Due to a lobbyist’s attempt to draw attendees, Vice President JD Vance’s trip in a state crucial to the 2028 Republican presidential nomination is drawing criticism.
An Iowa ethanol lobbyist sent out a text message encouraging people to attend the rally that Vance and Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn headlined in Des Moines last Tuesday. There was a cash offer in the texts.
Iowa Starting Line was able to get and publish the following text:
“This is Jake Swanson, gentlemen.” I would like to extend an invitation to you to accompany me to Des Moines this afternoon to see Vice President JD Vance. I work for an ethanol firm, so if you can join, I’ll give you $100 plus an extra $25 for each person you recruit. There is no cap on referrals, so if someone gets 20 others to come, that’s $500.
Swanson is a lobbyist and a former policy advisor to Kim Reynolds, the Republican governor of Iowa.
Swanson defended the action in a statement to Iowa Starting Line, saying, “I love ethanol and what it does for our state.”
In order to honour all that Trump-Vance has done for biofuels, I was pleased to invite some Iowa State students to the rally. I believe there is a lot more potential. In my own free time, I enjoy doing this,” Swanson said.
The Vice President’s office was contacted by The Daily Mail for comment, but it did not reply in time for publication. There is no indication that Vance or his group knew what Swanson was doing. For more feedback, Swanson was also contacted.
On May 5, 2026, US Vice President JD Vance addresses a gathering at Ex-Guard Industries, a manufacturing site in Des Moines, Iowa, in support of US Representative Zach Nunn, a Republican from Iowa.
On July 7, 2006, an ethanol factory in Windsor, Colorado, with its enormous grain silos close to a cornfield
Republican Representative Zach Nunn of Iowa talks at a gathering with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on May 5, 2026, at the Ex-Guard Industries manufacturing site in Des Moines, Iowa.
Only Great Plains Institute, one of Swanson’s clients, supports ethanol expansion, according to his lobbying disclosures.
“Our folks that work with Jake (Swanson) don’t have any knowledge about his involvement or activities related to the event with the Vice President,” the Institute’s spokesperson Drew Henry told Iowa Starting Line, denying any knowledge of Swanson’s recruitment efforts and pointing out that his work for them is unrelated to ethanol issues.
“Zach (Nunn) is fighting to make sure for the benefit of Iowa—but frankly for the benefit of the whole country—that we get more E15 into the market all over the United States of America,” Vance said on Tuesday while campaigning alongside Republican Congressman Zach Nunn at the rally.
Although Swanson maintained that the payments were made with his own money, the purported pay-for-attendance plan could raise concerns about campaign finance if corporate or nonprofit monies were used to inflate the audience.
