| After facing serious blowback for advertising a campaign fundraiser with Pete Hegseth at the beginning of the Iran War, Zach Nunn and Pete Hegseth spent this week breaking DoD policy and partying at the Iowa State Fair instead of doing anything to end the war that killed Iowa service members and forced the average Iowa family to pay $500+ more for gas.
New reporting highlights how Nunn and Hegseth’s campaign fundraising stop “flies in the face of a plain reading of the law.” Hegseth “broke his own department’s rule” to shamelessly campaign for Nunn, despite legal guidance prohibiting him from doing so.
At the event, Hegseth praised Nunn for “voting however Trump wants him to,” including a vote to back the war of choice in Iran that is “costing [Iowans] dearly at the gas pump” and resulted in the deaths of two Iowa service members.
REMINDER: Zach Nunn and Pete Hegseth have both cheerleaded the war in Iran and voted to send more than $70 billion overseas while sticking Iowans with the bill. Iowans will hold Nunn accountable for his votes jacking up their costs as this war has cost nearly $38 billion.
DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Zach Nunn and Pete Hegseth need to do their jobs instead of partying at the state fair while service members face threats overseas and Iowans pay the price. Iowans will hold Nunn responsible for rising prices at the pump and his refusal to do his job because he’d rather be bumping elbows with D.C. politicians.”
Read more:
Iowa Starting Line: Pete Hegseth broke his own department’s rule to fundraise for Zach Nunn
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth headlined a campaign fundraiser for US Rep. Zach Nunn at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 17—seemingly an appearance that runs directly into rules his own department wrote to prevent the Defense Department and its $1.1 trillions of taxpayer funds from being used as political pawns.
- The Department of Defense’s February 2026 political activity guidance for Senate-confirmed officials like Hegseth states plainly that they are “prohibited from… organizing a political fundraiser or speaking at a fundraiser.” Any official remarks they give at a partisan event, the guidance says, “should be limited to DoW issues,” and officials “must refrain from advocating for or against a candidate for partisan political office, or commenting on any campaign related issues.”
- Hegseth did neither. Radio Iowa reported he was billed as the headliner of “Top Nunn: Salute to the Troops,” a “veteran-focused fund-raising event” with individual tickets for $26 and VIP packages up to $3,500. Far from a defense briefing, he praised Nunn’s voting record onstage.
- “We need guys like this man right here having our back in Congress,” Hegseth told the crowd according to the New York Times. “When we need an ally to call who understands why it’s important to fund our military in the way we need to fund it, but also do so in a fiscally responsible way, we call Congressman Zach Nunn.”
- A cabinet secretary pitching a crowd for congressman’s reelection, helping that congressman fundraise for his campaign flies in the face of a plain reading of the law. However, it’s the Office of Special Counsel that makes such determinations.
- Iowa Starting Line sent the Department of Defense questions related to his conduct and the extent to which it follows the law. The DOD did not respond to the question.
- In May, Hegseth headlined a rally in Hebron, Kentucky for Ed Gallrein, a Republican primary challenger to Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican, just days ahead of the vote. Gallrein went on to beat Massie.
- The Steady State, a group of more than 420 former national security officials… filed a formal Hatch Act complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, arguing Hegseth’s remarks blurred his official Fort Campbell duties with a partisan campaign appearance in violation of the same guidance now in question in Iowa.
- Also in the room, per the Times: US Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, another Iowan facing a tight reelection, as well as US Rep. Ashley Hinson, the GOP’s US Senate nominee against Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek.
- Sarah Trone Garriott, the Democratic state senator and Lutheran minister challenging Nunn in a race forecasters call a toss-up, called the event “disgraceful,” arguing Nunn and Hegseth should be focused on ending the war with Iran rather than fundraising off it.
- Nunn’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
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