Republican Patrick McIntire this week launched his campaign for the Senate District 11 seat held Democrat Mike Merrifield, who isn’t running for a second term in next year’s election.

“It is only when our form of government is reclaimed from special interests and blind partisans, that the trust that has been lost between our community and its elected representatives can be restored,” McIntire said in a statement. “Together, we can begin to fix our political system.”

The 33-year-old Colorado native lives with his wife and their young daughter in the Old North End neighborhood, where the couple operates a video production business. McIntire worked as an intern during the legislative session earlier this year for state Sen. Owen Hill, R-Colorado Springs.

State Rep. Pete Lee, a Colorado Springs Democrat, announced last month that he’s running for the Senate seat, which covers downtown Colorado Springs and surrounding neighborhoods and stretches  south to Stratmoor and west to Manitou Springs. It’s one of the few districts in the Colorado Springs area where Democrats have an advantage – at the end of September, 33 percent of its active voters are registered as Democrats, 25 percent are Republican and 39 percent are unaffiliated.

McIntire said funding for the state’s “crumbling transportation infrastructure” and other transportation matters are among the biggest issues facing the district.

“We all know that the transportation network in our state has suffered significantly with the increased growth in our great community,” he said. “The same old tactics have been used to address the issue and it has not worked. We need and deserve a fresh perspective to bring innovative solutions to this vital component to the continued success for our community.”

Calling House Bill 1242, a defeated proposal to ask voters to increase the state sales tax to raise money for transportation spending, “just the latest failure by both parties to fix this now decades old problem,” McIntire said he plans to bring fresh ideas to the table. “I believe a big part of doing this is to very openly address the issues of mismanagement of funds within CDOT as well as other government agencies,” he told Colorado Politics. He added that driverless vehicles could make the state’s roads safer and cheered the possibility Colorado can help lead the way.