Democratic congressional candidate Lanon Baccam, left, and Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn answered questions from high school students during a 3rd congressional district debate hosted by KCCI in Waukee Oct. 8, 2024. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn sparred with Democratic challenger Lanon Baccam in a debate Tuesday over claims made in campaign ads they said were false or misleading.
The debate, hosted by KCCI at Northwest High School in Waukee, covered a variety of issues including reproductive health care, agriculture, immigration and education. Many of these issues have been brought up in campaign ads running in 3rd District media markets in the weeks ahead of the 2024 general election.
One of the major points of discussion was the candidates’ positions on abortion. Several Baccam campaign ads have highlighted a moment during a 2022 Republican primary debate when Nunn raised his hand when the candidates were asked if they supported a full abortion ban without exceptions.
In addition to saying Nunn supported a full ban on abortion, Baccam pointed to the former Iowa state senator’s support for a version of Iowa’s six-week abortion ban that went into effect earlier this year. The so-called “fetal heartbeat” law prohibits most abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, typically around six weeks of gestation, with some exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
“The abortion ban you have in this state — before most women even know they’re pregnant — is Zach Nunn’s abortion ban,” Baccam said. “He … laid the groundwork for this when he was in the state legislature, and what we have today is exactly what he wanted. … He even wants to go further on this issue, supporting a national abortion ban without exceptions, even in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother. Folks, this is far out of step with where Iowans are on this issue.”
But Nunn said that when supporting the six-week abortion ban as a state lawmaker, he also supported exceptions.
“Let me be crystal clear where I stand and have stood: I’m pro-life,” Nunn said. “I voted for exceptions for rape, incest and certainly, for the health of the mother. I believe strongly that we should not have a federal abortion ban and take that away from Iowans.”
Speaking with reporters after the event, Nunn said his campaign has always been “pro-women’s health,” and that the campaign ads are intended to “put a lie out there” to voters.
“We’ve supported exceptions for the health of the mother, rape and incest,” Nunn said. “Equally, I think we need to ask real questions about why we couldn’t get transparent answers from my opponent tonight, and that’s disappointing, because Iowans deserve real answers when making the hard choice of who they’re going to vote for.”
Baccam was questioned during the debate about ads that claim he removed social media posts supporting former President Joe Biden’s 2024 candidacy, his work on the president’s 2020 Iowa campaign and criticism of former President Donald Trump. While he first answered the question that he was “honored” to have the opportunity to work at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, debate moderator Jodi Long followed up to confirm if he did delete those posts.
“I don’t have a recollection of what all those posts are, but people delete tweets and they clean up social media — that stuff happens all the time. I’m not hiding with any of that,” Baccam said. “And as matter of fact, it seems like everyone knows about them now.”
Baccam also pushed back against Nunn’s claims that he was he was not being “truthful” or “transparent” about his social media posts by saying that the U.S. representative was not being truthful about his support for Project 2025 proposals. Project 2025, an initiative published by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, is characterized by some opponents as a means to allow a second Trump administration to quickly implement a controversial GOP agenda.
“To set the record straight, those claims are absolutely false,” Nunn said when asked if he supported Project 2025. “I’ve never signed up for that. I’ve never even read Project 2025. As far as I understand, it’s a Democrat talking point.”
But Baccam said that Nunn’s voting record has shown his support for the project and ideas it supports on issues like abortion and education.
“The Project 2025 is already happening in the state with what he’s already done with abortion,” Baccam said. “Project 2025 goes even further with it, and these are positions that the Congressman has supported. … Beyond that, there are other components of which the Congressman supports, whether it’s in Project 2025 or not. He wants to eliminate the Department of Education, that’s another piece of Project 2025.”
Nunn won the seat in 2022, defeating then-incumbent U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, a Democrat in a midterm election that turned Iowa’s U.S. congressional delegation fully Republican. Before his win, Nunn served in the Iowa Senate and House, in addition to serving in the U.S. Air Force and Iowa National Guard.
In addition to working at the USDA and for Biden’s 2020 Iowa campaign, Baccam also served in the Iowa National Guard, and where his unit was deployed 9/11 to Afghanistan.
Nunn is leading in polls, with the September Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll showing that a Republican candidate was favored by 8 percentage points over a Democrat. The poll showed 52% of likely voters in the district saying they prefer a Republican candidate, 44% saying they prefer a Democrat and 4% who said they are not sure.
However, some election forecasters, like the Cook Political Report, label the race as a “toss-up.”
Baccam said between now and Election Day, Nov. 5, his plan is to “talk to voters, over and over and over again.”
“This is the most incredible thing we have: A state full of people who care so deeply about their communities,” Baccam said. “And as I travel the 3rd District, I hear clearly issues that matter to them. Women’s rights matter to them, making sure that we have a public education system that we can be proud of … we can do stuff like that again, as long as we start working together.”
Nunn said that while there are some predictions that the race has become more competitive in recent months, he believes “hard work will always outpace however much money,” claiming that high spending in the race has largely come from outside the state.
“But shoe leather alone is one of the ways that I think that not only do we win the 3rd District, but we win it decisively,” Nunn said. “Because we’re speaking to Republicans, we’re knocking on doors of independents, and we’re fighting to win, you know, those moderate Democrats who are saying we want somebody who actually has led with accomplishment.”