Iowa’s Republican candidate for governor, Zach Lahn of rural Belle Plaine, smiles while holding a vanilla ice cream cone as he volunteers for a brief stint inside the Dairy Producers booth at the Benton County Fair on Saturday, June 27, at the fairgrounds in Vinton. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

VINTON – After orchestrating an upset victory over Trump-backed Rep. Randy Feenstra in Iowa’s Republican gubernatorial primary on June 2, MAHA (“Make America Healthy Again”) darling and clean water advocate Zach Lahn has seemingly begun his general election campaign.

Lahn, 40, a self-described father, farmer and businessman (in that order), made a volant stop at the Benton County Fair in Vinton on Saturday morning, June 27, accompanied by several campaign staffers plus his wife Annie and their youngest child Fritz, who zoomed around the fairgrounds’ dusty paths on a Strider bike under the patient watch of a family babysitter. Not attending was Lahn’s running mate, state Rep. Derek Wulf, whose district includes a sliver of Benton, the northeast corner of Tama, and parts of Black Hawk counties. When contacted by the newspaper via text message regarding the fair visit, Wulf, a rancher, said he was “unfortunately” not able to attend due to being at the 2026 National Junior High Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma where his daughter was competing in breakaway roping.

Arriving at the county Republican central committee’s fair booth just after 9 a.m., Lahn (pronounced “Lane”) was greeted by a small but enthusiastic group, comprised of both local GOP supporters and several elected county officials who all appeared to know him fairly well owing to the fact he owns a farmstead in the southwest corner of the county near Belle Plaine – a farm his late great-grandparents, Alfred and Evelyn Lahn, once owned until it was sold in 2005 upon Evelyn’s passing.

According to Lahn’s campaign website, he bought back the farmstead in 2014. Online real estate records tie him to a roughly 155-acre farm northeast of Belle Plaine and just south of U.S. Highway 30. In the years since his purchase of the now-sixth-generation family farm, he’s also purchased (and restored) the King Theater in downtown Belle Plaine as well as the train depot. In a December 2024 newspaper article heralding the restoration of the landmark theater published by the Southeast Iowa Union, Lahn is described as a local folk hero of sorts with a desire to reinvigorate rural, small-town Iowa.

While the Lahns today call rural Iowa home, they previously lived in Kansas and still maintain a significant presence there (and second home) as part of the balancing act inherent to blended families, Lahn told the Des Moines Register in May.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

During his roughly 90-minute visit to the fair Saturday, Lahn provided no formal remarks and did not allow time for questions from the press. While walking to the Benton County Dairy Producers booth, Lahn briefly addressed a question from this reporter regarding public schools and their seeming importance to folks like his running mate Wulf – a graduate of the Hudson Community School District where both his children now attend – and how that might appear at odds with his own documented history as a co-founder (with his then-future wife, the former Annie Koch) of a private school in Kansas, along with his support for Iowa’s Educational Savings Account (ESA) program. Wulf himself voted for the 2023 legislation that created the program.

“I’m in favor of ESAs, but we also have to have good public schools,” Lahn replied before being interrupted by a member of his staff.

When asked if he would remain a supporter of public schools after the election, Lahn, who grew up in western Iowa and graduated from Sioux City East High School in 2004, told the newspaper “yes.”

Following the event, the newspaper sent a short list of questions to Lahn via his staff – including further inquiries regarding ESAs as well as questions about his farming operation, his choice of Wulf and when they would begin holding campaign events together – but the campaign did not have time to reply by press time. This story will be updated online with those responses if received. (Editor’s Note: Those responses are included at the conclusion of this article.)

Inside the dairy booth, Lahn chatted with FFA/4-Hers — most of them hailing from the nearby Benton Community School District — working a volunteer shift. He was given a crash course in operating the soft serve machine before getting to work, fulfilling orders for unsuspecting folks in line.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Once finished at the dairy booth, Lahn made his way over to the nearby Farm Bureau tent where he chatted with local members, including Dysart resident Al Schafbuch, who owns farmland in Benton County and recently attended the Republican state convention, where he supported Lahn’s nomination for governor.

Earlier in the morning, while queuing near the Benton County GOP booth in anticipation of Lahn’s visit — which had been announced by the local party on Facebook the day prior — Belle Plaine residents Richard and Nelsene Beck were all smiles when asked about their support of Lahn.

