I’m Zach Lahn, and this photo of my family is taken in front of the porch of a farmhouse my great-great-grandfather built in 1900.
Six generations of my family have worked this land. My seven kids are growing up here now, and every day I ask myself: Will they have a reason to stay?
My family came to Iowa around 1850. My great-great-great-grandfather was part of the Hawkeyes on Horseback in the Civil War. When Lincoln called for 750 troops, 10,000 Iowans signed up in two weeks. My ancestor left his plow and answered that call without hesitation.
That’s the Iowa I come from.
By 1900, my great-great-grandfather had built our homestead outside Belle Plaine. My grandpa and his brothers grew up there—in the 1940s they mowed a runway in the bean field and bought a Taylorcraft, learning to fly right on the farm. My grandpa became a career pilot. His brother flew off aircraft carriers in the Pacific.
These are our stories. This is who we are.
In 2005, the farm sold. I was in Colorado when my grandma asked if I wanted anything to do with it. I said no. I was gone. But years later, I stopped by to see the new owners and told them if they ever sold, to let me know. In 2012, they called. Before I could think, I said yes.
So in 2014, I bought the family farm back.
I spent eleven years restoring that farmhouse board by board using old pictures from my great-grandmother’s collection. But I remember the day I signed the papers. I went down to the basement, leaning against a wooden post, asking myself what I’d just done. The place needed so much work. The loan was a stretch.
I turned around. Carved into that post were the initials “V.L.”—my grandpa. That’s when I knew. This is why I’m doing it. We can’t forget where we came from.
I want my children to understand their story—to know who built them, to understand that the generations before them sacrificed everything to protect what we have. I wanted them to connect to that deep heritage.
But restoring one farm isn’t enough. The entire state of Iowa needs restoring.
I have a vision for Iowa built on four priorities that aren’t Republican or Democrat—they’re just Iowa.
First, keep Iowa’s kids in Iowa. Our kids are leaving faster than 46 other states.
Employers in Nashville, Denver, and Austin will tell you they love hiring Iowans because of our work ethic. But we’re losing them. You can’t build a culture or pass on traditions when your kids keep leaving.
Second, save the family farm. We’ve lost over 10,000 family farms in 20 years while farmer suicide rates climbed 50 percent. When I was growing up, 300 companies sold inputs to farmers. Today, three companies control 85 percent of the market. This happened because politicians took $1.5 billion from the agribusiness lobby while those companies made $150 billion in profit and we lost 100,000 farms. Who were they lobbying for? Not the farmer.
Third, make Iowa’s education system number one again. When I was a child, we were number one in the nation. Now we’re in the bottom half.
Fourth, end the cancer crisis in Iowa. This keeps me up at night.
We have the fastest rate of new cancer of anywhere in the history of human civilization. There are 212 jurisdictions worldwide that track cancer rates. Ours is rising faster than any of them have ever risen.
If you live in one of the top cancer counties in Iowa—all rural counties—your lifetime chance of getting cancer is one in two. Compare that to Nevada, which has the highest smoking rate in America. Choose to live in Nevada instead of Iowa, and your cancer risk drops 40 percent. In our top cancer county, it drops 70 percent.
People spending their days outside, getting exercise, breathing fresh air—they have higher cancer rates than office workers in Des Moines. That tells you we need to look at external factors.
Right now in Des Moines, we have the world’s largest nitrate removal system on our water supply. The world’s largest. In a state of 3 million people. We have 72 times the acceptable level of nitrates in our water. Last summer, they had to tell people not to water their lawns because the system couldn’t filter chemicals fast enough.
Rural wells average 6 to 9 chemicals. We have lakes you can’t swim in because of chemical levels. This is Iowa—the place so beautiful that General Albert Lee, who’d traveled the entire country, said he’d never seen anywhere more stunning.
My dad was a crop consultant for 28 years, telling farmers what chemicals to apply. Five years ago, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma—the exact cancer linked to Roundup. He’s in remission, but I think about the days I’ve lost with him. I see funerals for people dying in their 60s when their parents lived to be 80.
