Zach Lahn makes his case in Iowa’s gubernatorial campaign
Tim Burrack, a farmer and staunch supporter of and donor to Republican candidates, said at first he was uncertain about Zach Lahn, the Republican candidate for governor.
Burrack said he considered skipping his vote in Iowa’s open-seat gubernatorial election this fall — despite his hesitation about Lahn, he couldn’t bring himself to vote for Democrat Rob Sand — and he initially hesitated when he was asked to host a Lahn campaign event on his farm.
But Burrack decided to host the campaign event, figuring it would give him an opportunity to meet Lahn. After that meeting and event, Burrack became a believer. By the end of the night, he was fully supportive of Lahn’s campaign and ready to hand him a check.
“I’m on the Lahn train,” Burrack said after a campaign event at his farm near Arlington on Tuesday night.
Lahn, a Republican venture firm business owner from Belle Plaine, is running for governor against Sand, the Democratic state auditor from Decorah. It is an open-seat election after Republican incumbent Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has held the office since 2017, opted against seeking re-election.
Two prominent national election forecasters — Sabato’s Crystal Ball and the Cook Political Report — view Iowa’s gubernatorial election as a toss-up, and a third, Inside Elections, on Thursday changed its rating for Iowa from tossup to “tilts Democrat.”
The Lee-Gazette Des Moines Bureau spent a day on the trail covering Lahn’s campaign with events in Hampton, Waverly and on Burrack’s farm near Arlington.
It was a busy week for Lahn after what initially was a somewhat quiet post-primary campaign. This past week, Lahn held three public campaign events on Tuesday, two on Wednesday and four on Thursday. He has five more scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 12, and is scheduled to appear at the Iowa State Fair at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox Friday, Aug. 14.
Forging supporters
Burrack has donated roughly $33,000 to Iowa Republican candidates and organizations since 2013, state campaign finance records show. He has hosted many campaign events at his Fayette County farm — as evidenced by the many large campaign banners hanging in his machine shed, including Reynolds, Congresswoman and U.S. Senate candidate Ashley Hinson and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird.
Burrack said at first he was unsure about Lahn, who at this time a year ago was largely unknown in Iowa politics before surging to a narrow victory in a five-way Republican primary for Iowa governor in June, edging incumbent western Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra. Burrack, who grows corn and soybeans on his farm, had especially acute reservations about Lahn when it came to agriculture policy, he said.
Lahn has talked during his campaign about potential links of farm chemicals to cancer and water quality, and has expressed opposition to the use of eminent domain for private companies building carbon dioxide pipelines, projects that are valued by Iowa’s ethanol industry and many corn farmers.
But Burrack said most of his concerns were eased after talking to Lahn individually and hearing him speak during Tuesday night’s campaign event, which was attended by more than 200 people.
Republican Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn speaks during a campaign event on agriculture policy at a farm near Arlington on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026.
That revelation may not surprise Phil Hanson, of Waterloo, who attended a Lahn campaign event earlier Tuesday in Waverly.
Hanson said he believes Iowa voters, especially Republicans, will respond favorably to Lahn once they hear directly from him.
“I think he’s connecting more with the people,” Hanson said after hearing Lahn speak to roughly 160 people at a coffee shop in Waverly. “I think he’s presenting himself as an authentic person who is standing for his ideals and trying to implement them in a practical way for the state of Iowa.”
Lahn’s core issues
Lahn’s espoused ideals — the four most basic issues and principles upon which he has based his campaign — have not changed since Day 1 of his launch last November: addressing Iowa’s high cancer rates, keeping young people in Iowa, addressing water quality and improving the state’s standing in public education. As he has throughout his campaign, Lahn highlighted them at all three campaign events Tuesday in Eastern Iowa.
During Tuesday’s events, Lahn gave his largely biographical stump speech and highlighted a few issues, including those core four. He took questions from the audience at each event, and after the last he spoke to reporters.
Republican Iowa candidate for governor Zach Lahn speaks during a campaign event at a coffee shop in Waverly, Iowa on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026.
The final event of the day, in a large machine shed on Burrack’s farm, was advertised as a town hall discussion on agriculture policy. It was moderated by Lance Lillibridge, who operates a farm in Benton County near Cedar Rapids and is a past president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association.
During the event’s Q-and-A segment with the audience, Lahn was asked about water quality and cancer. Lahn, who has said he opposes added legal protections for pesticide manufacturers, on Tuesday said he believes emerging technologies could help alleviate the issue and provide farmers with options that are healthier for both humans and the environment and are more efficient.
