A personal trainer from Dry Branch will try to knock longtime state Sen. Robert Brown out of his seat later this year.

Matthew Sheffield, a 30-year-old manager at the Warner Robins Kinetix Health Club, said he’ll make his first try for public office against Brown, a Macon Democrat who’s served in the Senate since 1991. Sheffield described himself politically as “a Reagan conservative above anything else” and said he’s considering an independent run instead of aligning with a political party.

Sheffield said he plans to talk to people in Senate District 26, which includes the city of Macon, some of unincorporated Bibb County, all of Twiggs County, most of Wilkinson County and some of Houston County, to “find out what they need most.” But he said there’s more waste to cut from state government and that he’s always “in favor of tax cuts, no matter what kind of economic climate there is.”

When it comes to education, Sheffield said he’s for “anything that will give poorer families that can’t afford private schools ... more choice and inject some competition.”

But he stopped short of supporting school vouchers, which can be used to help people attend private schools.

Sheffield said he doesn’t know Brown, the Democratic Party’s minority leader in the Senate, personally. But he called Brown “a constant no-vote to the Republicans” who is “basically there to obstruct, just to toe the party line, and that’s not acceptable.”

“The thing that bothers me is he’s been there 18 years,” Sheffield said. “It’s hard to be effective and it’s hard to stay true to the people that sent you there. ... (There’s) a lot of temptation to fight off for 18 years.”

Brown declined to respond to Sheffield’s comments, though he has in the past disputed the idea that he’s been an obstructionist senator.

“When the campaign starts, I’ll engage in the campaign,” Brown said. “But right now, I’m just concentrating on being a senator.”

To contact writer Travis Fain, call 361-2702.