When I bring this up at Republican events, 89 percent of heads are nodding. The voters know. Nobody in politics has been willing to say it out loud.
Here’s what you need to understand: Farmers are the victims. They’ve been lied to by companies that said these products were safe. They’ve been squeezed by monopolies controlling their inputs, markets, and margins. Big agriculture pretends to defend farmers while extracting every dollar and bragging about farm consolidation.
This isn’t about telling farmers how to farm. This is about holding accountable the companies that have been poisoning our people while getting rich. And while this happens, we’re handing corporate welfare to multinational companies that add almost nothing to our communities.
South of Cedar Rapids right now sits a massive data center on 1,400 acres of former farmland. The city gave them $529 million in tax rebates. In exchange for half a billion dollars, they’re contractually obligated to create 30 jobs. That’s $17 million per job.
These are $100 billion tech companies asking us for something. We should negotiate from strength. We have what they want—great land, great people, great infrastructure. Instead, we’re paying them to be here.
When I’m governor, that stops. Data centers will pay far more in property taxes, and I’ll use that money to lower taxes for families and small businesses. We’re done being extracted from.
Same with economic development dollars. Syngenta—100 percent owned by the Chinese government—has received millions in tax credits. Meanwhile, Latham Seeds, a third-generation Iowa company, fights for survival against Bayer, which got $42 million in state welfare while using anti-competitive practices to crush Iowa businesses.
When I’m governor, no Chinese company gets a dime. Those dollars go to Iowa entrepreneurs with deep roots in our communities—people who go to church with their employees, whose kids play soccer together. Companies that stick around when times get tough.
This is what putting Iowa first means. It’s not a slogan. It’s a choice about who we fight for—Iowa people or multinational corporations.
As I’ve traveled this state, something remarkable has happened. Our campaign is inspiring voters who haven’t voted before to get involved. People who stayed home are showing up—150 people in Altoona, 182 in Grimes with two days’ notice, 80 in Templeton. My opponents get 15 to 20.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist wrote about my campaign. Even though he was pretty insulting toward me personally, he said: “How did we let a Republican beat us to the punch on these issues?” The article’s page break reads, “This is how Rob Sand loses.”
He’s right. These aren’t partisan issues. Keeping our kids here, saving family farms, fixing education, stopping the cancer crisis—those are Iowa issues. You don’t want your kids leaving. You don’t want family farms dying. You don’t want our education in the bottom half. And you definitely don’t want your loved ones dying from cancer.
Iowa families are looking for something they can count on. Clean water. Safe communities. Good schools. A government that puts them first. That’s not too much to ask.
My whole life will be focused on these issues, whether I win or not. They’re about caring for your neighbor—one of the two commands I’ve been given by Jesus. When I see my community being forgotten, I can’t help but fight for you.
June 2nd is Primary Day. That’s when we vote our conscience and say, “This is who I want representing us.” Primaries are where movements start. This is where we decide what Iowa we’re handing to the next generation.
The establishment doesn’t want someone like me in this race. They want politicians who keep taking lobbyist money, who keep ignoring systemic issues, who keep protecting special interests instead of Iowa people.
But you have the power to change that.
I’m asking for your vote on June 2nd. I’m asking you to support a campaign that puts Iowa and Iowans first—ahead of corporate interests, ahead of lobbyists, ahead of special interests. Join a movement to defend and protect Iowa people and make our state great and healthy again.
Get out and vote June 2nd. Bring your family. Bring your friends. Bring people who haven’t voted before but are ready to be part of something bigger.
When I look at my seven children, I want them to see a future worth staying for. I want them to inherit an Iowa worth fighting for. And I believe—with everything in me—that if we come together, we can build that future.
The farm my great-great-grandfather built in 1900 is still standing because I refused to let it be forgotten. Iowa is still standing too. But we need to fight for it before it’s too late.
I’m Zach Lahn, and I’m ready to fight for Iowa. Will you join me?
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