Todays News

‘We are here to preserve the United States of America’

GOP pols, candidates gather at Reinig Center to support gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn

TOLEDO -- With the midterm election less than a week away, a who's who of local, state and federal Republican legislators and candidates for office converged at the Reinig Center in Toledo on Wednesday afternoon for a meet and greet event in support of the party's gubernatorial nominee, Zach Lahn, who spoke for just over 20 minutes before shaking hands and heading to Des Moines for a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) rally with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that evening.

State Rep. Dean Fisher (R-Montour) introduced several of the luminaries in the audience, which included State Sen. Annette Sweeney (R-Iowa Falls), District 76 House candidate Matt Reisetter of Hudson, Tama County Supervisor David Turner, Tama County Attorney Brent Heeren, Tama County Sheriff Casey Schmidt, U.S. House candidate Joe Mitchell, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, Lahn and his Lt. Gov. nominee Derek Wulf.

Mitchell, the first speaker, thanked Fisher for being the first legislator to endorse his candidacy and called the representative, who is up for re-election this year against Democrat Berleen Wobeter, the most conservative legislator in the House. The former state representative and real estate developer called his opponent, Democrat Lindsay James, a proponent of "Portland values" in reference to her Oregon hometown.

He then turned his focus to Lahn's opponent, Rob Sand, calling him "a huge d-bag" who disingenuously pretends to be a moderate opposed to the two-party system while supporting Democrats up and down the ballot. Mitchell also criticized Sand's wealth by noting that he resides in a South of Grand mansion in Des Moines, drives a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon and flies in a private jet to a luxurious Aspen home when he isn't on the campaign trail.

Mitchell then introduced Grassley, the longest-serving current U.S. Senator in the country, and invited him to speak as the final warm-up act ahead of Lahn. Grassley pointed to the state's history and budget woes under its last two Democratic governors, Tom Vilsack and Chet Culver, as the primary reason to elect Lahn. He credited the GOP for reducing state income and corporate taxes, eliminating retirement and inheritance taxes and working to reduce property taxes.

"I think it's pretty clear that we don't want to take a chance on another four years, eight years or 12 years of another Democrat governor. We can't have that," Grassley said. "This is why Barbara and I, two weeks ago, voted for Zach Lahn for governor because she and I have sat down and looked this situation over, and we've come to the conclusion that these well-running Republican administrations under Branstad and Reynolds is pretty smoothly running, and we don't need any sand in the gears."

Finally, it was Lahn's turn as he noted that he was only about 20 minutes from his farm near Belle Plaine and drove through Tama-Toledo often on the campaign trail. In fact, his first town hall after winning the GOP primary was held at the Tama Civic Center in July. Fresh off of his third and final debate against Sand in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday night, Lahn shifted his focus to his opponent's "radical" ideas and compared him to Senate candidates like Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and James Talarico in Texas.

"I know my opponent stands in the same place. I know that. He just hasn't had to be in the legislature to take those stances," Lahn said. "I think there are good people in the Democrat party, but the leadership of the elected officials has been taken over by a radical ideology."

He then returned to one of the cornerstones of his campaign -- protecting the culture of the state -- and invoked policies enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic as a prime example of the left's attempt to undermine that culture. Lahn criticized former President Barack Obama for his pledge to "fundamentally transform" the country upon his election in 2008.

"We are not here to fundamentally transform the United States of America. We are here to preserve the United States of America. That's why we're here," he said.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), he added, are simply "saying the quiet part out loud" and promoting the interests of the collective over the individual. Lahn called out Sand, the current state auditor, for attempting to access the private medical records of Iowans during the pandemic, and said that was the real reason the state legislature restricted his powers despite claims to the contrary.

Lahn's goals, he told the crowd, are to solve Iowa's cancer crisis, keep kids in the state, save family farms and make Iowa's public schools the best in the nation. The solution to the latter problem, he said, is not simply throwing more money at the problem but innovating and focusing on apprenticeships and mastery-based learning as opposed to teaching to standardized tests.

"You know who wants this the most? Teachers. Teachers want the ability to meet the needs of their students, and they have so much bureaucracy, so much red tape that's been put into the education system because the system is set up not for the child. The system is set up for the system," he said.

Funding should also be targeted toward students with behavioral issues, but the biggest change he suggested was to the history curriculum.

"If you want to destroy a culture, destroy their stories," Lahn said. "Make them ashamed of where they come from. Make them believe the people who came here before them were bad people."

He recounted the story of his great-great-great grandfather's journey to the U.S. and decision to enlist in the Union Army less than a decade later.

As Lahn wrapped up his speech, he disputed the idea of a "blue wave" and felt that it would crash into a "red wall" in the state of Iowa to a round of applause from the crowd of around 50 people. Invoking the murder of his friend Charlie Kirk just over a year ago, he implored the audience to ignore media prognostications about the election and vote for Republicans up and down the ballot.

"We have to remember that we're here for something much deeper than one election cycle. We're here because we want to pass something down to the next generation, as was passed down to us, by the way," he said. "I think we need to remind people why we're here... If we give ground right now, we're going to lose a lot of the progress that we have made, as Senator Grassley just said, a tremendous amount."

In conclusion, he asked the audience to prove that Iowa can withstand difficult political headwinds, keep Republicans in power and protect its culture. He also referenced his seemingly improbable primary victory after the presumptive favorite, Rep. Randy Feenstra, massively outspent him, and he was still a relative unknown.

"I'm gonna tell you right now. I truly believe that this governor's race in Iowa is gonna be seen as one of the biggest upsets in the entire country because I believe you guys are gonna show up," Lahn said. "My promise to you is that I'm gonna work to make Iowa the best place to raise a family, to build a farm, start a business, to pass something down to the next generation just like it was passed down to us.That's my promise to you."

Contact Robert Maharry at (641) 753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.