, minorities, and other groups — demonstrate disturbing character deficiencies. My wife and I have three teenage sons, and if I ever learned that any of them grew up to be men who conduct themselves like Trump, I would be deeply disappointed. I must trust that Julie [Peters] and I have raised them better than that.

Trump’s behavior and temperament are only a part of the problem. He has repeatedly demonstrated a poor grasp of constitutionalism, civil rights, the rule of law, the role of diplomacy versus military interventionism, and even fundamental economics. I should have spoken out against him much earlier and regret that I failed to do so.

At the same time, I continue to believe that Hillary Clinton is a similarly flawed candidate. Like many Americans, I believe she is insincere, manipulative, and untrustworthy. Over her career, Clinton has consistently supported economic policies that favor the wealthy at the expense of ordinary Americans, and she’s been a proponent of every American military intervention in recent history. The company she keeps, by itself, should give us all great concern — she is closely tied to the monied interests that contributed to our financial crisis, as well as world leaders whose records on human rights are questionable at best.

Neither Trump nor Clinton have exhibited the character and judgment necessary to be president, and I cannot vote for either of them.

These are two of the most unpopular political figures of our time, but this isn’t just about them. Any system that would select these two candidates as the choices for president is deeply flawed and is in need of fundamental reform.

I have been warmly welcomed by most Iowa Republicans since I decided earlier this year to run for Congress on the GOP ticket, and I remain ready to work with them, both during this campaign and throughout my time in Congress. I grew up in a Republican household, I’ve supported many Republican candidates over my lifetime, and my staff is made up of young Republicans. But like most Americans and most Iowans, my views don’t fully align with either party’s platform.

I won’t begrudge or shame anyone for whom they chose to vote. But to those supporting a candidate they see as the “lesser of two evils,” I ask this: How many more elections will we have to vote this way? Does voting this way bring us closer to fixing our political system, or push us further away? And most importantly, what will you do in the next four years to help?

The presidential campaign has become a colossal distraction from the many other races happening around our state and the problems our nation must address. Regardless of who wins the presidential election, we will need strong and principled legislators to stand up to whatever nonsense might emanate from the White House in the next four years.

— Christopher Peters, GOP candidate for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District seat.