The Democratic candidate for Iowa Governor Rob Sand is absolutely right to keep hammering a quote from his Republican challenger Zach Lahn. And if Sand is as politically savvy as I believe he is, he’ll repeat it every day between now and Election Day.
In a May interview with the Des Moines Register, Lahn was answering a question about how much time he spends in Kansas, where he has children in Wichita. Lahn explained that he has a blended family and uses his personal airplane to fly back and forth.
Then came the line Sand immediately recognized as political gold:
“But if I’m elected governor, it would be a different arrangement, and we’d work it out. Because, you know, we’d be in Iowa as much as humanly possible.” (Emphasis is mine.)
Within two days of the June primary, Sand had a :30 ad up on statewide television. Showing video of Lahn in the cockpit of his plane, the ad says, in part, “Turning Iowa around will be a full-time job. But Zach Lahn isn’t even a full-time Iowan. Lahn lives, voted, and hit it rich in Kansas.” The ad then quotes Lahn as saying that if elected, he’d “be in Iowa as much as humanly possible.”
The ad closes with a devastatingly simple line: “But you can’t be a full-time governor if you’re a part-time Iowan.”
Sand also dropped the Lahn quote multiple times in post-primary TV interviews on local stations and on MSNOW. With a shrug and a knowing smile, Sand observes, “Most of us just live here.”
Sand hammering home Lahn’s quote is straight from the Republican playbook in recent years.
I first noticed it being used when Republican Joni Ernst first ran for U.S. Senate in 2014. Her campaign took a quote from Democratic opponent Bruce Braley and hit him over the head with it for six months. When Braley first said it, I thought, okay, this is a one- or two-day story. But Ernst turned it into a six-month campaign theme.
Braley, a lawyer, told a private fundraiser for lawyers in Texas, that it would be better to elect him, so Democrats could control the Senate and its all-important Judiciary Committee.
“Or you might have a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school, never practiced law, serving as the next chair of the Senate Judiciary. Because if Democrats lose the majority, Chuck Grassley will be the next chair of the Senate Judiciary.”
Republicans framed the quote as an insult not only to their revered icon Grassley, but as an insult to Iowa farmers. Ernst demanded Braley apologize to Grassley “and every other farmer in Iowa.”
The attack never stopped. Ernst and Republican allies repeated the quote endlessly in speeches, interviews, mailers, and television ads. Braley never escaped it and never fully recovered politically.
The irony, of course, is that Braley was right. Ernst won in 2014. Republicans took back the Senate. And farmer Grassley has been a complete disaster as Senate Judiciary Committee chair – stealing a U.S. Supreme Court seat from President Obama, rushing through the Amy Coney Barrett nomination in a mere month, and subserviently backing every awful Trump nominee like Pam Bondi and Kash Patel.
Republicans used the same tactic during Ernst’s 2020 re-election campaign, concocting a story about Democrat Theresa Greenfield evicting tenants from a strip mall, when the facts were that Greenfield was simply doing her job for the landlord, who wanted to remodel the mall. Ernst beat up Greenfield for six months - making her seem like Cruella de Vil.
That relentless attack is exactly what Rob Sand needs to do with the Lahn quote. Don’t let Iowans forget it.
What Lahn said is so damaging because Iowans don’t have a lot of affection for Kansas. I mean, which Iowa State fan thinks it’s a good idea to trust somebody from Kansas? Cyclone fans, let’s take a poll.
I rest my case.
Kidding aside, the Kansas connection also carries political baggage. Many Iowans remember Kansas as the state that became a national cautionary tale after deep Republican tax cuts led to severe revenue shortfalls and painful reductions in public services. Iowa’s own tax-cutting trajectory has prompted similar debates about long-term budget stability and government funding.
That comparison writes itself.
Rob Sand needs to keep Lahn’s nine words “we’d be in Iowa as much as humanly possible” front and center. Every TV ad. Every mailing. Every internet ad. Every interview he gives.
Some voters may grow tired of hearing it. That’s beside the point.
Modern campaigns aren’t won by making a message once. They’re won by repeating it until voters who don’t closely follow politics know it by heart. Republicans have understood that for years. Subtlety doesn’t cut it.
If Iowa Republicans have taught Democrats anything, it’s that repetition works.
See the very latest roundup of columns from the Iowa Writers Collaborative.
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