Zach Lahn says Iowa comes first. We decided to check the work.
Iowa First Check follows the public record behind Lahn's campaign for governor: where he shows up, whether voters and reporters can question him, where an aircraft linked to him travels, what public records say about his residency and how his published plans compare with Rob Sand's.
We have a point of view and no interest in hiding it. We think Lahn's record deserves a lot more scrutiny than it has received. But our opinion does not get to outrun the evidence. We link the records, explain what the data cannot prove and publish the underlying files whenever we can.
Vote for whoever you please. Just look at the record first.
For nearly a decade, Iowa Republicans have controlled the governor's office and both chambers of the Legislature. They have had the power to write the laws, set the budget and shape state government. They are entitled to take credit for what worked. They also own what did not.
Iowa First Check is built on a simple rule: Power comes with responsibility. We compare political claims with public records and show our work so Iowans can decide whether the sales pitch holds up.
The aircraft: tail number N512MM, a 2006 Piper PA-46-500TP "Meridian" (single engine, turboprop, 6 seats). FAA registry records list the owner as Buckeye Creek Ventures LLC, based in Belle Plaine, IA — the same town as Lahn's documented family property. You can track this aircraft's whereabouts yourself, in real time, at globe.adsbexchange.com.
Candidate Quiz
Aircraft Tracker
Public Events
The map below shows which candidate has held more reported campaign events in each Iowa county. Red counties = Lahn held more events there. Blue counties = Sand held more events there. Gold = they're tied. White = neither candidate has held reported events there yet.
Hover over any county to see the actual events, dates, and candidate. Keep in mind: this tracks official campaign visits reported by the candidates' own sources or press coverage. Lahn's events may not have been publicly promoted ahead of time. Sand's focus on formal town halls means most of his events follow a structured format. This is a measure of engagement, not necessarily a measure of which candidate is "better" — you decide what matters to you.
Residency Record
Iowa's Constitution sets a two-year requirement. The public record leaves fair questions about when Lahn made Iowa his full-time home.
What Iowa requires
Iowa's Constitution requires a candidate for governor to have resided in the state for the two years immediately before the election.
For the Nov. 3, 2026 election, that period began Nov. 3, 2024.
Read Iowa's constitutional requirement
What the public record shows
Kansas voting records reported by the Kansas Reflector show Lahn cast a provisional ballot there in November 2018, voted in person in Sedgwick County in November 2020 and voted by advance ballot in the August 2022 primary.
Iowa voter records show he registered here on Oct. 17, 2024, 17 days before the two-year constitutional period began.
In May 2026, Lahn said he had moved back to Iowa in 2023. Asked how his family's living arrangement would work if he became governor, he first said they would be in Iowa "as much as humanly possible." The next day, he said his family would live in Iowa full time.
What that proves—and what it does not
Voter registration, flight data and campaign statements do not, by themselves, settle legal residency. Courts and election officials make that determination.
Our job is to gather the dates, records and statements in one place. Iowans can decide whether the explanation adds up.
Recent Coverage
Sources
Flight Data: OpenSky Network ADS-B receiver network. Aircraft tail N512MM (ICAO 24-bit address a669fc). Data collected continuously from January 2026 onward. Live tracking available at ADSBexchange. We use a crowdsourced network like this rather than a commercial tracker (FlightAware, Flightradar24, etc.) on purpose: private aircraft owners can ask the FAA's Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed (LADD) program to instruct participating vendors to hide a tail number's history. That request only covers the FAA's own data feed to vendors who agree to honor it — it can't suppress the plane's actual radio broadcast. Independent, volunteer-run ADS-B receivers (which is what OpenSky and ADS-B Exchange both aggregate) pick up that broadcast directly, regardless of any blocking request. That's also why our data has real limits: coverage depends on volunteer receiver density in a given area, not one authoritative feed, which is why some flights here show an "Unknown arrival/departure point" or needed a later backfill to fill in.
How we collect this data: it's a mix of methods, and we say so plainly rather than blur the difference. Flight data (above) is fully automated. Zach Lahn's event listings combine an automated scraper of his campaign site with a one-time manual backfill from his campaign's Facebook page (screenshots transcribed by hand, since Facebook blocks automated scraping outright). Rob Sand's 100 Town Hall Tour schedule was transcribed directly from his campaign's official press release, not scraped. Residency and voting records were compiled by hand from published reporting. Where a fact is self-reported by a campaign rather than independently verified, we say so in that section rather than presenting it with false authority.
Aircraft Registration: FAA Registry. Aircraft: 2006 Piper PA-46-500TP "Meridian" (6-seat turboprop). Owner of record: Buckeye Creek Ventures LLC, Belle Plaine, Iowa. Registration data retrieved July 2026.
Zach Lahn Events: Zach Lahn for Governor campaign website (zachlahn.com) and press coverage from Des Moines Register, The Gazette, Kansas Reflector, and Iowa Public Radio. Event data self-reported by campaign; crowd sizes and attendance unverified.
Rob Sand Events: Rob Sand for Iowa campaign website (robsand.com, Mobilize.us/robsandia). 100-County Town Hall Tour schedule from official June 3, 2026 press release. Event attendance and questions tracked via press coverage and public records.
Residency Record: Kansas voter registration records (Kansas Secretary of State). Iowa voter registration records (Iowa Secretary of State). Published reporting from Kansas Reflector and The Gazette.
Policy Positions: Rob Sand campaign priorities page (robsand.com/priorities). Zach Lahn campaign policy page and public statements. Iowa PBS gubernatorial debate transcript (July 10, 2026).
County Data: Iowa Geospatial Data Clearinghouse. 99 counties with GeoJSON feature collection. County boundaries normalized to match event reporting.
Data Compilation: This site is an independent project. Not affiliated with any campaign, the aircraft's owner/operator, or any data provider. All data is public and sourced from government records, campaign materials, and press coverage.