Zach Lahns residency history and Rob Sands party come under fire in first Iowa governor debate

Republican Zach Lahn and Democrat Rob Sand repeatedly returned to one topic over the course of their first debate Tuesday night in the race to be Iowa’s next governor: questions over Lahn’s residency history in the state.Sand, the Iowa state auditor, and Lahn, a businessman, met in Davenport as they run to succeed retiring Republican Gov.Kim Reynolds in an unusually competitive race for a state that has trended to the right in recent years.

Iowa has not had a Democrat in the governor’s mansion since Chet Culver was defeated in 2010, and Sand is the only Democrat currently elected statewide.While Sand has cast himself as an independent-minded candidate, Lahn labeled him a “radical liberal” and “career politician” who supports liberal positions on taxes and immigration.As the two men sparred over tax rates, economic growth, addressing the state’s cancer crisis and other issues on KWQC-TV, both repeatedly referenced the controversy over Lahn’s reported ties to Kansas, which include public records showing he voted there in the 2018, 2020, and 2022 before registering in Iowa in 2024.Lahn responded Tuesday to reports that he still frequently flies to a second home in Kansas.

“I’m a sixth-generation Iowan.I live in Iowa today.

I have lived in Iowa.Rob has been lying about this, and the issue is, I have a blended family, and my kids split time.” he said.The subject first arose in a conversation about education.

Sand advocated for increasing teacher salaries and better oversight of the use of public funding, while Lahn called for stronger auditing of the school voucher system and limiting the program to lower-income families.“I want to be the biggest advocate for public school kids in the state,” Lahn said.“I don’t think you’re going to be the biggest advocate for public school students over a guy who sends his kids there,” Sand responded.“When you were running advertisements saying that Marxists have hijacked the curriculum in Iowa...