“These companies are developing this new technology that I believe eventually will replace this in a very efficient way, to reduce the environmental load, to reduce the exposure to some of these chemicals, which — look, some of them do have very harmful effects,” Lahn said.
Lahn continued to say he wants farmers to have options and that he is not proposing to ban any products.
“Specifically on farm chemicals, I understand the need for them. I understand where we’re at in this cycle,” Lahn said. “I would just like to be able to have options for farmers that would like to try something different as well if they would like to. And I don’t think that’s a radical thing to say. But we’re not here to ban products.”
During the question-and-answer sessions throughout the day, Lahn fielded queries about property taxes, education, water quality, data centers and cancer research, among others.
Lahn has expressed support for enacting the three-eights of a cent sales tax fund water quality and outdoor recreation projects — which was approved by Iowa voters in 2010 but never enacted by state lawmakers — and has called for a moratorium on new data centers.
Lahn’s busy Tuesday started at a brewpub in Hampton, where roughly 50 people squeezed in to hear from the candidate.
Among the 200-plus who heard from Lahn at Burrack’s farm in Arlington were Colleen Schromen and Anne Wheeler, both of Dubuque. Schromen and Wheeler came to the event already in support of Lahn for governor; they just wanted to hear from the candidate and maybe take some campaign yard signs back to Dubuque, where they said they are concerned by how many Sand signs they see.
Wheeler said she likes Lahn as a candidate and, without being asked about the topic, said she is not concerned with Lahn’s travel between his home in Belle Plaine and Kansas, where his children with his ex-wife live. Sand’s campaign and Iowa Democrats have argued that Lahn’s interstate travel makes him a part-time Iowan and thus not fit to serve as governor, an argument at which Lahn has pushed back.
“I like that (Lahn) does care about the farmers. And he’s got a big family,” Wheeler said. “I really think he’s a good guy. I think he would be great.”
Republican Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn speaks during a campaign event at a coffee shop in Waverly on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026.
Iowa Democrats raised questions about Lahn’s travel again during a press conference in Des Moines on July 31, led by former Iowa House Democrats leader Jennifer Konfrst, of Windsor Heights.
During the press conference, Konfrst claimed that Lahn, as governor, would represent a continuation of Reynolds’ conservative policies.
“He wants to continue Kim Reynolds’ failed policies, and he wants to do so as a part-time governor,” Konfrst said. “Let me assure you, as someone who has been up front, up close and personal to Kim Reynolds’ failed policies, we need someone full time who is here to focus on fixing the direction of the state and making sure that Iowans’ needs are finally heard at the Capitol and in the community.”
‘Change candidate’
Sand’s campaign events frequently draw Iowans who say they are registered Republican voters who are intrigued by or outright support Sand, the Democratic candidate for governor. Sand’s campaign has even announced public endorsements of more than 100 registered Iowa Republicans.
Many of those Republicans say part of the reason they are supporting Sand for governor is they believe it is time for “change” in Iowa’s elected leadership after 10 consecutive years of all-Republican control of the state lawmaking process. Since 2017, Iowa has had Republican majorities in both chambers of the Iowa Legislature to go with a Republican in the governor’s office.
That Iowa needs a change in political direction is a core argument Sand makes on the campaign trail.
“After a decade of one-party rule that has left hardworking Iowans behind, Zach Lahn is offering another four years of the same failed status quo,” Sand campaign press secretary Maddie Moher said in a statement.
“While Rob Sand is focused on lowering costs, strengthening public schools, expanding access to health care, and restoring accountability to state government, Zach Lahn has offered no serious vision for Iowa's future,” Moher said. “Instead, he's spent his campaign lying to Iowans about where he lives while flying back and forth to Kansas. Iowans don’t want a part-time governor. They’re ready to turn the page, and Rob Sand is the leader who will move Iowa forward.”
At the end of Tuesday’s long day on the campaign trail, Lahn was asked whether he feels he needs to address Iowa voters who are looking for change in this election.
“I think I’m a change candidate. I have been since the very beginning,” Lahn said. “You can look at my message. There’s many people that said you can’t win a Republican primary talking about these issues, and we did.
“And so here’s what I think: I think people believe the system’s rigged, and I think they think that on the state level, the federal level. I think they believe that politicians are not paying attention to their concerns. And I have those concerns as well, which is a large part of the reason I got into the race.
“I think on the state level we can make real changes. And you know my four issues — keep Iowa’s kids in Iowa, save our family farms, make public education No. 1 in the nation, and stop the cancer crisis — I have not seen the level of focus on those things that I would like to see, and that’s why I got in the race, to be the change agent.”
