Campaign ad audit · IA-03 · September 3, 2026
Zach Nunn “Stand Up For Us” ad against Sarah Trone Garriott
Nunn’s campaign released the ad on August 21, 2026, arguing that Trone Garriott’s Iowa Senate votes conflict with her more recent campaign statement that she opposes “letting men in women’s locker rooms.”
Quick rating
IA Fact Check rating: Partly supported / needs context.
The core voting-record claim is supported: Trone Garriott voted no on Iowa’s 2022 girls’ sports bill, HF 2416, and no on the 2023 school restroom/changing-area bill, SF 482. The ad’s wording is more loaded than the legislative record because a no vote against a prohibition is not identical to an affirmative vote to “let boys” enter girls’ sports or locker rooms in every case.
What the ad says
The campaign says the 60-second spot, titled “Stand Up For Us,” features an Iowa athlete and focuses on Trone Garriott’s votes on girls’ sports and locker rooms. The reported line in the ad is: Sarah Trone Garriott voted to let boys play in girls’ sports and go into girls’ locker rooms.
The ad followed a Trone Garriott campaign spot in which she said she opposes letting men in women’s locker rooms
and says parents, not politicians, should make decisions for their kids.
What the record shows
- HF 2416, 2022: Iowa’s bill history describes the measure as relating to student athletic eligibility based on sex. It passed the Senate 31-17 and was signed by the governor on March 3, 2022. The official Senate voting report lists Trone Garriott among the nays; Zach Nunn was listed among the yeas.
- SF 482, 2023: Iowa’s bill history describes the measure as prohibiting people from entering elementary and secondary school restrooms or changing areas that do not correspond with biological sex. It passed the Senate 33-16 and was signed by the governor on March 22, 2023. The March 7 Senate Journal lists Trone Garriott among the nays.
- Current-position dispute: Trone Garriott’s campaign told the Washington Examiner that she believes parents, not politicians, should decide what is best for their kids, and that she does not want men in women’s locker rooms.
Verdict
The ad is strongest when it says Trone Garriott voted against the relevant restrictions. That statement is supported by Iowa legislative records. It is weaker when it turns those no votes into the broader phrase “voted to let boys” because that compresses a policy dispute over transgender students, school authority, parent authority, and state prohibitions into a more absolute campaign attack.
For IA Fact Check indexing, this should be treated as a voting-record claim with loaded framing, not as a wholly unsupported attack.
Source trail
- Zach Nunn campaign media page — Aug. 21 ad listing
- Washington Examiner — report with ad language and Trone Garriott campaign response
- Iowa Legislature — HF 2416 Senate roll call
- Iowa Legislature — HF 2416 bill history
- Iowa Legislature — SF 482 bill history
- Iowa Senate Journal — March 7, 2023 SF 482 vote