Roma local David Bowden will be the Labor candidate for Warrego in the forthcoming Queensland state election.

Mr Bowden is a local auctioneer and former shearer with strong connections to the Muckadilla area.

It was while working on the family property in Muckadilla that he joined the Labor Party in 1962, aged 19.

Mr Bowden is a now a life member of the party with plenty of experience of standing in elections at local, state and federal level.

He has stood for the state seat of Roma in the 1970s and the federal seat of Maranoa in the 1990s.

He also stood for councillor in Rockhampton and Roma Town Council, Mayor of Booringa Shire and most recently went up in 2008 for Mayor of Maranoa Regional Council.

Mr Bowden said the motivation to stand for parliament came out of the Labor State Conference he attended in July 2011.

"In that meeting it was mentioned over 50% of our members were from outside the south-eastern corner," Mr Bowden said.

"I thought somewhere along the road we've got to have local candidates to reflect this."

Mr Bowden said even if they could increase their primary vote by 2.5% each election cycle, they could have 35% of the vote in four elections time.

"That way over time we could attract some really good candidates," he said.