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By Meg Kinnard

August 14, 2026

Zach Lahn, a political newcomer who's now Iowa's Republican gubernatorial nominee, has been met with some skepticism from voters after his primary win over a candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump. Lahn's bid will test how an anti-establishment conservative fares with a general electorate — and with traditional Republicans — a decade after Trump’s own brand of populism reshaped the GOP.

Plus, wife of U.S. soldier released from deportation flight, Anna Johnson's picks and what's on my reading list this week.

The Headline

Zach Lahn, the Republican nominee for Iowa governor, talks to voters about agriculture in Arlington, Iowa, on Tuesday Aug. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Hannah Fingerhut)

In Republican-led Iowa, the GOP nominee for governor introduces an anti-establishment message — By Hannah Fingerhut

Lahn won the June primary even though an “entire establishment was set up against me,” he's said. He criticizes politicians in both parties, accusing them of being bought by corporate interests.

While Iowa Republicans have an electoral advantage, Lahn entered the general election with a lower public profile than his Democratic opponent, state Auditor Rob Sand. Democrats see an opportunity to win this cycle in once-competitive Iowa, where high costs, health clinic closures, manufacturing job losses and a struggling agricultural economy weigh on voters.

Lahn talks about bringing a “different message” to Iowans who aren't satisfied with the trajectory of Iowa's small towns, public education or cancer rates, even after years of Republican control of state government. But only three months before Election Day, Lahn acknowledged he needs to keep getting out in front of people to address their questions and concerns.

“I think, for the most part, a lot of people just have never heard my message,” Lahn said after an event at an Arlington farm. “The more we’ve met with people, the more they understand where our priorities lie, the more they say, ‘We are with you.’”

Dive deeper ➤

Wife of US soldier released from federal immigration custody

Army Staff Sgt. Alexis Jaramillo shows photos of his wife, Maisa Lopes Eliaser, a Brazilian national who is detained by ICE, near the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center where she is currently held, in Basile, La., Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Joseph Vidrine)

Wife of US soldier is removed from deportation flight and released from federal immigration custody — By Jack Brook and Safiyah Riddle

A U.S. soldier's wife who spent more than a month in federal immigration detention said she is back home after officers removed her from a deportation flight to Brazil.

Earlier this month, The Associated Press highlighted Maisa Lopes Eliaser as one of dozens of spouses or parents of U.S. troops who had been detained after Trump’s administration rolled back protections for military families amid its push for mass deportations. Following the AP’s reporting, a group of Congressional Democrats launched an investigation into deportations of military service members and their families.

Eliaser was placed on a deportation flight Wednesday to her native Brazil when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on the plane received a phone call about her mid-flight, she told the AP. She said she was then asked by an ICE officer whether she wanted to continue on to Brazil or go back to the U.S.

“Who made the call? We don’t know,” said Eliaser’s husband, Army Staff Sgt. Alexis Jaramillo. “But someone made the phone call, and then she came back.”

While other detainees were led off the plane in Brazil, Eliaser stayed on board and returned to Louisiana. ICE officers told her that she was “famous” because there were videos about her case, she said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Catering trucks are parked at Air Force One on the tarmac as the motorcade carrying U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to depart following the NATO summit at Ankara International Airport in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

AP photographer describes capturing catering vehicles that Trump used to switch planes — By Alex Brandon

— One of the biggest stories of the week was the revealing that Trump secretly switched planes when he left the NATO summit in Turkey last month. Photographer Alex Brandon was in the presidential pool that day and you can listen to him describe why he took photos of the catering carts next to Air Force One.

In the Reflecting Pool saga, the National Park Service’s mission is tested by Trump’s demands — By Matthew Daly
— Matthew takes a look at the National Park Service and how it is being tested by the Reflecting Pool saga. This is a good example of how we try to go deeper on some of the biggest news headlines.

Trump’s vaccine plan would require millions of individual shots last used decades ago — By Matthew Perrone
— This story is another example of that. Matt’s expertise is on display as he looks at what may be the biggest obstacles to Trump’s vaccine plan: the financial and logistical challenges it would impose on parents, health providers and drugmakers.

Political book club: What's on Meg Kinnard's reading list?

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks at the NYCLU's May Day rally for worker's and immigrants rights at Foley Square, May 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Both of America's major political parties put themselves forward as big tents, but the variety of diverse viewpoints often yield difficult intraparty conversations about where each should be headed, which we've seen playing out this year. Primary elections are always fascinating to me because they put this conflict front and center.

I covered the Democratic presidential campaigns of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and the conversations about the impact that progressive candidates across the country have been having in this year's primaries had me thinking about how this modern Democratic Party divide got started.

So I picked up "The Rebels: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Struggle for a New American Politics," a 2024 release by Bloomberg Businessweek's Joshua Green.

Tracing the rise of left-wing populism in the Democratic Party to the 2008 financial crisis, Green shows this progression through the political careers of Sanders, Warren and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — among the latest representatives of this faction who also said lately she hasn't ruled out a run for president in 2028.

One extraordinary photo

From left to right, Mohamed Mohamed, Tito Odenigbo and Maddie Lutterman embrace during an election night event for Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)