Iowa Republican governor nominee Zach Lahn says he is a self-made businessman, but his past shows deep ties to the wealthy Koch family. Lahn campaigned on financial independence after lending his campaign $2.5 million. Now, he faces Democrat Rob Sand in a race that could flip the state’s top office.
In his campaign for governor, Zach Lahn has pitched himself as a self-made businessman. His backstory is more complicated.
If there is one thing that Zach Lahn, the Republican nominee for governor of Iowa, definitely does not want to talk about, it's his connection to the Koch family.
To hear Mr. Lahn tell it, he is a self-made businessman, a father of seven and a farmer running against powerful corporate interests. He has campaigned on his financial independence, pointing to the $2.5 million he lent himself during the primary.
He rode that cash and a right-leaning brand of prairie populism to the nomination, defeating President Trump's preferred pick in the primary. Now he is facing Rob Sand, the Democratic state auditor, in a race that Democrats view as one of their best shots to flip a governorship.
But there is a more complicated tale of Mr. Lahn's rise that is interwoven with the Kochs, one of America's richest and most influential political dynasties.
The story includes years of work for Koch-funded endeavors, a divorce and a new marriage to a former Koch who had just received a sizable divorce settlement of her own. It involves an expanding investment portfolio -- including a million-dollar stake in a manufacturer of high-tech penis rings -- accusations of carpetbagging and a private plane that has shuttled back and forth to Kansas with two words emblazoned under the wings: "Iowa First."
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