The campaign of Trump-backed Iowa Republican state Sen. Zach Nunn called Democrat Rep. Cindy Axne’s attack ad and press release about him “verifiably false,” as the incumbent has been fact-checked before for her misleading and false claims.
Nunn’s campaign pointed to Axne’s “verifiably false” ad as a “desperate attack” meant to “smear” the state senator and “mislead Iowans,” as the Republican has spent his career “honorably serving [the] country and pushing back against Chinese threats, including in the Air Force and leading recon missions against communists in China.”
The Hawkeye Republican’s campaign first pointed to Axne’s email blast stating that in March 2022, he “accepted a campaign contribution from Syngenta PAC after it had been bought by state-owned chemical company ChemChina five years prior,” as well as a campaign ad in which the ad narrator stated, “Nunn took thousands from a Chinese government-owned business.”
However, as Breitbart News reported and the campaign acknowledged, Axne outed herself since she toured the same company, Syngenta, West Des Moines, for a photo op in November 2019, two years after it was sold to a Chinese-backed company. At the time, Axne even admitted she was “glad to hear” from the company and praised it for “powering Iowa agriculture.”
Additionally, Axne’s email blast and ad claimed that “[Nunn] supported a tax break that gave that company more than a million of [Iowa’s] tax,” which allegedly helped the Chinese company “beat out” Iowa businesses.
However, Nunn’s campaign explained that the lawmaker was “excused” from voting on the legislation referenced in the ad. The legislation, SF2417 — the Research Activities Tax Credits bill — passed the Iowa House on May 5, 2018. But Nunn was one of the 14 members who were “Absent or not voting” since he was in Kosovo on a security cooperation mission and returned to the U.S. on May 10, five days after the vote.
Furthermore, Axne’s email blast about the ad claimed that Nunn undermined former President Donald Trump during his trade war with China:
When President Trump tried to hold China accountable by starting a trade war with China and increasing tariffs, Zach Nunn undermined him and filed a resolution in the Iowa House praising Chinese trade as a “two-way investment.”
Nunn’s campaign disputed her claims by stating the congresswoman is “falsely trying to paint herself as a supporter of President Trump’s trade war with China” after she previously called on former Republican Rep. David Young, who he unseated in 2018, to “act and stop” Trump’s trade war with China.
Additionally, after Axne was elected to Congress, she repeatedly blasted Trump for his tariffs on China. In 2019, KMA Land wrote, “Axne also rejects comments that Trump was right in ratcheting up tariffs on China, and that it will result in a better trade deal for Iowa farmers. She says that remains to be seen.”
In response to the attack ad by Axne, Nunn’s campaign also stated that the Democrat “should be ashamed of herself for once again launching a despicable smear meant to mislead Iowans.”
“Axne didn’t think Syngenta was evil when she attempted to gain their support and toured their headquarters in West Des Moines for a photo-op in 2019,” added Josh Treat, Nunn’s campaign manager. “Now that they are supporting Nunn, she is now a desperate politician who is willing to say anything to get reelected.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Berg hammered the Democrat by stating, “Cindy Axne is willing to say and do anything to get reelected. She is too dishonest to represent Iowa.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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