Lanon Baccam

Combat veteran Lanon Baccam is running for in Iowa’s third Congressional district to flip a seat that is within the Democrats’ reach.

Baccam is the son of parents who fled Laos in the wake of the Vietnamese War. They settled in Iowa where Baccam was born. He joined the National Guard before he graduated high school, and in 2004 served as a unit movement officer and combat engineer in Afghanistan where he helped dispose of unexploded bombs and other munitions in and around Kandahar.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from Drake University, he worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture under Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who is now backing his bid for the U.S. House. Baccam was deputy undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services and Military Veterans Agricultural Liaison.

In the June 4 primary, Baccam received more than 84% of the vote. In November, he will face one-term Republican Rep. Zach Nunn, who won in 2022 with a thin margin – just over 2,000 votes. IA-03 stretches from Des Moines to the border of Missouri. Elections analysts have identified IA-03 as Democrats’ best opportunity in Iowa to pick up a House seat.

Baccam is running on a platform to protect Social Security and Medicare so seniors can afford the increasing cost of living and retire with dignity. “Folks who paid into this system should not have to fight for what they earned.”

He's also standing up for reproductive rights: “Women should be able to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions without government interference.” Baccam will fight against a national abortion ban and will support for codifying Roe v Wade.

Baccam is fighting for small towns and rural communities that have been left behind for far too long. He supports expanding economic development in small towns and rural communities, and, more specifically, supports family farms and small businesses.