MOM’S OCTOBER SURPRISE

Republican Candidate, 45, Gets Shamed by His Own Parents

The wannabe No. 2 in Iowa has been slapped with a massive overdue bill by his own elderly parents.

A Republican candidate has been humiliated by his own parents on the home stretch of his campaign.

The parents of Derek Wulf, an Iowa state lawmaker and Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, have publicly slapped him with a $275,000 bill for what they say is unpaid rent.

That only adds to the financial woes of the embattled Republican, who already faces lawsuits over unpaid debts and a criminal investigation into whether he illegally disposed of some of the collateral he used to secure a loan.

Wulf’s parents filed a petition in court on Tuesday, joining a list of creditors seeking repayment from Wulf, the Des Moines Register reports. Duane and Judy Wulf, 83 and 82, say their 45-year-old son owes them hundreds of thousands in rent on 83 acres of farmland he stopped paying for in 2024.

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That will only add to the headache for Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn, who has been trailing in recent polls even before his handpicked running mate was embarrassed by his parents.

An October Cook Political Report-sponsored poll pegged Democrat Rob Sand as being 11 points ahead of Lahn in a state President Donald Trump won by 13 points in 2024. Other surveys show a closer race, with YouGov giving Sand a 6-point lead, but all show Lahn trailing.

Lahn’s campaign did not respond to an email seeking comment about the latest blow to his running mate.

The Daily Beast first exposed in August that the Trump-endorsed Lahn is secretly living in a multimillion-dollar mansion hundreds of miles from the state he wants to run. We found that Lahn has lived in a $2 million mansion in Kansas for years, not in Iowa as he claims.

Lahn, 40, did a poor job hiding that he is a carpetbagger. Flight records show that while Lahn, a licensed pilot who owns his own plane, travels to and from campaign events, he regularly flies in and out of Wichita, Kansas, to attend them. Even when he flew to the State Capitol to submit paperwork for his nomination, records show he left from Wichita. The Swamp also discovered that Lahn left his Strava account public, showing just how often he bikes in Kansas.

Records show that Lahn’s running mate does, indeed, live in Iowa. He has been a state representative only since 2023, but Lahn chose him as his No. 2 in June. Lahn said he wanted someone with practical agricultural experience, knowledge of Iowa’s farming economy, and a record of supporting his supposedly “Iowa First” agenda.

Lahn defended his running mate’s growing list of scandals last week, suggesting a political conspiracy against them.

“I would just say that a lot of the fire that has been aimed at my lieutenant governor, I believe, is politically motivated,” Lahn said in a recording published by Storm Lake Radio. “There was a so-called investigation that was done, and it wrapped up and concluded without ever talking to my lieutenant governor. Never even spoke to him. That’s not an investigation. And if you dig into who’s in charge there, you’ll figure out why.”

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Josh FialloBreaking News Reporter

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