New Report Reveals Zach Lahn Continues to Live in Kansas While Running for Iowa Governor
DES MOINES – Today, on the second day of early voting, a new report from the Des Moines Register reveals that Republican gubernatorial candidate and career political operative Zach Lahn “maintains a home in Kansas,” and that he had to re-register to vote in Iowa in 2024 — just before the two year minimum to meet Iowa’s residency requirement to run for governor.
Despite introducing himself to voters as an “Iowa First” family farmer, flight data from Lahn’s personal plane shows he still lives in Kansas, with his plane spending “75 nights in Wichita” compared to just “51 nights in Belle Plaine,” Lahn’s supposed hometown. Lahn promised voters he’d “be in Iowa as much as humanly possible” if elected, but Iowans deserve better than a part-time resident running our state.
From Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Terra Hernandez:
“Zach Lahn isn’t just a career political operative — he’s a Kansas carpetbagger who was caught red-handed lying to Iowans about where he lives. Lahn has been trying to fool Iowa voters since the start of his campaign, thinks he can pay his way to the governor’s mansion with his millions in out-of-state money, and spends more time in Wichita than Belle Plaine. Iowans don’t want a governor who lives in Kansas, and they will send carpetbagger and frequent flyer Zach Lahn and his millions back to Wichita.”
Read more from the Des Moines Register here, or key points below:
- “Iowa First” Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn maintains a home in Kansas and flies to the state frequently in a plane he owns as part of an LLC.
- Since Oct. 1, 2025, about a month before Lahn launched his campaign, publicly available flight logs show that plane making 37 individual flights to Wichita, Kansas.
- Across 224 days, that averages to about one flight every six days.
- He said the current situation would not continue if he’s elected governor.
- “… We’d be in Iowa as much as humanly possible.”
- Voter registration records show he was previously registered to vote in Iowa and last voted in 2016 before re-registering to vote in Iowa in 2024.
- Lahn made the move after living in Wichita, where he and his wife, Annie, co-founded Wonder, a nontraditional private school.
- Annie was previously married to Chase Koch, the son of billionaire businessman Charles Koch. The school was created as a nonprofit supported by Annie and Chase Koch.
- According to the available data, which was tracked in Coordinated Universal Time, the plane in Lahn’s ownership spent 75 nights in Wichita since Oct. 1, 2025.
- Comparatively, the data show the plane spent 51 nights in Belle Plaine and 44 nights in other Iowa towns.
- There are 15 nights that indicate the plane was in other states. And for about a month early this year, the plane appeared to stay grounded in Des Moines.
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