Lanon Baccam, a military veteran and former U.S. Department of Agriculture official, won the Democratic nomination in Iowa’s 3rd U.S. District on Tuesday.
Backcam will face Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn in November, in a race for the South Central seat that is once again expected to be closely contested and nationally watched on both sides of the aisle.
The Associated Press called Baccam’s race against Melissa Vine, a nonprofit executive and small business owner, just 20 minutes after polls closed in Iowa. With 99% of the votes, Baccam is ahead of Vine by 84% to 16%.
Baccam, who joined the Iowa National Guard at age 17 and was later deployed to Afghanistan, worked on several Iowa-based Democratic campaigns, including that of President Joe Biden in 2020, and worked at the USDA under the leadership of former Iowa Governor. Tom Vilsack.
2024 IA Democratic Primary Results – US House District 3
He is a Mount Pleasant native and the son of Tai Dam refugees who emigrated to the United States from Laos and lives in Des Moines with his wife and daughter.
“Over the next five months, we have an opportunity to tell a story about what it means to be an Iowan and an American,” Baccam told the crowd at his watch party at New Northwestern in Des Moines. “We’re going to remind people of an incredible legacy that we can all be proud of.”
Iowa Primary Election 2024: Live Results and Maps
How Lanon Baccam won the Democratic nomination in the 3rd District
Baccam immediately emerged as the preferred candidate of many Iowa Democratic elected officials, backed by Vilsack as well as State Auditor Rob Sand and a slate of members of the Iowa House and Senate.
He then received support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — the campaign arm of House Democrats — and the group placed the district among its “Red to Blue” list of high-priority seats in November.
He chose to remain relatively quiet throughout the primary cycle, largely ignoring his opponent while holding meetings with supporters and groups across the district. His campaign held a few publicly announced events open to the public and the press.
Vine, who positioned herself as an outsider seeking to present a single mother’s perspective to Congress, failed to keep pace with Baccam’s party’s fundraising and support, while making also faced an ethics complaint that resulted in a $500 fine.
Meanwhile, Baccam’s campaign has posted prolific fundraising numbers — more than $900,000 in the first months of 2024, the most of any congressional candidate in Iowa and more than Nunn. He will go into the general election already well-funded, and more money is expected to flow into the district in the months from both Democrats and Republicans.
Lanon Baccam says supporting him is a vote for “principled” leadership
Baccam, speaking to his supporters shortly after announcing his victory, said a vote in his favor was a vote “to restore effective, principled leadership.” And he went after Nunn, highlighting what he called her extreme positions on abortion and her partisan maneuvering.
Speaking of his deployment to Afghanistan, he pledged to build a coalition in the event of victory in November.
“If men from opposing political backgrounds can come together to build a brotherhood that can defend this country in times of war, then I know we can do it again, right here in our communities and in our country.” , said Baccam. “When I go to Congress, that’s the mentality I’m going to take.”
Christie Vilsack, former first lady of Iowa and wife of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, urged her supporters to support him as November approaches.
“We’re here tonight because we know Lanon is going to get up,” Vilsack said. “He’s going to stand up for teachers. He’s going to stand up for working families. He’s going to stand up for veterans. I think it’s time to stand up for him.”
The chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party praised Baccam in a statement, saying he was “ready to serve our state well.”
“Since announcing his candidacy for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, he has outlined his plan to lower costs for Iowans, protect Social Security and Medicare, and maintain rights women’s reproductive health,” said Rita Hart.
And she said the district had been “poorly represented” by Nunn, who “caved to MAGA priorities and failed to demonstrate any form of leadership while serving in the worst-performing party in the United States House of Representatives in the history of our country.”
Candidate Melissa Vine: ‘We weren’t supposed to make it this far’
At her campaign watch party at Star Bar in Des Moines, Vine praised a small crowd of family, friends and volunteers for helping propel her candidacy.
“We weren’t supposed to go this far,” Vine said. “I was supposed to have given up by now. Our opponent had 10 times the money and the power of the Washington DC establishment, but we kept going. We kept going, and it’s because of all of you.”
She said she hoped the campaign would pave the way for “more women, more mothers and more people who are not represented in Congress” to run for office.
“I hope we have instilled in this district the importance of showing up in every space, for every person in every community, of being your authentic self, and of building an inclusive coalition that can move our party forward. future,” Vine said.
Zach Nunn’s campaign bosses slam Lanon Baccam as a ‘paid political activist’
Nunn, an Air Force officer who lives in Bondurant with his wife and six children, is seeking his second term. He defeated former U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, a Democrat, by just over 2,000 votes in 2022.
“Tonight, the messy Democratic primary finally came to an end,” Nunn campaign manager Kendyl Parker said in a statement. “Clinton, Pelosi and Biden hand-selected their paid political activist, Lanon Baccam, to move to Iowa after years as a bureaucrat in Washington.
“We are confident that Iowans will reject the tax-and-spend, open-border policies of Lanon and his former bosses that he made it his mission to defend. As Lanon attempts to Running from his past to deceive Iowans, Zach will continue to deliver results for families.
The campaign arm of the House Republicans, in a statement released Tuesday, criticized Baccam while reiterating its support for Nunn in the upcoming general election.
“Lanon Baccam is a paid political activist who is desperately trying to run from his political past, hide his extreme positions and lie to Iowa voters,” said Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
“National Democrats had to go through every imaginable Iowa Democrat before landing on this hyper-partisan extremist. Rep. Zach Nunn will deliver a resounding victory in November and continue to deliver meaningful results for Iowans. “
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report ranks Iowa’s 3rd District as a “lean Republican” seat heading into summer.
Galen Bacharier covers the Statehouse and politics for the Register. Contact him at gbacharier@registermedia.com or (573) 219-7440, and follow him on Twitter @galenbacharier.