Cash for crowds scandal as lobbyist ‘offered hundreds of dollars to recruit attendees for JD Vance speech’
Vice President JD Vance’s appearance in a state critical to the 2028 Republican presidential nomination is raising eyebrows due to a lobbyist’s bid to entice attendees.
Ahead of a rally Vance headlined in Des Moines with Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn that took place last Tuesday, a text message was sent by an Iowa ethanol lobbyist recruiting spectators to attend. The messages contained an offer of payment.
The text, obtained and published by Iowa Starting Line read:
‘Gentlemen, Jake Swanson here. I wanted to invite you to join me in seeing Vice President JD Vance this afternoon in Des Moines. I do some work for an ethanol company and so if you’re able to join, I will give you $100, and for anyone that you recruit, an additional $25. No limit on referrals, so if someone recruits a group of 20 to show up, that’s $500.’
Swanson is a lobbyist and a former policy adviser to Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds.
In a statement to Iowa Starting Line, Swanson defended the move: ‘I love ethanol and what it does for our state.
‘So I was happy to bring some Iowa State kids to the rally to celebrate all the things Trump-Vance have done for biofuels and I think there’s opportunity for so much more. This is what I like to do in my own personal spare time,’ Swanson noted.
A spokesperson for the Vice President told The Daily Mail after publication that ‘our office had no involvement in or knowledge of any such efforts.’
US Vice President JD Vance speaks during an event in support of US Representative Zach Nunn, Republican from Iowa, at Ex-Guard Industries, a manufacturing facility in Des Moines, Iowa, May 5, 2026
An ethanol plant with its giant corn silos next to a cornfield in Windsor, Colorado July 7, 2006
There was no suggestion that Vance or his team were aware of Swanson’s actions. Swanson was also contacted for additional comment.
Representative Zach Nunn, an Iowa Republican, speaks during an event with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, at Ex-Guard Industries, a manufacturing facility in Des Moines, Iowa, May 5, 2026
Lobbying disclosures filed by Swanson show that only one of his clients, Great Plains Institute, advocates for ethanol expansion.
The non-profit denied knowledge of Swanson’s recruitment efforts, and also noted that his work for them is not on the ethanol issues.
‘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 spokesman Drew Henry told Iowa Starting Line.
At the rally, Vance campaigned alongside Republican Congressman Zach Nunn and advocated expanding E15 ethanol sales.
‘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.
The alleged pay-for-attendance scheme could raise campaign finance questions if corporate or nonprofit funds were used to inflate the crowd, though Swanson claimed the payments were made with his own funds.
