Wall Street Journal Exposes Zach Lahn as a Kansas Carpetbagger, Millionaire, and Political Operative
DES MOINES – New reporting from The Wall Street Journal exposed career political operative and Kansas carpetbagger Zach Lahn for claiming to be a political outsider despite “work[ing] in politics for part of a decade.” Lahn “barely met the state’s two-year residency requirement for gubernatorial candidates,” as “records show he voted in Kansas in 2018, 2020 and 2022.”
Lahn is struggling to earn trust and support from Iowa farmers — despite him introducing himself as a farmer on the campaign trail. As The Wall Street Journal reports, “few believe Lahn will actually” follow through on his campaign promises. Iowa Corn Growers Association president Mark Mueller echoed that skepticism, saying “farmers don’t love everything about Lahn … I’m not hearing vast support from the farming community for Lahn.”
From Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Terra Hernandez:
“Career political operative and Kansas carpetbagger Zach Lahn has been lying to Iowans since day one. Iowans know they can’t trust a word from a millionaire political operative who can’t even be honest about where he lives and how much time he spends in Iowa.”
Read more from The Wall Street Journal here, or key points below:
- Democrats say the 40-year-old is a Kansas carpetbagger and former political operative closely aligned with billionaire-fueled conservative interests in a race rated as one of the nation’s most competitive contests for governor this year.
- Lahn has lived in several different states as an adult—and barely met the state’s two-year residency requirement for gubernatorial candidates. Democrats have raised questions about how much time he has spent in the state since 2024.
- Lahn has lent his campaign $2.5 million, records show. His wealth potentially weakens an attack Republicans have tried to use against Sand, 43, who has received millions in campaign contributions from his wealthy wife and in-laws.
- He declined to directly answer whether he was a millionaire before he married his current wife.
- “If the question is could I have funded the campaign in the way I did solely from money I have made, the answer is yes,” he said, adding he has no plans to donate more to his campaign.
- Iowa’s farmers, frustrated by low commodity prices and higher costs for chemicals, fertilizer and crop seeds, are receptive to change, they say. But few believe Lahn will actually break up the companies.
- During the campaign, Feenstra highlighted Lahn’s ties to a men’s sexual health company in Montana called FirmTech that sells “wearable erection rings” and other intimate devices. Its website slogan: “Track Your Sexual Health And Keep It Up.”
- In the early 2020s, Lahn invested $1 million in the business. A 2025 annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows an LLC owned by Lahn was a 25% shareholder.
- A Feenstra ad called it “a sex toy company” and suggested Lahn lacks the “Iowa values” for the job. Democrats have also started to highlight that investment.
- Mark Mueller, president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association … said some farmers don’t love everything about Lahn.
- “I’m not hearing vast support from the farming community for Lahn,” he said.
- Records show he voted in Kansas in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
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