No spoiler here, says Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate in Iowa who has won local elections

9/2/2026

Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn, the only Libertarian Party candidate ever elected in a partisan contest in Iowa, intends to use the Constitution to break the Democrat-Republican stranglehold on the nation’s government in his race for the U.S. Senate, he said in a wide-ranging, hour-long interview in Jefferson.

Laehn, who says the American Republic is now an elective monarchy with oligarchic influences, is a fierce critic of the government use of eminent domain for private-interest carbon-capture pipelines. He thinks abortion should be decided fully at the state level. Although Laehn describes himself as “radically” anti-abortion, if elected at the state level, he would support a total abortion ban.

He supports decriminalization of marijuana possession and use, which he says is the first bill he would introduce in the Senate.

Laehn, 44, of Jefferson, has earned a spot on the ballot this fall in the U.S. Senate race along with Democrat State Rep. Josh Turek of Council Bluffs and Ashley Hinson, a Republican congresswoman from Marion.

Laehn says he is a rarity — a third-party candidate with electoral credibility as the voters of Greene County have elected Laehn twice, in 2018 and 2022. He was unopposed on the ballot.

“A clear majority of Americans would prefer to vote for a third party. So we are the majority,” Laehn said. “There’s this false narrative being propagated by the two major parties that you have to choose, and if you vote for a third-party candidate, you’re a spoiler. Really what they are saying is, if you go into the voting booth and you vote your conscience, you’re going to vote for a losing candidate.”

The fact is, in 2018 there were 3,044 Greene County residents who voted for Laehn as county attorney. In 2022, 2,679 did, according to the Greene County Auditor’s Office. He qualified this cycle for the ballot in the U.S. Senate race.

“Without any delusions about my odds, I am running to win; my motive is to win,” he said. “If there is any ulterior motive, it is to alert the Republic that the ship of state is sinking, and the best thing I can do to draw attention to this is running for office.”

Could he ever run as a Republican?

“If the party was no longer a cult,” Laehn said during a late morning interview over iced teas in a Jefferson home.

“I think that right now the Republican Party is the greater threat to the Republic. If Kamala Harris had been elected, I’d probably be saying the same things,” he said.

Laehn does not think the Democratic Party is a cult — yet.

“But the same tendencies are there,” Laehn said. “When Obama was elected and said the seas will stop rising, there is the messianic complex that now surrounds the presidency regardless of who the occupant is. That’s the problem.”

If elected to the Senate, Laehn might caucus with the Democrats — and he might go with the Republicans. He would likely caucus with the opposite party to whoever is the president at the time, Laehn said.

“The Republicans in Congress are more loyal to Trump than they are to their own institution, so there are no checks and balances occurring across the branches,” he said. “The same is true if we have a Democratic president. The Democrats in Congress are more loyal to the president (if a Democrat is in the Oval Office) than they are to their own institution.”

A major issue Laehn thinks will form a central pull to his coalition: eminent domain and property rights. Laehn said Iowans — and notably many Republicans — outraged about certain Republicans’ efforts to clear a route for Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline will find a home with his campaign, even though he is running for federal office, as he’s a strong advocate for property rights.

“That’s definitely what political scientists call a wedge issue that can drive a wedge in the Republican coalition. This pipeline is the biggest boondoggle in the history of our state,” Laehn said. “This is obviously an example of the Legislature and the Republicans in the Legislature — and in the governor’s office — doing the bidding of their economic elite, oligarchic donors against the overwhelming wishes of the vast majority of the people of Iowa. The Legislature is actively obstructing the will of the people.”

Laehn grew up in the northeast Iowa town of Allison, a son of a Lutheran minister. Laehn later converted to Catholicism.

He went on to Drake University, Louisiana State University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and eventually to law school at the University of Iowa. Laehn’s wife, Susan, is a political science professor at Iowa State University.

“The whole reason I went to law school was to have a path back to rural Iowa because I knew, at some point, I wanted to start a family,” Laehn said. “I wanted my kids to grow up in a town like Allison.

“I knew I wanted to do something in public service. I’ve always told people if my goal in life was to make money, I’ve made some very bad decisions.”

One area of expertise for him is in ancient political thought.

“Even when the job market is good, there are not many universities looking to hire professors of ancient political theory,” Laehn joked.

He focused on political theory and the Constitution while teaching at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana — a place, Laehn said, “where Cajun country meets cowboy country.”

What did he learn about Iowa while living in Louisiana?

“I have yet to find a place better than small-town Iowa to raise a family,” he said. “It’s a combination of a sense of community — which you can find in other parts of the country — with a work ethic that’s uniquely Midwestern.” ♦

Douglas Burns of Carroll is fourth-generation journalist and founder of Mercury Boost, a marketing and public relations company.