Meet Brad

Iowa Values

Brad was born and raised in Des Moines. As the son of a hard-working farm implement dealer, he learned the life lessons of honesty, respect and others before self. He attended public and parochial schools where he enjoyed student government and athletics and graduated from Dowling High School. Brad attended college at Grand View and Ellsworth. While in high school and college he worked for his father’s John Deere dealership learning the practical lessons of the business of agriculture.

After college he worked in the hardware trade and soon took the opportunity to go into business for himself. It was there as proprietor of his own hardware store, Zaun’s Trustworthy Hardware, in Urbandale for eighteen years that he learned the hard lessons of business ownership. At the same time Brad started a family, enjoyed watching his children grow, struggled to make ends meet and wrestled with the challenges facing every young husband and father.

Businessman

Like many small business owners’ experience, things didn’t always go well or come easy. There were some pretty lean years, times when Brad had to make sure his employees were paid before, if and when, he could pay himself. In fact, for a short while Brad faced the ugly possibilities of failure, foreclosure and financial ruin. But he didn’t back down. He didn’t run away. He didn’t blame anyone else. He shouldered the responsibility and did not ask for or get a government bailout. Instead, Brad persevered, succeeded and made good on all of his obligations until they were paid in full.

Having walked in the same shoes as many main street business owners of the Third Congressional District, Brad knows what it is like and yet he was able to turn the situation around. He kept the doors open all those years, both good and bad, learned to compete with the mega-corporations, and learned to meet the demands of an ever growing and changing clientele. He made the store successful to the point he was offered an attractive buy-out. Now as the vice president of a local real estate firm he has been applying those life lessons in yet another challenging and rewarding arena of life.

Community Leader

While owner of Zaun’s Trustworthy Hardware, Brad was always active in the community and took advantage of the opportunities afforded to him. One such opportunity was being elected president of the local chamber of commerce. There Brad learned the issues he was facing as a business leader were not unique but were shared by nearly all of the business community.

Before long, with the encouragement of many members of the chamber and other good friends, Brad ran for and was elected to the Urbandale City Council. While on the council he soon saw improvements he knew needed to be made, so with a specific plan to streamline the city government, Brad ran for mayor. That plan was built on the life lessons of leading a business, of making the best with what you have and turning obstacles into opportunities. On that platform the people of Urbandale chose to elect Brad Zaun as their mayor.

During his tenure as mayor, Urbandale experienced unprecedented commercial and residential growth, and during that same time the city was able to create some of the best metro area amenities and achieved the highest national quality of life rankings of any city in Iowa. Urbandale enjoyed record growth all the while recognized as having the lowest taxes in the metropolitan area. During those years as mayor of Urbandale, Brad was able to turn a vision into reality with a practical workable plan.

State Leader

Next, Brad took his plan of streamlined government and fiscal responsibility to the Iowa State Capitol when he was elected State Senator from NW Des Moines and Urbandale. While serving in the minority party is challenging enough, it is particularly daunting when the majority party is spending like there is no tomorrow!

Brad began to work hard to build consensus and successfully sponsor bills and programs to expand educational access for all Iowans, to significantly toughen Iowa laws against illegal drugs, and to measurably reduce bureaucracy and tax burdens on Iowa’s farmers, small business owners and senior citizens.

Despite being in the minority, Brad consistently pushed for greater state government fiscal responsibility and a balanced budget. Brad was elected Assistant Minority Leader by his peers during the last senate session.

Future Leader

It is with the core values, lessons learned and practical proven principles that Brad now seeks your support in his race for United States Representative in Iowa’s Third District.

Issues