The following is a summary of our conversation with U.S. Senate candidate Zach Wahls.
Wahls is an American politician, LGBTQ+ activist, and author who first gained national attention in 2011 at age 19 when a video of his heartfelt testimony defending his family—raised by two lesbian mothers—before the Iowa House Judiciary Committee went viral and became one of the most-watched political videos of the year. Wikipedia+1 He was elected to the Iowa Senate in 2018, has served as the Democratic caucus’s Minority Leader, and represents Coralville and surrounding communities. Wahls is also a co-founder of Scouts for Equality, author of My Two Moms, and in 2025 launched a campaign for the U.S. Senate.
JG: Welcomes Zach and asks where he is.
ZW: Says he’s at Wahls headquarters in Coralville. His dog Zelda is at his feet because his wife is working from Muscatine that day.
Family
JG: Brings up his family and recent marriage.
ZW: Says he and his wife just celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary. Their wedding was originally planned for September 2020 but postponed because of COVID. Sen. Tom Harkin officiated. They have a mini goldendoodle(Zelda) and a son, Elijah (“Eli”), who will turn two in March and is in the middle of a language explosion.
He talks about his two moms:
Terry, who has worked in functional medicine and has lived with multiple sclerosis since Zach was eight.
Jackie, a nurse practitioner at the VA outpatient clinic in Coralville, who has had a difficult year as a federal employee amid turmoil in Washington.
He says the campaign wouldn’t be possible without childcare help from his parents and his sister Zeb.
His mom’s MS
JG: Brings up Terry’s MS and dietary changes.
ZW: Explains she was diagnosed with progressive MS and faced a grim prognosis. She stayed disciplined, exercised daily, and made major diet and lifestyle changes—more fruits and vegetables, fewer inflammatory foods. Over time, it led to a remarkable improvement. She recently turned 70.
Engineering background → advocacy
JG: Shifts to his background as an engineering student.
ZW: Says he grew up in Iowa City, graduated from Iowa City West High School (2009), and studied civil and environmental engineering at the University of Iowa, focusing on infrastructure and renewable energy.
His path changed in 2011 when Iowa Republicans tried to overturn the Varnum marriage equality decision. He testified about his family; the video was recorded on a Flip cam, posted online, and went viral. He describes it as a fork-in-the-road moment—either return to engineering or step into advocacy. Remembering how anti–same-sex marriage rhetoric felt when he was younger, he chose advocacy.
He says he learned that approaching skeptical audiences with humility and grace can change minds. That work took him around Iowa and the country.
He later co-founded Scouts for Equality to end the Boy Scouts’ ban on gay members, earned a master’s in public policy from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, then returned home early to run for Bob Dvorsky’s state Senate seat.
Electability
JG: Notes that his district extended beyond Johnson County.
ZW: Says the district included Johnson County, all of Cedar County, and part of Muscatine County—areas that voted for Obama and later Trump. In 2018, he won crossover support, including voters who had backed Trump in 2016.
The viral speech & meeting his wife
JG: Goes back to how the speech happened.
ZW: Says he was connected to Lambda Legal and was asked to testify. He nearly couldn’t attend because he was scheduled to babysit but found a replacement and made it to the Capitol on a snowy night in January 2011.
The speech changed his life—including meeting his wife Chloe, who wrote about the video for Feministing with the headline “Marry Me, Zach Wahls.” He emailed her to say he wouldn’t marry her but offered an interview; they later started dating and now have a family.
He says he was overwhelmed at 19 and didn’t fully grasp what was coming, but has tried to use the moment responsibly.
Campaign framing
JG: Raises the hypothetical that opponents may frame him narrowly around LGBTQ issues and Iowa City.
ZW: Says that’s not how he defines himself. He emphasizes that the campaign is about Iowans’ lives. After listening tours across the state, the dominant issue is affordability—the cost of groceries, health care, prescriptions, and housing.
He shares that childcare now costs more than his mortgage after their provider closed with two weeks’ notice.
He criticizes Ashley Hinson’s votes on tariffs, Medicaid, and clean energy, and says he’ll put his record against hers any day.
Generational pressures
JG: Asks about growing up with shooter drills and what defines his generation.
ZW: Says the word is frustrating. Millennials have lived through 9/11, war, the financial crisis, COVID, massive tech change, and now AI and geopolitical instability. Many can’t afford to start families due to childcare costs. Retirees are also being squeezed.
He supports eliminating the cap on Social Security payroll taxes to protect the program and notes that voter registration is a lagging indicator—people change voting behavior before party registration.
Q&A: organizations, DSCC, endorsements
Participant: Asks about Scouts for Equality.
ZW: Says the organization formally dissolved around December 2020 after achieving major wins.
Participant: Asks about criticism of the DSCC and establishment interference.
