“Something people should know about Lanon Baccam is he likes to fix things.”
A new profile from Iowa Starting Line highlights “problem solver” Lanon Baccam in the race to replace vulnerable freshman Zach Nunn in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District. A combat veteran and former USDA adviser, Baccam has dedicated his life to serving Iowans “regardless of their…political beliefs.”
While Zach Nunn refuses to face his constituents after he’s failed to deliver any meaningful results for them, Baccam is “paying attention to the problems and challenges that people face” and working to “find solutions.”
Something people should know about Lanon Baccam is he likes to fix things.
“My dad was a small engine mechanic growing up, so I worked on cars with him,” Baccam said. “Everything was a resource. He would turn everything we could find into something else, and so, to this day, I do the same thing.”
Baccam’s parents, members of the Tai Dam ethnic group, came to Iowa in 1980 as part of the second wave of Southeast Asia refugees brought to the Hawkeye State in an initiative spearheaded by then-Gov. Bob Ray.
“That community meant so much to me that I wanted to give back. My parents were grateful for the opportunity to be here in this country.”
“They were grateful for what we had—the fact that we had safety, security, a warm bed to sleep in at night, a roof over our heads, food to eat at the end of the day— and living very modestly as two factory workers as the only source of income here.”
Baccam thought the best way he could give back was by joining the military. He enlisted in the Iowa National Guard during his junior year at Mount Pleasant High School, which required parental permission and many conversations to convince his parents to let him join.
“My mom was just so mad at me,” Baccam said, recalling the first conversation. “My parents are refugees. I mean, they came to the United States in 1980, and so they were terrified for what that meant for me to join the military. They thought I was going to go to war.”
For the most part, Baccam was able to avoid his mother’s worst fears until he had one month left in his six-year contract. In response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Baccam was deployed to Afghanistan, where he spent 366 days serving as a combat engineer.
When Baccam returned to the States, which also ended his time in the service, he took some time off to readjust to civilian life and figure out his next move. His next big opportunity came when the father of his childhood friend, Doug, offered him a job. Doug’s dad also happened to be then-Iowa Gov. and former Mount Pleasant Mayor Tom Vilsack.
He considers Tom and Christie Vilsack as mentors, and Baccam worked for Tom Vilsack in the governor’s office and when Vilsack served as US Secretary of Agriculture under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
“My life has been giving back and it has been about public service, and so much of that has been framed by the Vilsacks,” Baccam said.
Baccam noted that people like the Vilsacks and the people he grew up with in and around Mount Pleasant helped people regardless of their appearance or political beliefs. He wants to bring that same type of service above all mindset to DC and Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District.
“We see a whole cadre of politicians out there; they are just hungry for power, or climbing, or maneuvering, or politics,” Baccam said. “Where are the people who care about our communities again? Where are the folks that are actually just paying attention to the problems and challenges that people face and want to find solutions? That’s where I am in this.”
