Another Republican has entered the race for governor and it’s a candidate who says he’ll be the “biggest donor” to his own campaign.
Zach Lahn kicked off his campaign this afternoon at his family’s century farm near Belle Plaine, which he bought in 2014 and where his family now lives. Lahn is the son of a pastor who grew up in Sioux City, got a degree in political science from Colorado University and got a job working for a member of Colorado’s state senate. He’s led campaigns for Republican candidates in Iowa and other states and has worked for the political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity.
Lahn now runs an investment business and says he’s “not a politician,” will be his “biggest donor and I can’t be bought.” As governor, Lahn said he’d pursue an “Iowa First” agenda because “the people who built Iowa are being pushed aside by greed and corruption.” Lahn is calling for the break up “big ag” and “big pharma” monopolies that he said have “rigged the system against farmers and poisoned Iowa families for generations.”
Kim Reynolds, a Republican who’s been Iowa’s governor since mid-2017, announced in April that she would not seek reelection in 2026. The current field of Republicans includes Lahn; Brad Sherman, a pastor from Williamsburg who announced in February he would run for governor; State Representative Eddie Andrews of Johnston; former Iowa Department of Administrative Services Director Adam Steen; and Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull, who formed an exploratory committee in May and issued a video announcement last week to formally kick off his campaign.