“I did know his grandpa pretty well,” Richard said. “His great-grandpa (Alfred Lahn) was a county supervisor.”

When asked why he supported Lahn in the primary beyond the obvious local connection, Richard, 81, who once worked as a press operator, replied, “We like what he stands for. He’s about as clean as anybody can be as far as ethics. … (We like) his entire [Iowa First] message.”

That message, according to his website, is “Taking responsibility for what’s ours. Our fields, our families, our future. It’s a promise to invest in the land that feeds us and the people who make Iowa strong.”

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

For her part, Lahn’s wife Annie is certainly on board with her husband’s campaign, based on comments she made while chatting with an attendee that morning at the GOP fair booth.

“I think he’s a pretty cool guy, but I might be a little biased,” Annie said with a laugh. “We have such a similar story. Our parents came over from Germany. Farmers. … Both of my parents grew up on farms, but I didn’t.”

Shortly before 10:45 a.m., Lahn and his crew said their goodbyes at the Farm Bureau tent before climbing inside a Ford Super Duty F-250 pickup parked nearby and taking off for Fairfax in Linn County to participate in the community’s annual USA Days parade, which was set to begin at 11:30 a.m.

As they drove away, 129 days remained until the Tuesday, Nov. 3 midterm election.

Post-event Q&A

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

The following are responses to questions submitted to the Zach Lahn campaign after Saturday’s fair stop and returned midweek after this story went to press. The newspaper is including those responses verbatim as part of the online edition as a courtesy to the campaign. Some responses were provided by Lahn himself, while others were provided by members of his campaign staff.

-Why Rep. Wulf? Was he your first choice? How did that pick come about?

“Derek understands the challenges facing Iowa families and farmers firsthand. As a fourth-generation Iowa farmer, rancher, businessman, and Chair of the Iowa House Agriculture Committee, he has built a strong record of fighting for Iowa agriculture, rural communities, and family farms. He also served as a co-chair of President Donald Trump’s Farmers for Trump Coalition in Iowa. Throughout the selection process, I was looking for someone who shared my commitment to putting Iowa families and farmers first. Derek has consistently done that in the legislature, whether it was leading on Right to Repair, defending private property rights, or standing up to corporate overreach. I’m proud to have him as my partner on this campaign and look forward to serving with him at the Capitol.” – Zach Lahn

Best I can determine from my own reporting across multiple counties, support for public schools in rural areas – particularly small towns that still retain their local public school – appears a winning issue. In tandem, my reporting in these areas does NOT show strong support for ESAs (private school vouchers). Rural school districts have never been more strapped for cash and yet hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are being funneled to private schools through Iowa’s ESA system now. How would Mr. Lahn prioritize Iowa’s public schools if elected governor? Did he attend/graduate from a public school himself? His running mate appears to be a proud public school graduate (Hudson Community Schools) who has opted to send his own children to his alma mater. Would Lahn do the same with his children if elected governor – send to an Iowa public school? Why or why not?

“In the 90s Iowa schools were number one in the nation, and now they are 27th overall. ESAs are not a handout, they’re an opportunity fund for middle class parents whose kids are trapped in failing schools. These parents have as much right to choose which school their kids attend as billionaire Rob Sand does and frankly there’s nothing more obnoxious than being lectured by a billionaire about what choices middle class families should have.” -Zach Lahn

I’d like to better understand Mr. Lahn’s farming operation and description of himself as a farmer. How large (acreage-wise) is his operation? What does he farm? Is he farming himself (planting beans, etc) or does he have a tenant farmer or some combination?

Zach actively farms several hundred acres using organic, regenerative, and sustainable farming practices. He partners with a young local farmer through a sharecropping arrangement, growing corn, soybeans, oats, and alfalfa. He remains directly involved in the operation and was on the tractor this morning [Wednesday, June 15].

Why was Rep. Wulf at the Rose Garden this week? Best I can tell it was part of a dinner President Trump hosted for farmers following an executive order signing ceremony. Was Wulf’s visit connected at all to the governor campaign?

Derek attended the event to honor farmers and agricultural leaders from across the country. As the former Iowa Chair of Farmers for Trump during President Trump’s 2024 campaign, he has maintained a strong working relationship with the White House to communicate the priorities and challenges facing Iowa’s agricultural community.

When can the public expect to see Lahn and Wulf campaigning together?

Later this week they are hitting the trail together for some exciting events!