As debate season got underway in the Iowa gubernatorial race, one question seemed to enliven and, in some way, unify the candidates.
“What immediate, specific steps would you take to combat the cancer crisis in Iowa?” the moderator asked Democrat Rob Sand and Republican Zach Lahn, who both said it was a core issue for their campaigns — before accusing each other of not doing enough.
Two weeks later, high cancer rates in Iowa and their potential links to agricultural pollution were brought up again during a debate in the Senate race.
The subject would have been unimaginable just a few years ago Iowa, the largest corn and pork producing state in the country.
But the role of “Big Ag” has become a political lightning rod amid what is being described as a public health crisis. Iowa suffers from the second highest cancer rate in the United States and is one of three states where the rate is increasing.
For the first time, combating the environmental causes of cancer was included in the Iowa campaign platforms for both parties. Republicans and Democrats from top to bottom have taken a stand pledging to tackle this issue.
In the governor’s race, Lahn, a farmer-turned-candidate backed by the Republican Party’s “Make America Healthy Again” wing, and Democrat Sand, a moderate lawyer, campaigned on promises to clean up water and regulate chemicals.
In the tight In the Senate race, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek have also grappled with the issue, both calling this month for more funding to ensure safe drinking water.
This year, nearly $30 million was spent to air more than 100 campaign ads in Iowa that mentioned cancer, according to AdImpact data. In the last midterm elections in 2022, there was only one, supported by just under $200,000.
“Nine months ago, no candidate was talking about it except me, and now literally every candidate is talking about it in their campaign,” said Chris Jones, a longtime water quality advocate and now the Democratic candidate for state agriculture secretary.
Yet both sides face the delicate challenge of balancing criticism of “Big Ag” practices with Iowa’s economic dependence on the sector. On the left, Jones supports Democrats haven’t been bold enough to take on Big Ag, ceding ground to Republicans energized by MAHA. He went further than any of the other candidates running in calling for more regulation and a move away from reliance on corn and soybean production.
“You have an issue here that should be a natural issue for Democrats: a clean environment,” he told CNN. But the party was “too chicken to address this issue,” he said.
But divisions within the Republican Party are undermining its credibility, says Sara Schreiber of the League of Conservation Voters, with some MAHA voters disillusioned with Trump’s broken promises for their movement.
“They want elected officials to be sensitive” to their cause – first and foremost health and the environment – “and they won’t just be partisan,” she said.
The Iowa Department of Health attributes much of the skyrocketing cancer rates to several lifestyle factors: obesity, alcohol and smoking chief among them. But he acknowledged that environmental exposures could play a role, inflaming Iowans who see cancer in their community.
Environmental advocates and some farmers highlight nitrate concentration the thousands of tons of livestock manure flowing into state waters are the main culprit.
A state cancer report showing cancer rates in Iowa — rising the fastest in the nation — “was a real game changer,” for average Iowans, said Zach Smith, a farmer and founding member of the Lobe Rangers, an advocacy group that campaigns for stronger government action against environmental toxins.
“This wave of momentum and energy has arrived. But we really need to turn it into something meaningful with real legislation,” said Smith, an independent voter. “That’s what interests us: getting the public mobilized enough to be ready to vote.”
The fact that the state Republican Party has emphasized environmental issues in this election speaks to both the perceived magnitude of the problem and the evolution of political coalitions.
“It used to be kind of a liberal, pro-tree type thing,” James said. Hepp, another founder of the Lobe Rangers and a Republican. “There was this stigma that if you spoke to any environment you were a tree advocate, but now I think you’re just an informed citizen trying to do what’s best.”
Many Iowans who spoke to CNN attributed the momentum to the MAHA movement, which threw its support behind Lahn, propelling his surprise primary victory over Trump-backed Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra.
MAHA Action, a political advocacy group led by Tony Lyons, a longtime Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ally and book publisher, has invested $1.5 million in Lahn’s campaign and boasts that it will be the PAC’s top backer in 2026.
“MAHA was the first to believe in Zach Lahn, and Iowa Republicans agreed with us,” Lyons said in a statement. “November is when we prove we can win.”
Yet there is distrust of the party’s commitment. Lahn has had to battle Republican Party action in Washington, where the Trump administration has ordered increased domestic production of pesticides and repealed a host of environmental regulations.
“I was one of the first people to say it was not a good thing to sign this executive order,” on increasing pesticide production in the United States, Lahn told CBS’s “Face the Nation” this month. “I think if we could give the president some advice on this, he would understand this better.”
But David Murphy, a MAHA-aligned Democrat who supported RFK Jr.’s presidential bid, says he is skeptical of Lahn because of the disappointing Republican record on MAHA under Trump.
“I fundamentally think the Trump administration and the Republicans have wasted a major opportunity that RFK Jr. supported,” said Murphy, a fifth-generation Iowan who now works on Jones’ agriculture secretary campaign.
In one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races, allies of Turek — born with spina bifida linked to his father’s exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam — raised the issue to attack his Republican opponent.
“Across America, cancer rates are going down, but in Iowa they are going up. As a doctor, I can’t ignore what’s happening,” says Dr. Selden Spencer of Huxley, Iowa, in an ad from a Democratic super PAC with nearly $3 million spent on air time since September.
He then criticizes Hinson for accepting campaign contributions from accused polluters.
Hinson’s campaign did not respond to the allegations in the ad when asked. But this week, she joined Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten of Michigan to introduce legislation to improve access to early cancer screenings.
“So many Iowa families have been touched by cancer, including mine. The increasing rates of cancer in Iowa are unacceptable and we must do everything we can to reverse this trend,” Hinson wrote on social media.
Republicans are also grappling with internal fractures caused by the MAHA movement, when pro-business and public health interests collide.
One of the main points of contention is glyphosate, a herbicide commonly known as RoundUp. While many Iowans believe the nitrate levels in manure cause health problems, there are significant differences on the herbicide between farmers and MAHA activists, who say it also leads to cancer rates across the country.
“The reality is that we have all been widely exposed to glyphosate,” Smith said, “like many farmers.” Disagreement over the chemical has created a dividing line that has distanced farmers — many of whom say it is necessary to ensure the safety of millions of crops throughout each agricultural season — from MAHA’s broader message, he said.
The science on glyphosate and the health risks is far from definitive. The Environmental Protection Agency is undergoing a routine review of its safety this year, but the problem has been exacerbated by Kennedy, who has a history of fighting widespread use of the pesticide.
Reflecting internal divisions, Republican nominee for Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig criticized Lahn, his party’s candidate for governor, on the subject.
“It’s more complex than some people make it out to be, and I think some people have decided it’s a political issue. And I think that can be very dangerous,” he said in August.
Amid fissures on the right, Democrats are looking into the issue. It is “It’s not surprising that one of the strongest MAHA movements emerged in Iowa given the incidence of cancer there, said Lauren French of the Senate Majority PAC, the Democratic super PAC behind the ads in…
Gn Health
