Iowa’s candidates for governor are making their final appeals to voters ahead of Tuesday’s election, with Republican Zach Lahn and Democrat Rob Sand competing to succeed Gov. Kim Reynolds, who chose not to seek reelection.
The contest is bringing different closing messages into focus. Sand, the Democratic state auditor, is pitching bipartisan leadership and urging supporters to get voters to the polls. Lahn is leaning on the Make America Healthy Again movement that helped propel him past Trump-backed Rep. Randy Feenstra in the Republican primary.
Lahn rallies MAHA supporters
The smell of Steak 'n' Shake filled the Horizon Events Center in Clive.
The chain has embraced Make America Healthy Again, replacing seed oils with American beef tallow. And at a rally put on by the movement’s political arm, Lahn supporters waited in long lines for burgers and fries.
“I am here for a very simple reason: I am not for sale,” Lahn told supporters.
Lahn’s campaign says more than a thousand people attended Wednesday’s rally with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Opening speakers framed the race as a fight for Iowans’ health against corporate influence — casting Lahn as an outsider who would challenge big agriculture and pharmaceutical companies.
“We believe in the free market, but we also understand that for a long time, a select few have gotten very rich off the backs of the health of our children,” Lahn said. “And when I am governor, I am telling you this right now. In the state of Iowa, that is over.”
Kennedy, who appeared in his personal capacity, described clean water as a public resource that polluters are taking from Iowans.
“When somebody pollutes waterways, they are stealing something that belongs to our public,” he said.
He argued that producing food without harming children or degrading soil would require someone who could listen to different perspectives and bring people together.
Lahn promises to clean up Iowa’s nitrate-polluted waterways, reduce the state’s high cancer rates, ban vaccine mandates and expand Iowa-grown school meals.
“My number one priority as your governor is to clean up our water and to stop the cancer crisis in the state of Iowa,” he said.
Democrats have accused Lahn of threatening emerging mRNA cancer treatments and backing research and rural healthcare cuts.
Lahn told reporters he supports promising cancer therapies. He distinguished individualized cancer treatments from mass-produced mRNA vaccines while reiterating his position that the COVID-19 vaccine should be removed from the market.
“I think those are great. If they're promising, great. We need them in the state for sure. But those are very individualized interventions," Lahn said. "It's not a mass-produced product like a vaccine would be. It's a therapy, and I support them."
Ankeny Republican Nola Ryan supports Lahn's anti-abortion stance, lower-tax message and school choice. MAHA connects with her farm upbringing.
“I think we need to deviate from the big ag. And I'm not against large farms as such, but we surely can diversify,” Ryan said.
Lahn’s closing pitch links preserving Iowa’s culture to safe communities and parental control over education and medical care. He argues protecting life extends beyond abortion to healthy food and water.
He urged supporters to turn out on Election Day, casting the vote as a decision about corporate power and Iowa’s future.
“We are going to send a message that Iowa is not for sale. That we are here for the next generation, and we are going to prioritize them over these groups that seek to exploit and extract from the state of Iowa,” Lahn said. “And I’m asking you for your vote and your support."
Sand closes on bipartisan message
Inside a dimly lit brewery near the University of Iowa campus Wednesday, mostly students showed up for a Sand's Get Out the Vote rally.
This includes Tim Lesnick, who wants Iowa to legalize marijuana, raise the minimum wage and clean up government.
"Corruption's a big one, of course,” Lesnick said. “I like what Sand is doing with trying to abolish the two-party system. Like he said, it's really easy to exploit that and campaign off of fear.”
Sand has pushed a bipartisan platform throughout the campaign. He said government works better when both parties have a voice.
Sand told the group of about 75 that Iowa has gone in the wrong direction under Republican control over the past decade.
“So our education system has gone from fifth in 2018 to now being in the bottom half,” Sand said. “Our economic growth is literally at the bottom. We went from 48th to now 49th in personal income growth over the last three years. We have a cancer crisis. We have a water quality crisis,” Sand said.
Sand also called out the tactics he said some politicians use to win.
“They want you to be angry at people in the other party, I don't think that's the answer. Politicians who use that method are trying to exploit us," he said. "They're trying to make us scared of our neighbors because then it's easier for them to pick our pockets."
Recent polls show Sand leading Lahn.
Iowa State University political scientist Kelly Shaw cautions predictions can be wrong. However, he said Sand has a strong campaign organization, name recognition and an edge.
“It's gonna be who can get their voters out. Democrats are energized; they have not been previously, and so they seem pretty energetic in terms of attending rallies, getting signs out,” Shaw said.
Republicans still have a numbers advantage in Iowa, where President Donald Trump easily won two years ago. But Shaw said people who don’t belong to either party will help decide the race.
Sand is trying to reach those Iowans. And he’s asking supporters to volunteer to get voters to the polls.
“Please, over the next week, take the time that you can to help us move this state in a better direction and make it not redder or bluer, but better and truer,” Sand said. “Thanks for being here, Iowa City. Appreciate you. Thanks for getting out to vote!”
Sand is counting on turning that message into a victory on Tuesday.
