Iowa Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn and Iowa Republican Congressional candidate Chris McGowan listen as US Vice President JD Vance speaks during a Republican National Committee’s Midterm Rally at the Mid-America Center, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, US, September 18, 2026. Anna Moneymaker/Pool via REUTERS
The debate in the Iowa gubernatorial race at St. Ambrose University on Tuesday went off the rails as GOP candidate Zach Lahn began fighting with the moderators during a questioning segment that was supposed to be about agriculture policy.
Lahn, a businessman, took offense at repeated jabs from his opponent, Democratic State Auditor Rob Sand, over him allegedly living a luxury lifestyle out-of-state in Kansas, which has led to Sand dubbing him a "part-time Iowan" in campaign ads.
"The biggest lie that he's said about me is what he's been talking about, about where I live," said Lahn. "He's called me a part-time Iowan. Rob Sand is a part-time auditor. I want everyone at home right now to pull out their phones and their computer. Go to NoShowRob.com. A whistleblower came forward to us, and what they did is they found after a number of years—"
"All right, Mr. Lahn, we're running up on time," a moderator cut in.
Lahn continued trying to talk over him, prompting the moderator to add, "Mr. Lahn, we need to move on here."
Lahn refused. "There are no time limits. We agreed to that in the moderation. If I'm going 4-on-1, I'm happy to do it. I'm not intimidated by that either." He then continued to plug the website and said that Sand has missed "50 percent" of days in office.
"Mr. Lahn, no," said the moderator. "We have covered this topic, and you are going off-topic ... we were talking about agriculture, and then you started talking about misconceptions again. We need to stay on topic. We have less than 15 minutes in this debate; we need to move on to our other topic."