A Libertarian running for Congress in Iowa’s 3rd District says incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urged him to drop out of the race before challenging his candidacy.
Officials with Nunn’s campaign said they believe Libertarian Party candidate Marco Battaglia submitted petition signatures that suspect were gathered by an outside group, which could constitute an illegal in-kind contribution to Battaglia’s campaign under federal law.
The accusations come ahead of what is expected to be a competitive general election in the central Iowa congressional district, where having a third-party candidate on the ballot could sway the outcome.
Nunn faces a competitive reelection race against Democratic state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines.
Republicans associated with Nunn have challenged Battaglia’s candidacy and could see his name removed from the ballot if a three-person state panel rules against him at a Monday, June 15, hearing. He is one of three Libertarian candidates whom Republicans are challenging at the hearing.
Nunn won election in 2022 by less than a percentage point, or about 2,144 votes. In 2024, he won reelection by 3.8 percentage points, or about 15,782 votes.
Election analysts at the Cook Political Report rate the 3rd district as a “toss-up,” their most competitive category.
Campaign signatures at the center of dispute between Battaglia, Nunn
Battaglia told the Register Nunn and Annie Kuhle, a Republican strategist and adviser to Nunn’s campaign, reached out to him to ask him to meet. Battaglia said he invited Nunn to join him at his house, where Nunn and Kuhle asked him to drop out of the race.
“We had a really good conversation. I talked about how we should have debates, forums, town halls in every county in the district,” Battaglia said. “And he countered that with, ‘I think you should drop out.'”
Battaglia said Nunn and Kuhle raised concerns that his petition signatures were gathered improperly.
“They insinuated that my ballots were collected by, they used some right wing Orwellian speak, like they said like Democratic dark money paid for your signatures,” Battaglia said. “So I asked for evidence. I said if you give me evidence, I will reevaluate my stance and see what’s going on here, but I don’t think there’s any truth to that.”
Kuhle and Wes Enos, the deputy chief of staff in Nunn’s congressional office, filed two challenges against Battaglia’s candidacy, saying he should be disqualified for failing to submit enough valid signatures and because his affidavit of candidacy and nominating papers do not match Battaglia’s legal name, Mark T. Andersen.
In a statement, Kuhle said she believes there is “strong evidence” that Battaglia’s signatures were “were collected by dark-money outside groups with ties to the Democrat Party.”
“I met with Marco Battaglia/Mark Anderson (sic) to inform him of my concerns regarding the origin of those signatures, notify him that I intended to challenge the petitions and discuss my plans to investigate the circumstances surrounding their collection,” Kuhle said in a statement. “I also asked whether he would be willing to cooperate with that investigation. No offer, inducement or thing of value was ever proposed or provided in exchange for withdrawing the nomination petitions.”
The Nunn campaign said the bulk of Battaglia’s signatures were gathered May 23-29, shortly before the ballot filing deadline.
A Nunn campaign official said the Federal Election Commission considers signature gathering an in-kind contribution if someone is paid to collect signatures. They said the value of the service of collecting Battaglia’s signatures would exceed the federal $3,500 cap on in-kind contributions.
Battaglia told Nunn he would not drop out of the race. But in a follow-up text to Nunn and Kuhle he said, “I would consider it if you would be willing to introduce impeachment of the President for Treason, Bribery and other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
Kuhle responded by thanking Battaglia for continuing to communicate with them.
“But to be clear this is not a negotiation; Zach will not be making any promises about official policy actions in exchange for your removal from the ballot,” she wrote in a text to Battaglia. “We came to you to make you aware that you may have accepted a bribe or an illegal in-kind contribution, and you could possibly be in legal, FEC and/or ethical jeopardy and an offer to help. We are moving forward with a full investigation.”
Battaglia said when he wrote the message he was frustrated by Nunn’s request that he drop out.
“I was mainly in jest,” Battaglia said. “But at the same time, I would have considered it.”
Battaglia says he received a call from RFK Jr. asking him to drop out
The day after he met with Nunn, Battaglia said he got a call from a Washington, D.C., number.
“I thought it was going to be like a debt collector or something,” he said. “And the voice that came out when I said hello was, ‘Hello, Marco, this is Bobby. Bobby Kennedy.'”
Battaglia said he and Kennedy spoke for about 30 minutes.
“He was very polite,” Battaglia said. “He basically just did a very casual politician, ‘You should drop out,’ situation.”
Battaglia said he followed up with a text message telling Kennedy he wouldn’t be dropping out of the race.
“It was a crazy weekend,” he said. “I’ve never had a Kennedy come after me before.”
A Nunn campaign official said they kept outside stakeholders, including the White House, informed of their concerns about Battaglia’s signatures but the Nunn campaign did not ask them to take any action on the campaign’s behalf.
The Nunn campaign was not aware of any such actions until Battaglia informed them of Kennedy’s call, the official said.
Nunn campaign sees similarity to group that tried to play spoiler in 2024
The Nunn campaign compared Battaglia’s candidacy with a 2024 effort by a group called the Patriots Run Project, which attempted to recruit conservative candidates to run as independents in competitive congressional races. Some of the group’s funding traced back to Democratic consulting firms, the Associated Press reported at the time.
Battaglia said he didn’t collect all his signatures himself but said he shared his network of volunteers with Libertarian candidate Rick Stewart, who is running for the 2nd Congressional District seat, and the state and national Libertarian parties, who he said put out a call for signatures.
“I had people sending me texts of the petitioners, and I know some of them,” he said. “And I know a lot of the people that signed, so I thought there was absolutely nothing dubious about it at all.”
However, he added, “I didn’t think we would get on the ballot.”
But, a day or two before the filing deadline closed, he said he got a call from Stewart.
“Rick calls me and goes, ‘Marco, I got your signatures. Come pick them up,'” Battaglia said.
Battaglia said he held off on making a formal announcement of his candidacy because he was worried he would face a challenge that would keep him off the ballot, like he did in 2024 when a Republican challenge succeeded in removing three Libertarian congressional candidates’ names from the ballot.
Libertarians accuse Republicans of ‘campaign of intimidation’
The national Libertarian Party put out a statement accusing Republicans of “an escalating campaign of intimidation” they said was designed to force qualified candidates off the ballot.
“Iowans of every background rolled up their sleeves and put these candidates on the ballot the right way, one signature at a time,” Stephanie Berlin, chair of the Libertarian Party of Iowa, said in the statement. “Now that we have earned our place fair and square, the Republican machine is trying to rip it away with bullying, bribes and lawyers. It will not work. We are not going anywhere, and Iowa voters deserve a real choice.”
Evan McMahon, chair of the national Libertarian Party, expressed similar sentiments in the statement.
“Iowa Republicans know they can’t win on ideas, so they are resorting to their favorite tactic: suppressing voter choice,” he said. “When a third party gathers a record number of signatures and earns its place on the ballot, the answer is to debate them, not to bully them, bribe them, or sue them off the ballot.”
(This story was updated to add additional information.)
Stephen Gruber-Miller is the Capitol bureau chief for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com, by phone at 515-284-8169 or on X at @sgrubermiller.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Libertarian says Nunn, RFK Jr. urged him to drop out of US House race
Reporting by Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
