New Report Highlights How Zach Lahn’s Record Undercuts His Claims He’d Fight Cancer
Pluribus News: Lahn “did not return a request for comment.”
DES MOINES – New reporting from Pluribus News details how, as cancer has become a central issue in the governor’s race, Kansas carpetbagger and career political operative Zach Lahn has no plan to address Iowa’s water quality crisis and high cancer rates. Lahn wants to “extend the status quo after nearly 10 years of Republican control,” which has downplayed and done nothing to address Iowa’s cancer crisis.
Lahn has come under fire for supporting “cuts to cancer research funding and rural healthcare … undercut[ting] Lahn’s message on fighting cancer.” He “supports a ban on vaccines developed with mRNA technology,” even as mRNA vaccines are “being studied as a potential cancer treatment.” Lahn has yet to release a real water quality plan and “stop[ped] short of linking Iowa’s cancer crisis to broader healthcare policies such as Medicaid or drug price legislation.” He also chose a running mate who voted to sweep water quality violations under the rug and “backed legal protections for pesticide manufacturers, in direct conflict with Lahn’s anti-corporate messaging.”
Lahn “did not return a request for comment,” offering no explanations for why his record puts corporate polluters ahead of Iowans.
From Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Terra Hernandez:
“Iowans need a governor who will fight for clean water, not one who takes orders from corporate interests. Kansas carpetbagger and career political operative Zach Lahn has no plan to address Iowa’s cancer crisis except to continue Kim Reynolds’ failed status quo, proving that a Lahn-Wulf administration would put polluters first and Iowa families last.”
Read more from Pluribus News here, or key points below:
- The change stems from a series of reports, starting in 2024, raising alarms about Iowa’s cancer rate and exploring potential links to environmental contaminants present at high levels in the state’s soil and water. Today, Iowa has the country’s second-highest rate of new cancer cases, trailing only Kentucky.
- “Iowans feel like a lot of lip service has been paid over the past few years, and the problem’s only gotten worse,” Konfrst said.
- Sand’s campaign has said a Lahn administration would extend the status quo after nearly 10 years of Republican control, pointing to millions of dollars in backing from national Republicans and Lahn’s past work as Montana state director for [a] conservative advocacy organization.
- Sand also notes that Lahn’s running mate, Rep. Derek Wulf, has backed legal protections for pesticide manufacturers, in direct conflict with Lahn’s anti-corporate messaging.
- Sand has also sought to tie Lahn to broader Republican healthcare policies. The campaign says in a six-figure statewide ad campaign that cuts to cancer research funding and rural healthcare — references to federal policies targeting major science agencies and the Medicaid program — undercut Lahn’s message on fighting cancer, and that Lahn’s “beliefs would even mean a ban on some life-saving cancer treatments.”
- Lahn supports a ban on vaccines developed with mRNA technology, which was used to fast-track COVID-19 vaccines and is being studied as a potential cancer treatment.
- Lahn’s campaign did not return a request for comment.
- Lahn … stops short of linking Iowa’s cancer crisis to broader healthcare policies such as Medicaid or drug price legislation.
- Sand says he has a more comprehensive plan. He released a detailed policy platform aligned with the broader Democratic legislative agenda, calling for greater transparency around manure management, expanded water quality monitoring and tax incentives for conservation practices.
- He also has pledged to end private management of the states’ Medicaid program on his first day in office, and to veto new abortion restrictions he says worsen Iowa’s physician shortage.
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