One of the five Republican gubernatorial candidates made one of his final stops in Marshalltown before the Tuesday primary election.
Zach Lahn spoke before a packed room at Legends American Grill for the weekly Pachyderm Herd lunch on Friday. He began his speech by telling the crowd he had raised $250,000 more than fellow candidate Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) and, in a public poll, is leading the pack of five candidates by three points. The other three Republican candidates are Adam Steen, Brad Sherman and Eddie Andrews.
However, on Friday Feenstra got the endorsement of President Donald Trump for the Iowa governor seat. That same day, Lahn received the endorsement of Turning Point USA, an organization co-founded by Charlie Kirk.
Lahn said the crowd at Legends was the biggest lunch campaign stop he has had.
“Let me tell you what this is — this is what a movement looks like to win in November, beat Rob Sand and keep this seat Republican,” he said.
Lahn, who lives on his family farm near Belle Plaine, announced his candidacy in November 2025. Not seeing the change he was wanting, he decided then was the time to enter the race.
“We have to be having deep discussions on issues that are systemic in nature in our state that have been going on for decades that both parties have turned a blind eye to,” Lahn said.
Those issues include corporate, special interest and lobbyist capture within the state government, he said. Lahn then talked about the four points he is running on.
The first is Iowa is losing the younger generation faster than 46 other states, with the fourth highest out migration of youth in the country.
“We cannot build a culture, maintain traditions, keep heritage or have tight knit families if our kids are leaving at that rate,” Lahn said. “Let alone build an economy.”
It is not the government that builds economies, but the people, he explained. He believes the government and the economy of Iowa needs to be focused on making life easier for Iowans, not for special interests or out-of-state entities. If outside companies want to take advantage of the great opportunities Iowa has to offer, Lahn suggested they locate their headquarters within the state.
The second point is the loss of 10,000 family farms, the suicide rate of farmers rising by 50 percent and a quarter of the land being owned by out-of-state funds and investors who are extracting wealth from the state. He added that when he was a kid in western Iowa, there were 300 companies selling seeds to farmers, which gave customers choices and lower prices. Now, only three — Bayer, Corteva and Syngenta — own 85 percent of the market.
“When I announced my campaign in November, I said we will lead on anti-trust suits to break apart these companies and give our farmers more competition and keep more money in their pockets,” Lahn said.
He said Republicans are wary of centralized government, but not of centralized business, which is a failure of the free market and allows corporations to take over.
“We’ve been in favor of business for a long time and we should be in favor of business,” Lahn said. “But we have to be in favor of the right types of business, not centralized.”
The third point is education. He said the ESAs (Education Savings Accounts) are a good thing because they increase competition and give parents a choice. The claim that public education is not funded enough is untrue, according to Lahn, but the public education system has fallen from its previous top spot in the country.
“The governor of Iowa has to be the number one advocate for public school kids in the state,” he said. “There’s a battle being waged and we cannot cede that ground. We have to be in the fight.”
Lahn wants to work with public school teachers to make the system number one in the nation once again, and make it difficult for private schools to keep up.
The fourth and final point, which he said has become a flashpoint for his campaign, is that Iowa has the fastest growing rate of cancer in the country and in the history of recorded civilization. Iowans are losing the wisdom of an entire generation as people are dying at younger ages, he said. Lahn tied his stance to the pro-life movement, and said it is important for pro-life to extend beyond the unborn.
“We’re burning the candle at both ends,” he said. “It’s no surprise we are in a crisis in our culture. We need the wisdom of the older generation and the potential of the newer generation. I want to be clear — clean water is a pro-life issue. Lowering cancer rates is a pro-life issue. Getting the COVID vaccine off the market is a pro-life issue.”
Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.