On Tuesday, Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett announced his intention to run for Iowa governor race.

Corbett made the announcement at an event in Cedar Rapids at the NewBo City Market. He is only the second Republican to announce his intention to run so far; Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that she and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg intend to run in a press briefing last week.

Reynolds took over from Gov. Terry Branstad when he left the governorship to serve as the U.S. ambassador to China. She will serve out the remainder of Branstad’s term.

Corbett was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 1986, a position he held for seven terms. He began serving as mayor of Cedar Rapids after being elected to the position in 2009. Corbett is currently serving his second four-year term, which will end in 2018.

Before the event on Tuesday, Corbett spoke about the inadequacy of health/care coverage nationally.

“We’ll put together a bottom-up plan that’s an Iowa-based plan… I’ll share some of those ideas over the next six months. But I don’t think the current system is working,” he said.

On the other side of the aisle, several Democrats have announced their candidacy for the governorship. Former head of the Iowa Democratic Party Andy McGuire and state Sen. Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines, are prominent among the Democratic candidates.

“It’s important to have a new game plan for the state of Iowa. We’ve got some problems. We’ve got some challenges. … They can only be fixed and worked on if you’re participating,” Corbett said.

— Molly Hunter