SANDPOINT — Business leader, Jerry Sturgill, has announced his bid for the United States Senate seat currently held by Mike Crapo.

“I will bring a new approach to the Senate. My leadership experiences in business, our community and my church have taught me that being a leader means bringing people together to solve problems. Leadership, respectful dialogue and creative problem-solving are sorely lacking in today’s politics,” Sturgill said. “Public service has been replaced with self-interest. It’s time for the career politicians to go and for new voices to be heard.”

A fifth-generation Idahoan, Sturgill was raised in Twin Falls, the oldest of six children.

Believing that Washington’s career politicians are failing the nation, its communities and its families, he decided to launch his first race for public office.

Sturgill, 63, was encouraged to enter the race by fellow Idahoans who are frustrated with the hyper-partisanship and polarization in Washington.

“In Washington today, our elected officials refuse to do the job they are being paid to do. The politicians who have spent decades in the Senate have clearly failed us. It’s time for a change. Voters are understandably upset with a lack of leadership and progress and I share their anger,” he continued.

Crapo has been in politics continuously for almost 32 years, 25 of them in Washington, D.C.

Sturgill is a managing director of a Denver-based financial advisory firm, Headwaters MB, and holds law and bachelor’s degrees from Brigham Young University, where he graduated with honors and was a Rhodes Scholar finalist.

Before college, he attended public schools in his hometown, Twin Falls.

Past work includes having been a corporate finance partner at the international law firm Latham & Watkins and a partner in the energy practice of Stoel Rives. He has bought and sold companies, managed them and chaired corporate boards.

He has also been active with Idaho non-profit organizations, having served on boards of educational, cultural and conservation organizations.

He has been married to Kris for 37 years and has three grown children and a son-in-law.