Geneva’s William Wagner is ready to make some changes.

A DFL candidate running for the District 27A House of Representatives seat, Wagner said he gets frustrated watching the political realm and not being able to do anything about it.

“It’d be nice to be able to do something about it,” he said.

With these frustrations, he decided to take matters into his own hands and will face off against incumbent DFL Rep. Robin Brown in the Sept. 9 primary. If he wins that election, he will go up against Republican Erik Larsen for the seat.

Wagner, 40, moved from New Market to Geneva about five years ago, and now works in computer-numerical-control milling.

He served on the planning and zoning board in New Market during the 1990s and was an active member of the Lions Club there as well.

He attended Dakota County Technical Institute in Rosemount to work toward a degree in marketing, merchandising and sales.

His top issue, Wagner said, is jobs.

“There are no good jobs around here,” Wagner said. “It’s not only here, it’s every rural community around.”

He said when he graduated from high school in 1986, people could get a job for $10 or $12 an hour in construction. Now, 20 years later, job wages are the same, but costs have gone up.

“If people ain’t making money, they ain’t spending,” Wagner said. “If you ain’t spending, you ain’t helping the community.”

The community needs more — and better — jobs, he said.

There also needs to be some regulation of taxes, he said. Because it just seems like taxes are going up and up, even if a home’s value is not correlating with that increase.

Wagner said he started thinking about running for office at the beginning of the year and decided he wanted to be an agent of change.

Since then, he has campaigned, going to the Freeborn County Fair for a few days, knocking door to door, and purchasing some radio and newspaper advertisements.

He said he’s been a Democrat all his life.

He and his girlfriend, Ginna Soltvedt, are foster parents.