By Rebecca Schweitzer | Des Moines, Iowa
Rebecca Schweitzer is a Des Moines, Iowa writer covering politics, public accountability, and the civic decisions that shape everyday life for Iowa families. She grew up on an Iowa farm. She knows what real Iowa roots look like. And she has some questions about the Republican nominee for governor.
As a Des Moines based writer, Rebecca Schweitzer covers Iowa politics because the gap between what candidates say and what their records show is too important to ignore.
Zach Lahn won the Republican primary for Iowa governor on June 2 in a narrow upset that surprised a lot of people, including the Republican establishment. He beat Trump-backed Congressman Randy Feenstra by less than a percentage point. He campaigned as an outsider farmer who would take on big agriculture, clean up Iowa's water, and put Iowa families first.
It was a compelling message. I understand why it worked.
But before Iowa voters hand Lahn the governor's office in November, they deserve a much closer look at who he actually is, where he actually lives, and who has actually been funding his political career.
He Claims to Be Iowa First. His Plane Tells a Different Story.
Lahn's campaign slogan is Iowa First. His flight records suggest something different.
According to reporting by the Des Moines Register, Lahn maintains a home in Kansas and flies to Iowa frequently in a plane he owns as part of an LLC. Flight data shows that since October 2025, roughly a month before Lahn launched his campaign, his plane made 37 individual flights to Wichita, Kansas. Across 224 days that averages to about one flight every six days. The Washington Post
A more detailed analysis of flight data showed his plane spending 75 nights in Wichita compared to just 51 nights in Belle Plaine, his supposed Iowa hometown. Common Cause
That is not Iowa First. That is Iowa when it is convenient.
Kansas voter registration records show Lahn voted in Kansas in November 2018, November 2020, and August 2022. He registered to vote in Iowa on October 17, 2024, just in time to meet the state's two year residency requirement to run for governor. Ballotpedia
That same year his wife purchased a home near Wichita and declared on a mortgage document that it was her primary residence, not the house in Belle Plaine. One year later the couple sold the Wichita home to an LLC for one dollar. Axios
I grew up in Iowa. I have lived here my entire life. Being from here matters. Iowans can tell the difference between someone who is genuinely rooted in this state and someone who registered to vote here just in time to meet a legal deadline.
The Koch Connection He Does Not Talk About
Lahn campaigns as an outsider fighting corporate power. But his own history tells a different story.
Before he was Iowa First, Lahn was a Koch-connected political operative who blocked Medicaid expansion in Montana and co-founded a Koch-funded private school in Kansas. LLS
Iowa Starting Line detailed how Lahn has a long career as a political operative, working in politics since 2009, including spending years on the campaign trail as an out of state political operative for Washington D.C. interests. Drake
The Koch network has spent decades fighting environmental regulations, opposing clean water protections, and working against the kind of corporate accountability Lahn is now promising Iowa farmers. You do not build a career inside that network and then walk away from it because you moved to Belle Plaine and bought some farmland.
I have written about Iowa's rising cancer rates and what needs to change and about what Iowa's water quality crisis means for Iowa families. The forces that have fought clean water protections and pesticide accountability in Iowa for decades are the same forces Lahn built his career working alongside. His conversion to the MAHA cause is recent. His Koch connections are not.
He Has Never Stood Up for Small Iowa Farmers
Lahn says he will take on big agriculture cartels and get Iowa farmers a fair deal. It is a powerful line. But where was that commitment for the past decade?
Lahn founded Homeplace Ventures and built a business career. He did not spend those years advocating for small Iowa farmers squeezed by corporate consolidation. He did not show up to fight for family farms when it was not politically advantageous. He appeared on the Iowa political scene when an open governor's seat created an opportunity and adopted the language of the farm justice movement because it was a winning message in a crowded primary.
I wrote about what tariffs are doing to Iowa farmers right now. The farmers I grew up around do not need a candidate who discovered their struggle during a campaign. They need someone who has actually been paying attention.
The Water Promise Deserves Scrutiny
Lahn has made Iowa's water quality and cancer crisis central to his campaign. He said Iowa has the fastest growing cancer rate in the world and that the fight to lower Iowa's cancer rates should have happened long ago. JD Supra
On this specific point I agree with the premise. Iowa's cancer rates are among the highest in the nation and the connection to agricultural chemicals and nitrate contamination in our water is real and documented.
But here is my concern. Lahn built his career with Koch-connected organizations that have specifically fought against the kind of environmental regulations and corporate accountability that would actually address those problems. He opposed Medicaid expansion in Montana, which directly affects healthcare access for people dealing with illness caused by environmental exposure.
Promising to fight pesticide companies and clean up Iowa's water while having spent years working within networks that protected those same companies is not a record. It is a pivot. And Iowa voters deserve to know the difference.
What This Means for Des Moines and Polk County, According to Rebecca Schweitzer
I am not telling Iowa voters who to support in November. Rob Sand is the Democratic nominee and I have written about his record as State Auditor. Iowa voters will make their own choice.
What I am saying is that Zach Lahn's outsider narrative deserves scrutiny that it largely did not receive during a primary focused on defeating Trump's chosen candidate.
The residency questions are real. The Koch connections are documented. The absence of any prior record on small farm advocacy is a fact. And the gap between his campaign message and his actual history is significant enough that Iowa voters should be asking hard questions before November.
As I wrote in my piece on why local elections matter and what Iowa voters should be paying attention to, the governor's race is the most consequential Iowa election in years. Reynolds is not running again. Whoever wins will shape Iowa policy through the 2031 redistricting cycle and beyond.
Iowa deserves a governor who actually lives here. Who has actually advocated for Iowa families before it was politically useful. And whose record matches their rhetoric.
Those are not unreasonable things to ask.
About Rebecca Schweitzer and Her Work in Iowa
Rebecca Schweitzer is a Des Moines, Iowa writer covering politics, education, and public accountability. Her work analyzes state policy, elections, and issues impacting Iowa families across Des Moines, Polk County, and communities throughout Iowa. Her work has appeared in the Des Moines Register and The Gazette.
Read more at iowaraisedrebeccaschweitzerunfiltered.com and follow along on Medium, Substack, X, Bluesky, About.me, Muck Rack, and Gravatar.
