A handful of lawmakers who represent agricultural districts are locked in tight re-election races that will determine control of the House next year. They include Iowa’s 3rd District, held by first-term GOP Rep. Zach Nunn, who’s being challenged by Lanon Baccam, a former USDA appointee with the backing of Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Issues in the race include the farm bill advanced in May by the House Ag Committee with the support of Nunn, who says he got 17 of his policy priorities included in the legislation. Nunn's challenger says the bill would shortchange the region’s farmers.
The 3rd District ranks 26th nationwide in agricultural production, according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, but its combination of urban and rural voters in some ways mirrors the national divide.
“Iowa-3 is really just a little map of the entire country,” said Nunn, describing the district in an interview with Agri-Pulse. The district includes the metropolitan area of Iowa’s capital city of Des Moines, along with rural southern and southwestern parts of the state.
“I think the big thing here is we have to make sure that this district, which is one of the fairest drawn districts in the nation, really champions what Americans are looking for,” said Nunn, a U.S. Air Force combat veteran and former state lawmaker.
Lanon Baccam speaks on the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox stage at the Iowa State Fair. Baccam, the son of Laotian immigrants, is a combat veteran who served in the National Guard. Following his service, Baccam worked at the Department of Agriculture for more than 10 years under Vilsack during both the Obama and Biden Administrations.
Baccam also worked on the presidential campaigns for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.
Baccam has attacked Nunn’s support of a full abortion ban, tagging him as an “anti-choice extremist,” and making statements that a women's health protection act will be one of his top priorities if elected. He’s also focused on the economy, saying costs are too high for working families.
House races have become more nationalized in recent years, according to House race editor Erin Covey from The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, which rates the 3rd congressional district race as leaning Republican.
“The issues that you're hearing about from candidates and seeing in campaign ads are largely the same issues that you hear about in every House district: The economy, immigration and abortion. Those are kind of the three driving issues of this election,” Covey said.
Most of both candidates' advertising has addressed those subjects.
Nunn has leaned on his national security background to advocate for stricter immigration policies and border protection. He has also focused on the benefits Republican tax policies can bring to Iowa families and the importance of the expiring provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Although Covey says the number of voters paying close attention to the farm bill and agriculture policy is relatively small, both Nunn and Baccam used part of their time on the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox during the Iowa State Fair in August to pitch their connections to rural America.
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In an interview with Agri-Pulse on the sidelines of the fair, Baccam said that “of course” 3rd District constituents have been concerned about the lack of a new farm bill, “but unfortunately with the proposal that came out of the House GOP Ag Committee, Zach Nunn is supporting a farm bill that shortchanges Midwestern farmers.”
Zach Nunn joined House Ag Committee Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson and Iowa Reps. Ashley Hinson and Randy Feenstra at a farm bill listening session during the Farm Progress Show in August.“When the commodity programs for our Southern crops like rice, cotton and peanuts are getting significantly more investment than corn and soybeans, I mean, that’s completely skewed here,” Baccam said. “Let’s make sure we actually fight for the things that farmers in Iowa need, not just what his political bosses want.”
Nunn touted his work on the House Agriculture Committee on issues such as rural infrastructure, broadband internet and the farm bill.
“We take care of our agriculture, we take care of our livestock, but we also fight back against people who would have things like puppy mills,” Nunn added, referencing Goldie’s Act, a piece of legislation he cosponsored to require USDA to have closer oversight over commercial dog breeders. It is backed by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Animal Legal Defense Fund and Animal Welfare Institute, among others.
Adding onto his theme of expanding rural infrastructure, Nunn also said that “it’s time to hold USDA accountable and move good rural housing legislation forward.”
It can “drive a future for Iowa's ag communities, both rural and urban,” he added.
Baccam focused on his upbringing in a rural community and tenure working at USDA as deputy undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural services during the Obama administration and in the Office of Communications during the Biden administration.
Both positions were under the leadership of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who was governor of Iowa for eight years from 1999 to 2007.
Vilsack and his wife, Christie, have endorsed Baccam. Christie Vilsack has even appeared in a Baccam campaign advertisement. She ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Iowa's 4th District in 2012 while her husband was ag secretary.
Baccam speaks with a veteran at the Iowa State Fair.
Covey says the Vilsacks’ endorsement gives Baccam credibility with Iowa voters and “had a huge impact on his ability to win the primary and win the Democratic nomination.” Endorsements have less impact in the general election.
Nunn downplayed the significance of the Vilsacks’ support for Baccam.
“Getting an endorsement from a very politically active secretary of agriculture? He can have it. I want the endorsement of the 87,000 farmers in Iowa,” he said.
The race has been generally civil so far, according to Dennis Goldford, emeritus professor of political science at Drake University in Des Moines.
“Thus far, it's as though they're sort of campaigning for the office independently from each other,” Goldford said. “They're emphasizing sort of standard Democratic issues or standard Republican issues. And again, a nod toward agriculture.”
Goldford was one of Nunn’s college professors at Drake University and has followed his career as a member of the Iowa state legislature. However, Goldford said he has not had personal contact with Nunn since he was a student.
Goldford noted the relatively large volume of TV advertising around the race. He said a majority are backed by PAC funding, a reflection of the outside resources being poured into an important race that could determine the makeup of the House after the November election.
Nunn has been portrayed as a “moderately conservative, traditional Republican wanting to try to work with everyone on a bipartisan basis to meet the needs of his district. … But another message is the kind of MAGA Trump message about illegal immigration. So he's got the ads to suggest he's got a foot both in traditional Republican conservatism and MAGA Trumpism,” Goldford said.
The demographics of Iowa’s 3rd District and Baccam’s agriculture background would make him a natural addition to the House Agriculture Committee, if elected. Baccam said that “no question, protecting the conservation programs” would be one of his top priorities, along with defending nutrition assistance programs.
“The conservation programs never have enough funding. They’re oversubscribed every single time,” Baccam told Agri-Pulse. “There are a lot more people eligible for those programs than are for commodity programs, and so let’s make sure we also fund those programs so that people can actually put conservation practices in place on their operations.”
Baccam also praised the Biden administration’s Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities initiative, citing what he sees as opportunities to open markets for farmers and ranchers and diversify income streams.
Iowa’s 1st District is another race to watch. Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ race against Democrat Christina Bohannan is rated by The Cook Political Report as “lean Republican.”
Miller-Meeks was originally elected by only six votes in 2020 against Democrat Rita Hart.
Covey said it was obvious incumbent Miller-Meeks lost some of her GOP base in the primary and could lose more in the November election.
“There is a segment of Republican voters who don't like Miller-Meeks largely because they're to the right of her, particularly on social issues,” Covey said. “It's a difficult thing to do, but Bohannan, if she's kind of leaning into more populist kinds of messaging in certain parts of the district, could be the way to persuade Republican voters who were going to vote for Trump on the top of the ticket.”
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