The following is the transcript of the interview with Zach Lahn, Iowa GOP nominee for governor, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Oct. 4, 2026. MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We turn now to the Republican running for governor of Iowa, Zach Lahn.
He joins us from Belle Plaine. IOWA REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE ZACH LAHN: Good morning, Margaret. MARGARET BRENNAN: We look at diesel prices.
They're north of six bucks. President Trump's trade war with Canada and China have made things expensive for farmers. You know that well in Iowa.
Are the president's policies a headwind for your party? ZACH LAHN: I think when you talk about what's going on with affordability for farmers, and by the way, this is something we launched our campaign on in the beginning. You have to take a step back and really understand what's been going on for decades in the agriculture industry, where we've seen consolidation after consolidation of businesses taking choice and competition away from farmers, we've reached monopoly stages there.
And now what we're seeing with some of the increased prices on diesel is kind of just another one of these pieces that's adding up to that. And we've been focused, you know, in the state on how do we cut the gas tax and other priorities to help farmers have more affordable fuel when they go into harvest. So this has been a part of our campaign since the very beginning, and I really think farmers understand that for a long time they have been treated as price takers, and really the deck has been stacked against them.
And now when you add in the higher cost of diesel, we really have a problem. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well - you just mentioned there big AG. You are campaigning with a promise to break up big AG monopolies.
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