Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn is facing criticism after a video showed him knocking a political tracker’s phone away on a sidewalk in Washington, D.C., after being asked about rural hospital closures.
The incident happened on Thursday as Nunn was walking with another man in the nation’s capital.
As seen in the video, a political tracker approached him and asked, “Congressman Nunn, do you still think that rural hospital closures are a myth?”
Nunn replied, “I’m with a constituent. Come on,” while trying to wave the tracker away. However, Iowa reporter Laura Belin later said the man walking with Nunn was actually a reporter, not a constituent as Nunn had claimed, according to Raw Story.
When the tracker kept following him and asked, “No response, sir?” Nunn turned toward the camera and said, “You should protect their privacy.” He then used his own phone to knock the tracker’s phone out of his hand.
MS NOW Capitol Hill reporter Kevin Frey, who first obtained the video, said interactions between politicians and political trackers “are usually pretty tame,” but this one “went in a different direction.”
When asked about the incident, Iowa Rep. told MS NOW in a written statement, “This wasn’t my finest moment, I shouldn’t have responded this way, and I set a bad example.”
He added, “Partisan political operatives are paid to roam Capitol Hill and harass members. These are the exact kind of dirty games that make people hate politics.”
Internet reacts to Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn’s confrontation
The video quickly sparked debate online. Some people said Nunn should face legal consequences, while others saw the incident as part of a larger political problem.
One Reddit user wrote, “I would definitely make a police report..that assault!” Another added, “He could be charged with assault. That does not mean he will be convicted of assault.”
A third commenter wrote, “American politics is such a *expletive* joke.”
Others connected the incident to broader political frustrations. One person wrote, “A Republican congressman behaving like a sociopath with little to no emotional restraint? Well I never!?” Another sarcastically commented, “Republicans committing crimes in broad daylight while being recorded because they know they’ll suffer no consequences. I am shocked! /s”
The question asked to Nunn was linked to comments he made during a July 2025 interview with Iowa’s WHO13. At the time, he said, “the myth here is that rural hospitals are going to close down” because of Medicaid cuts included in Trump’s tax and spending law, adding, “That’s not the case.”
Since then, some healthcare facilities in Iowa have closed, including the MercyOne Ottumwa Family and Internal Medicine Clinic. Staff members were reportedly told about the closure only hours before it was announced publicly.
Nunn is running for a third term representing Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District. The Cook Political Report currently rates his race against Democratic state senator Sarah Trone Garriott as a “toss-up.”
