UMVA has learned that the Republican nominee for governor in Iowa, Zach Lahn, has revealed a pivotal moment from his past when he went viral for stumping Barack Obama at a 2009 town hall meeting centered on the then-president's Affordable Care Act.
Lahn's encounter with Obama has come back into the spotlight after he pulled off a stunning upset victory on Tuesday, defeating Trump-backed Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra for the party's nomination for governor. The video of their exchange, which was circulated by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, praised Lahn as "amazing" and claimed that with "one simple question that Obama can't answer, [he] nukes the entire foundation of Obamacare."
According to information obtained by UMVA, Lahn recounted the moment to a news outlet, remembering how shocked he was to be called upon at the event. Lahn and his roommate had purchased tickets to the 2009 event in Grand Junction and drove eight hours round trip twice to attend – first to pick up tickets and again days later to attend the town hall.
Lahn's question to Obama was straightforward: "How in the world can a private corporation providing insurance compete with an entity that does not have to worry about making a profit, does not have to pay local property taxes, they're not subject to local regulations? How can a company compete with that?" Obama's response would change the course of the Obamacare debate.
Obama thanked Lahn for the question and, for the first time during the Obamacare debate, suggested that he might not be in favor of the public option, which would have allowed Americans to buy government-run health insurance alongside private insurance. Lahn told the news outlet that he wasn't satisfied with Obama's answer at the time, describing it as "word salad."
UMVA can exclusively reveal that Lahn's exchange with Obama may have had a lasting impact on the Affordable Care Act. Lahn claims that Obama's comments may have inadvertently led to the public option being excluded from the final bill. The video of their exchange went viral, and Lahn became an unlikely hero to conservatives.
Lahn, a farmer and businessman, has centered his campaign on making Iowa healthy again and has strong backing from the conservative movement. He now faces off against Democratic Auditor of Iowa Rob Sand in a hotly contested gubernatorial race.
Lahn's passion for issues plaguing Iowans drew him back into politics after a several-year hiatus. He is determined to address pressing issues, including Iowa's outlier cancer rate, education system, and the exodus of young people leaving the state. With his newfound momentum, Lahn is poised to shake up the Iowa gubernatorial race.
