Former Health and Human Services senior adviser Calley Means declared Iowa "ground zero" for the Make America Healthy Again movement in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, saying the state's farmers must sit at the center of any plan to fix American health. His remarks came October 30, two days after he spoke at a MAHA PAC Get Out the Vote Rally in Clive, ahead of Iowa's November 3 midterm elections.
Means, who resigned from his White House post on October 22, told Breitbart that Iowa's agricultural economy and its troubling cancer rates make the state the natural starting point for the movement's agenda, and he praised Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn for confronting questions that other politicians avoid.
Means: Iowa Must Put Farmers at the Center of Health
"Iowa is ground zero," Means told Breitbart News. "When we think of agriculture, we think of Iowa and the MAHA message that we need to put farmers at the center of health and have a thriving farm economy."
The former adviser argued that rebuilding a safe, real food supply in America starts with asking hard questions about the future of farming, questions he said Lahn has been willing to raise on the campaign trail. Among them: why Iowa has some of the highest cancer rates in the country, a topic Means said is discussed at kitchen tables across the state.
"Zach has bravely talked about the cancer rates in Iowa, and that's a big topic around the Iowa kitchen table," Means said. "And as Bobby Kennedy said, the path is honest conversations and plotting a future where we have healthy Americans and great food."
Means also recounted an exchange with a Washington lobbyist who claimed Iowans could not handle the complexity of the cancer question. "I said the people of Iowa can handle two issues at once," Means responded. "Of course, we need stable input prices for our farming, but we also care about the health of our children, the health of our food."
Why Calley Means Left the Trump Administration
Means announced his resignation from the White House in an October 22 post on X, less than a week before the Clive rally. PBS NewsHour reported that Means stepped down amid growing frustration within parts of the MAHA movement over the pace of progress on food and health priorities.
In his resignation post, Means expressed "tremendous respect for President Trump and Bobby Kennedy" and listed the policies he helped steer, including Dietary Guidelines reform, removing soda from SNAP, removing artificial food dyes, GRAS reform, and overhauling government food procurement.
"More policy and cultural change has happened around these goals in the past 2 years than any time in history, and I know this movement is just getting started," Means wrote.
Not everyone in the movement shares that assessment. USA Today reported that a MAHA Scorecard released this month tracked 42 administration promises and found zero fully kept, five partially kept, and 37 broken. Means remained a defender of the administration even as some MAHA advocates criticized the White House, according to Civil Eats.
Means Praises RFK Jr. and Zach Lahn at Clive Rally
Speaking to rally attendees at the October 28 event in Clive, a Des Moines suburb, Means said his recent departure freed him to speak candidly about Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s tenure in the Trump administration.
"There has never in modern history been a person with more integrity that has come to the halls of power in Washington, DC, than Robert F. Kennedy," Means told the crowd.
He said Kennedy is "fighting every single day for every single MAHA mom in this room against very dark forces," with the support of President Trump, but against what he called a broken D.C. infrastructure. Speakers at the rally included Kennedy, Lahn, and other Republican candidates and agricultural advocates.
Corruption Is the Number One Issue, Means Says
Means tied Iowa's struggles in agriculture, health care, and affordability to a single root cause: corruption, which he called the defining issue of this election cycle.
"Very powerful industries profit from family farms going under, and they profit quite frankly from sick kids who need care for the rest of their life," Means said. "We need candidates with the courage to see that as it is, and call it out."
He pointed to the loss of family farms, foreign and hedge fund purchases of Iowa farmland, and incentives he said favor big operators over independent farmers. "The road to better health goes to our fork, not the prescription pad," Means said.
"It's because of corruption. It's because there are so few leaders like Zach who have a willingness to tell the truth," he concluded.
What Comes Next for MAHA in Iowa
The Clive rally came in the final days before the November 3 midterms, with Lahn on the ballot and the MAHA movement looking to Iowa as proof that its message can win in the heartland. Means predicted the next ten years will be decisive for the country, and he argued that leaders like Kennedy and Lahn represent the way forward.
"I think this existential conversation starts in Iowa," Means said.
FAQ
What did Calley Means say about Iowa?
Means called Iowa "ground zero" for the Make America Healthy Again movement, saying the state's agricultural economy and cancer rates make it the starting point for putting farmers at the center of American health policy.
When did Calley Means resign from the Trump administration?
Means announced his resignation from his White House and HHS role on October 22, 2026, in a post on X, citing continued support for President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Who spoke at the MAHA rally in Clive, Iowa?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn, Calley Means, and other Republican candidates, elected officials, and health and agricultural advocates spoke at the October 28 rally hosted by MAHA PAC.