Lanon Baccam, candidate for the 3rd district, emphasizes military service in an ad
Lanon Baccam, Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, speaks to his supporters
Lanon Baccam, a military veteran and former U.S. Department of Agriculture official, wins the Democratic nomination in Iowa’s 3rd U.S. House of Representatives district
Democratic congressional candidate Lanon Baccam emphasizes his military service in the first campaign ad of his campaign ahead of his duel against Republican U.S. Representative Zach Nunn.
Baccam, the Democratic candidate in the 3rd Congressional District, which includes the Des Moines metropolitan area and central and southern Iowa, launched the ad, titled “Seventeen,” on Wednesday.
In the 30-second commercial, Baccam stands outside his parents’ house in Mount Pleasant and tells the story of how he convinced his parents, Tai Dam refugees who emigrated from Laos, to let him join the military as a teenager.
“At 17, I walked through that door with a National Guard recruiting officer,” Baccam says. “I wasn’t old enough to enlist and needed my parents’ signature to join.”
More: Lanon Baccam wins the Democratic nomination in Iowa’s 3rd District and will face U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn
The campaign ad features a series of photos of Baccam in uniform before showing more recent footage of the candidate wearing a hard hat walking through a construction site, chatting with Iowans in a diner and walking down the street.
“After 9/11, I left community college to volunteer for active duty and was then sent to Afghanistan,” Baccam says in the ad. “I came home, helped my fellow veterans find jobs, and served Iowa in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Now I’m running for Congress. I support that message because I swore to protect our rights and freedoms, and I always will.”
Baccam served as a combat engineer in the Iowa National Guard from 1998 to 2006, where he attained the rank of corporal. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2004.
After his military service, Baccam worked in various capacities at the U.S. Department of Agriculture under Secretary Tom Vilsack during the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. He was also involved in Democratic political campaigns in Iowa, including serving as deputy national director for Biden’s 2020 presidential candidacy.
Baccam, who lives in Des Moines with his wife and daughter, is running for political office for the first time. He defeated fellow Democrat Melissa Vine in the Iowa caucuses in June.
The 3rd District is on the Democrats’ list of Republican-controlled targets that they hope to flip in the November election to retake the U.S. House of Representatives.
Nunn, who will begin his first term in Congress after winning the 2022 election, is also a military veteran. He served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force and deployed overseas three times as an intelligence officer, flying more than 700 combat hours, according to his congressional biography. He was promoted to colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve in June.
According to Baccam’s campaign, the ad is part of a six-figure campaign on broadcast and cable television in the Des Moines media market, as well as online.
Baccam has raised more money than Nunn over the past three quarters. In the most recent quarter, which ran from April 1 to June 30, he took in $1.3 million to Nunn’s $1 million. However, Nunn ended the quarter with $2.44 million in the bank to Baccam’s $2.42 million.
More: Christina Bohannan and Lanon Baccam receive more votes than their Republican opponents in their bid for Congress
A June Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll found that 55% of likely voters in the 3rd District preferred a Republican, 40% preferred a Democrat and 5% were unsure.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
