Marc Grammes of Washington Township, a Republican, kicked off his campaign to run as state representative for the 183rd legislative district on March 22 at the Slatington Trailhead.

He will be challenging current state Rep. Julie Harhart for her seat.In Lehigh County, the district covers parts of Whitehall, Washington and South Whitehall townships and Slatington.In Northampton County it includes North Catasauqua, Walnutport, Northampton, Lehigh and Allen townships and parts of Moore Township. He said the districts are geared to having 60,000 people in each district.As a Lehigh County commissioner he met Gregg Marzano, who is his choice for campaign manager. They worked together to save the Lehigh Valley Zoo 10 years ago. Grammes crossed county lines and was able to get backing.Now the 183rd district is also across county lines. It's important that the Lehigh Valley gets represented in Harrisburg, said Marzano.Grammes said he believes he can make a difference. He has the support of his wife, Liz, and described her as the "rock of my life" who gave him the go-ahead to go back into politics and do what he thinks is important.His sons, John and Joe, were on hand Saturday and Grammes said he was happy to see young children in the audience.He spoke about some of his accomplishments."People said we couldn't fix Leaser Lake but it's done. We formed a nonprofit and next week people will be trout fishing there," he said."As Jim Kelly (a Lehigh County commissioner in the audience) knows, I was privileged to do a minor part in getting the Iron Pigs into the area."He also was a supporter of the Delaware and Lehigh Trail from Carbon County to Cementon."There are a lot of things people say we can't do, but we can," Grammes said.He said his father had to get a job after retiring as an engineer from PPL because the property tax in Northern Lehigh is the highest in the Lehigh Valley."There has to be some way to free people from the property tax. How do you pay the mortgage? How do you pay for medicines?" he asked.Grammes wants to bring jobs to the area."I don't buy that people won't come to this part of the valley. Lower taxes will bring more people. We should start incubator zones to bring a few businesses back. I've talked to people about it."He has a part-time job but said he won't let that deter him from doing what is necessary."We'll be in full campaign mode. I've been knocking on doors and heard a lot about what people need. I've talked to the Lehigh Valley Labor Council and they asked if I would reach out to them. I said, 'Absolutely.' "