Iowa GOP gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn vows to bar H‑1B hiring and curb H‑2A agricultural visas

Zach Lahn, the Republican candidate for Iowa governor, announced that he will prohibit state agencies from hiring H‑1B visa holders for white‑collar positions and criticized a House proposal to increase H‑2A seasonal farm workers. He said, “I fundamentally and completely reject the idea that America will not thrive without illegal foreign labor.”

Lahn also condemned the current administration’s decision to outsource roughly 200 state IT jobs to a firm that employs Indian workers on H‑1B visas, asserting that future contracts will favor Iowa residents. In the June primary, he narrowly defeated Trump‑endorsed Rep. Randy Feenstra, winning 38% to 37% after a comeback from an April deficit.

During his victory remarks, Lahn warned that Iowa has lost 10,000 family farms since 2000 and that hedge funds and foreign interests are inflating land prices, pushing young Iowans out of the market. He pledged to prioritize Iowa workers and “treat Iowa land like an inheritance, not a commodity.”