ZW: Says national groups often misunderstand Iowa and that Iowa Democrats must be trusted to run campaigns grounded in what voters say. His campaign centers on affordability, corruption in Washington, and a new vision for rural Iowa. He confirms meeting with Sen. Chris Van Hollen in Des Moines.
Leadership fallout & ethics
Participant: Asks about losing Senate leadership and what he learned.
ZW: Says the party needs a new approach and higher expectations. He acknowledges mistakes and lessons about balancing urgency with coalition-building.
He outlines ethics reforms: rejecting corporate PAC money, supporting a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, banning stock trading by members of Congress, and applying that standard to his family and staff.
Labor & nurses union
Participant: Asks about the nurses union vote.
ZW: Calls it personal because his mom Jackie is a union nurse. He says younger generations are increasingly pro-labor. A nurses’ win would energize organizing statewide. He notes his campaign staff is unionized and that he’s earned strong labor support.
Participant (Alex Wilkin): Gives an update on the nurses vote—251 challenged ballots, needing 24 yes votes if counted. Asks about the PRO Act and Taft–Hartley.
ZW: Says he’d be a day-one co-sponsor of the PRO Act and is happy to discuss Taft–Hartley offline. Reiterates he’s running a pro-worker campaign.
Ashley Hinson story (mobile home parks)
Participant: Asks how Zach will take on Hinson and invites him to “dish.”
ZW: Describes 2019 legislation responding to out-of-state investors buying mobile home parks and raising lot rents 50–70%. He built a bipartisan coalition and passed protections in the Senate 48–0. The bill died in the House after a closed-door meeting with a lobbyist and then–Rep. Ashley Hinson, whom he accuses of killing the bill to protect donor interests over residents.
Cost of the race
Participant: Asks about campaign cost.
ZW: Estimates the general election could reach $100 million on the Democratic side alone. Says Republicans are nervous and insists the campaign has a path to victory.
Health care
Participant: Asks about healthcare affordability and what comes after the ACA.
ZW: Points to rising ACA premiums, supports lowering Medicare eligibility to 55, expanding dental/vision/hearing coverage, criticizes Hinson for voting against insulin caps, and highlights PBM reform. Says more policy detail is coming soon.
Wrap-up
JG: Thanks Zach and invites him back during the 2026 cycle.
ZW: Thanks everyone and signs off.
This coming Monday, I’ll be joined by Fazal Moneer Adil, a writer, community leader, and entrepreneur based in Des Moines. Born in a refugee camp in Pakistan, Fazal’s life has taken him from Dubai to Afghanistan, where he served as an interpreter for U.S. Special Operations forces, and eventually to Iowa after the fall of the Afghan government in 2021. Since resettling here with his family, he has dedicated his work to helping other refugees navigate resettlement, healthcare, education, and employment—and he continues that mission as a board member of the Iowa Afghan Community and Cultural Organization.
From a refugee camp to a new life in Iowa, A River Is Made is a searing, deeply human memoir of war, displacement, and a father’s fierce love. In this conversation, Fazal Moneer Adil traces five decades of Afghan history through his own journey—navigating propaganda-filled classrooms, perilous work as a U.S. military interpreter, the fall of Kabul, and resettlement in America. At its heart is an intimate, heartbreaking story of parenting a child with special needs and confronting the maze of the U.S. healthcare system. Guided by the proverb “drop by drop, a river is made,” Adil reflects on loss, resilience, and the ultimate gift he fights to secure for his children: education, freedom, and a voice.
Here is a link to join the Zoom call:
Okoboji Mastery Circle - online classes year round.
Starting Wednesday, January 14, we launch a new series of online classes offered by speakers who are experts on the topics most requested by participants.
Kali White VanBaale will talk about ‘Points of Entry in Storytelling.’ How to choose where a story begins—prologues, frame narrators, in-media-res openings, and the dreaded “false start.” Perfect for fiction, nonfiction, and memoir writers wrestling with where to step onto the path.
BIO: Award-winning author of “The Monsters We Make,” “Release of Information,” and more. MFA, educator, and editor-at-large of The Past Ten.
Kali will also be presenting at the 2026 Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat. Click to learn more about Kali.
Gift idea for YOU?
Enroll in the online series only for just $497 or get an early bird special that includes the online classes AND enrollment in the Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat, September 27-30, for just $895. This is an outstanding value. OMC + OWSR.
Or, best deal currently offered: OMC + OWSR = $895
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
Members of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative filled the room alongside subscribers who traveled from across Iowa—and even from Minneapolis—to celebrate a remarkable milestone: 92,000 monthly views of the Roundup column alone. Reached in just four years, this moment affirms what we’ve believed from the start—that readers are eager for independent, locally rooted commentary and news, and that when writers and readers come together, something powerful happens.
Join us next time. All you need to do is subscribe to any one of the writers. Check out today’s Roundup:
