U.S. Congress hopeful Zach Nunn campaigns in Greenfield

GREENFIELD — Zach Nunn made a stop in Greenfield recently. He is a Republican State Senator from Altoona who plans to run against Congresswoman Cindy Axne in 2022 for a seat in the U.S. Congress.

Nunn grew up working on his family’s Century Farm, attended Drake University, flew in the Air Force as an airborn intelligence officer for three fours in Afghanistan and Iraq. He then worked at the national level in the areas of intelligence and national cyber security, before he and his wife landed in Iowa where they’re raising their family.

Nunn walked around Greenfield Nov. 12 with Adair County Republican Chair Ryan Frederick.

“We decided to run for state representative in a Democratic district as a Republican. I had East High School, North Polk, and everything in between. We won it by 12 percentage points. One of the keys is we’re Republican but we knocked on every door in that district three times,” Nunn said. “At the end of the day, people knew us, people trusted us and when we were in, people from both parties were talking to us. I think that’s why we were able to hold a Democratic district.”

Nunn did that again in his bid for state senate, winning as a Republican in a traditionally Democratic area.

Nunn still serves in the Iowa National Guard as a Squadron Commander.

Two things that Nunn says he is passionate about are what we do in Iowa and how leaders can make Washington, D.C. more like it. The other is the handling of the United States’ withdraw from Afghanistan.

“This district [for Congress, that was just redrawn] is the most competitive it’s ever been,” Nunn said. “It has a 3+ Republican lean. A couple of things that fire me up are that Washington has really forgotten the heartland [as seen in the recent $1 trillion infrastructure bill, pressure put on small businesses with mandates against employees, and tax increases].”

Nunn touted that as a state senator, he’s led “the largest tax cut in state history twice,” helped charter Americans out of Afghanistan and pushes for no mandates.

“The biggest thing is I want to hear from folks of differing view points and other sides of the aisle,” Nunn said. “This district is rural-urban district. You’ve gotta have people in Polk and Dallas counties talking to you but you’ve gotta have people in rural Iowa who have small farms talking to you, because that’s really what rural Iowa is.”

Axne announced her intentions to run for re-election recently on the program Iowa Press.