NEW: Unearthed Footage Shows Zach Lahn Wants Term Limits for Everyone Except Himself
Heartland Signal: Lahn “did not address questions about … why he chose to run for governor in Iowa instead of Kansas, where term limits are imposed on the governorship”
DES MOINES – New reporting from Heartland Signal and KCRG has unearthed footage of Kansas carpetbagger and career political operative Zach Lahn opposing term limits for the governor’s office while “telling a podcast he wants to serve as governor ‘for the next two decades.’” Lahn’s comment undermines his already dubious claims to be a political outsider and “conflicts with his history in political campaigning and donor networks.”
According to Heartland Signal and KCRG, Lahn repeatedly said he supports term limits for most positions — just not the office he hopes to hold:
- Lahn claimed he didn’t want to be a career politician, even as he left the door open to being governor for decades on end in the same breath: “I could be the governor of Iowa for the next two decades … And I don’t want to be a career politician, but I think that’s one of the things about Iowa that we can do.”
- Lahn “explicitly defended Iowa’s lack of gubernatorial term limits” in an interview with the Des Moines Register, saying: “One of the things I like about the governor not having term limits, and I am actually in favor of term limits for most things.”
Lahn has avoided answering questions about why he chose to run for governor in Iowa and not in his home state of Kansas, where he “has actually been living” for years. His campaign “did not address questions about Lahn’s inconsistent stance on term limits or why he chose to run for governor in Iowa instead of Kansas, where term limits are imposed on the governorship.”
From Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Terra Hernandez:
“Zach Lahn’s hypocrisy is on full display. Lahn sees the Iowa governor’s office as just another place to climb the political ladder and thinks the rules should apply to everyone but himself. Kansas carpetbagger, career political operative, and now wannabe lifelong governor — that’s Zach Lahn.”
Read more from Heartland Signal here, or key points below:
- Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn frequently pitches himself to Iowa voters as a political outsider who opposes establishment norms. However, his public comments about term limits reveal a notable exception.
- While Lahn stated during a May Des Moines Register interview that he favors term limits “for most things,” he explicitly defended Iowa’s lack of gubernatorial term limits.
- “One of the things I like about the governor not having term limits, and I am actually in favor of term limits for most things. I don’t think they solve everything,” Lahn said.
- Days later on the “Barn Talk” podcast, Lahn remarked that he could serve as Iowa governor “for the next two decades.” In the same breath, Lahn contended that he does not want to be a “career politician.”
- “No, I have no interest in running for anything else. If I could be the governor of Iowa for the next two decades to turn the ship around,” Lahn said in May. “And I don’t want to be a career politician, but I think that’s one of the things about Iowa that we can do, like, is have a long-term impact.”
- Lahn’s term limit exception comes as he faces criticism for his loose connections to Iowa. Multiple outlets, including The Des Moines Register and The Daily Beast, reported on Lahn’s frequent private jet travel to Kansas. The Daily Beast reported that Lahn and his wife own a $2 million mansion in Wichita, Kansas. Lahn, who holds a pilot’s license and owns an airplane, told the Des Moines Register in April that his flights to Kansas allow him to visit the children he and his wife have from prior marriages.
- Lahn also voted in Kansas elections in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
- Capodilupo did not address questions about Lahn’s inconsistent stance on term limits or why he chose to run for governor in Iowa instead of Kansas, where term limits are imposed on the governorship.
- Lahn’s opponent, Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand, included support for imposing term limits in Iowa in his “Accountability for All” plan.
- Lahn’s staffer background contradicts outsider pitch
- Lahn’s attempt to position himself as a political outsider also conflicts with his history in political campaigning and donor networks. Lahn spent years working as a Republican staffer. His political career includes serving as deputy campaign manager for former U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) in 2011, managing U.S. Sen. Steve Daines’ (R-MT) 2012 congressional campaign in Montana …
- Lahn also maintains deep ties to major political donor operations. He previously served as Montana state director for … a conservative advocacy group.
- Lahn loaned his campaign $2.5 million before the Republican primary. Lahn’s campaign disclosures show that his largest contributions came from the Republican Governors Association’s Right Direction PAC, which donated $5 million to Lahn’s campaign.
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