RFK Jr. headlines Des Moines MAHA rally for Iowa Republican Zach Lahn before midterms

Mixed · 2Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. headlined a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on the evening of Wednesday 28 October, to boost Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn before the 3 November midterm elections. 1 2 Mixed · 2The Washington Examiner reported that the event was organised by the MAHA Action PAC; Newsweek, in a preview written before the event, called the organiser MAHA PAC. Besides Lahn, Kennedy and House candidate Joe Mitchell, speakers included Florida Surgeon General Joe Ladapo, and the Examiner also named Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. 2 1 Mixed · 2Lahn faces Democrat Rob Sand, the state auditor, for the open seat of Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is not running again. Sand has led in polls; the Examiner put his lead at 6.2 percentage points in a RealClearPolitics average of October polls, and said Lahn has trailed since mid-September. 1 2

Centre · 1Newsweek said Sand has led since the primaries, even in Republican polling, and that Iowa has not elected a Democratic governor since Chet Culver in 2006. 1 Right · 1Lahn won his primary without an endorsement from President Donald Trump, but the Examiner said support from the MAHA Action PAC tipped him over the edge. Its president, Tony Lyons, said of Lahn's poll numbers: "I think he was losing then, and he's losing now, but he's going to win in the end." 2 Right · 1Kennedy, who the Examiner said appeared in a personal capacity rather than as a Trump administration official, praised Lahn as someone "rooted in those soils" and said children have a right to drink water without fear of cancer. He spent much of a 30-minute speech tying MAHA to spirituality and nature. 2

Right · 1Lahn said his top priority as governor would be to "clean up our water and to stop the cancer crisis," and said that "a select few have gotten very rich off the backs of the health of our children." He called MAHA goals such as curbing pollution, removing COVID-19 vaccines from the market and improving school lunches "pro-life" issues. Lahn and MAHA figures blame Iowa's cancer rate on nitrates in water and pesticide exposure; the Examiner said Lahn has linked his father's non-Hodgkin lymphoma to glyphosate. 2 Right · 1Calley Means, who the Examiner said quit as a White House health policy adviser last week after clashing priorities with other senior advisers, said Lahn could balance farm interests with public health. Zen Honeycutt of Moms Across America also praised Lahn. 2 Centre · 1Newsweek framed healthcare as a major midterm issue in Iowa: Democrats argue Medicaid cuts, rising costs and rural care shortages leave residents struggling. An Emerson poll of 650 likely voters on 5-6 October put the economy first at 42%, healthcare second at 18%, threats to democracy at 10% and education at 8%; Emerson's Spencer Kimball said voters prioritising healthcare or democracy break for Democrats by double digits. 1

Centre · 1Newsweek noted that Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, who is polling neck-and-neck with Democrat Josh Turek, was absent from the lineup and that it was unclear whether she was invited; it had asked MAHA PAC and the campaigns for comment. Trump rallied for Hinson a week earlier and is due back in Iowa on 1 November. 1