By Breitbart News Network | Created at 2026-10-03 22:26:37 | Updated at 2026-10-03 23:51:18
3 hours ago
Iowa Republican gubernatorial nominee Zach Lahn said Saturday that mobilizing Republican voters and pressing Democrat opponent Rob Sand on his policy positions would guide his campaign’s final month, while crediting Republican leadership with helping attract an announced $15 billion steel plant investment to the state.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on Breitbart News Saturday, Lahn told host Matthew Boyle that the election carries stakes beyond individual policies or economic proposals. “This is a fight for the culture of our state and our country,” he said.
Boyle opened the interview by asking about President Donald Trump’s announcement of a $15 billion steel plant in Iowa, describing it as a “huge, huge, huge development” and asking how Lahn would help get the project operating if elected governor.
“This is a huge announcement,” Lahn said. “$15 billion into an economically depressed area of the state, southeast Iowa, is going to bring manufacturing jobs, highest quality steel in America, right to Iowa.”
Lahn said Iowa secured the investment over neighboring states because of its approach to governance and business. “Illinois didn’t get it. Iowa got it because we have good, stable governance. We are very business friendly,” he said, crediting the legislature and governor with promoting that environment.
“As governor, I’m going to continue to promote business” and bring companies into Iowa, Lahn said, adding that he would place an even greater emphasis on investing in “Iowa’s homegrown businesses.”
Lahn said the plant will create “2,000 new jobs” and could affect southeastern Iowa for decades. “This is a 40-, 50-, 60-year plant that we’re looking at that’s going to change a region of the state, and I think Iowa is very, very happy to get it,” he said.
Boyle asked Lahn how important his election would be for voters who want to see the steel plant “up, operational quickly, and the jobs coming in in a big way.”
Lahn responded by criticizing Sand’s tax positions and political alliances. “My opponent is beholden to very radical people on the left,” he said. “There has not been any tax cut that Iowa has done in modern history that he’s supported. He’s criticized all of them.”
Lahn emphasized that cooperation with Trump was also necessary for the steel project, saying it “required being able to work with the president of the United States on this plan and this project.” He accused Democrats nationally of being unwilling to work with Trump “even if it would benefit their constituents.”
In Lahn’s assessment, resistance to Trump could have cost Iowa the investment. “It would have picked a state that was more friendly to the project,” he said, crediting “the past 10 years of Republican leadership” with helping bring the state to the point of securing a $15 billion investment.
Boyle asked Lahn what voters should expect at his debate against Sand on Tuesday, also mentioning a photograph Lahn had posted showing his Democrat opponent wearing a Biden-Harris face mask. “That’s not AI, by the way,” Lahn said.
Lahn replied that he intended to press Sand on positions he said the Democrat no longer addresses publicly. “The voters of Iowa deserve to understand where my opponent stands on the issues that he will not talk about anymore,” he said, citing benefits for illegal immigrants, support for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, gun control, and partial-birth abortion.
Lahn characterized Sand as “a radically liberal Democrat that is running as a moderate,” saying the debate would give voters an opportunity to examine those radical positions. “I think we’re going to have a good and lively debate,” he said. “I think it’ll be very productive.”
Boyle also asked about support from Trump and Vice President JD Vance, along with polling in the governor’s race, referencing Ann Selzer’s preelection Iowa poll in 2024. Lahn said Selzer “was off by 16 points, I believe, nearly 17 points.”
Lahn attributed current polling problems to difficulty getting Republicans to participate. “You cannot get Republicans to take the polls,” he said, contending that polls were interviewing more Kamala Harris voters than Trump voters “in a state that Donald Trump won by 13 points.”
“Just that fact alone means that you can’t trust the numbers that are coming out,” Lahn said. He also asserted that polls can be used to encourage Democrats and discourage Republicans, saying, “They want to give more hope, and they want to depress Republicans,” and comparing that effect to political betting markets.
Lahn contrasted those polling concerns with attendance at campaign events. “We’re having hundreds of people show up to town halls and rallies that we’re doing across the state,” he said.
Discussing Vance’s recent appearance in Council Bluffs, Lahn described the vice president’s speech as “very rousing” and “energetic,” saying, “The majority of it was about my race because they understand what’s at stake here.”
Lahn said he hoped Trump would also visit Iowa and help mobilize supporters. “It really is a turnout battle for Iowa,” he said, arguing that Republicans could win by achieving participation levels that are “normal for a cycle like this.”
As Boyle emphasized Republican voter registration strength, Lahn said Iowa has “over 180,000” more registered Republicans than Democrats, adding, “These are real numbers.”
Asked about his plan for the campaign’s final four weeks, Lahn pointed to direct engagement with voters. “Iowa is a retail politics state. It’s how we won the primary,” he said, describing his primary victory as “the biggest upset in the country” and predicting his general election race would be among the larger upsets.
Lahn said his primary campaign held “50, 60 town halls,” with attendance growing from eight people at the first event to between 200 and 300 at later gatherings. “You have to get in front of the people,” he said.
Although fundraising and advertising remain necessary, Lahn argued that television, radio, and mail have “a diminishing return as you get closer to the election,” particularly amid spending on Iowa’s Senate race, governor’s race, and three contested House races.
“That’s what we’re going to be doing for the last 30 days of this campaign — is getting directly in front of the people” and delivering the campaign’s message, Lahn said. He added that the state party and outside groups were “all focused on getting the vote out.”
Lahn said those organizations were committing more money and resources than ever to turnout efforts “because we just have to get Republicans to show up.”
While defending Republican leadership, Lahn also acknowledged areas in which he believes the state needs to improve. “We’ve had a Republican governor and legislature for 10 years, and I’m running on things we need to improve because there are things we need to improve,” he said.
Lahn framed the election as a question of the state’s future and quality of life. “We are fighting to preserve and protect the culture because this is not all just an economic discussion,” he said. “There’s also the quality of life. What do you want your state to look like?”
Asked whether Iowans were offended by national Democrats moving South Carolina ahead of Iowa in their presidential nominating process, Lahn responded, “Well, yes,” saying the party had become “hardly recognizable” and was run by “rich coastal elites” who “view Iowa in the Midwest with disdain.”
Lahn said Republicans had maintained Iowa’s early role because they recognize “the common sense values, the Heartland values that come from the state of Iowa, and they want to maintain that.”
When Boyle asked how listeners could help during the final weeks, Lahn recounted a personal connection to Breitbart. “When I was in college, I actually wrote for Breitbart a long time ago,” he said, adding that he knew Andrew Breitbart “fairly well.”
In reply to Boyle’s question, Lahn urged listeners with connections to Iowa to explain the election’s stakes to Iowans. “Right now, I have an opponent that’s running as a moderate, but has radically liberal views, and he’s not being honest about who he is,” he said.
“If you’re in Iowa, make sure you’re getting in touch with your friends and neighbors and getting them to vote,” Lahn said. For listeners elsewhere who have friends in the state, he added, “Let them know what’s going on.”
Lahn also pointed to the Senate contest between Republican Ashley Hinson and Democrat Josh Turek, recalling a mailer he said he received as a registered Republican. The mailer, he said, described how Turek was “going to work with Donald Trump to seal the border.”
Lahn accused Democrats of trying to persuade Republican voters that they shared their positions. “This is the type of lies that are being put out to try to fool Republicans into thinking that they’re one of them, and it’s happening all across the country,” he said.
He closed by urging listeners to vote and communicate with others about the race. “We have to make sure that we are fighting to protect the culture of our state and our country,” Lahn said.
Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
