Sex Toys Penetrate Iowa Governor's Race; Federal Regulatory Filings Reveal Context to Controversy
A guest column by Phoebe Wall Howard
Note: Phoebe Wall Howard is an award-winning reporter who worked for The Des Moines Register, covering organized labor and politics. She now writes Shifting Gears on Substack and is a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative.
Warning: This column includes language that may be offensive or upsetting to a person unaccustomed to graphic terms or profanity.
With fewer than 48 hours until the polls open for the Iowa primary election, I read with interest about the heated race for governor among Republicans.
President Trump breathlessly weighed into the race with his Truth Social account on Friday, May 29: “Randy is MAGA all the way! … Randy Feenstra has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Governor of Iowa — RANDY WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
When I was driving around western Iowa in April — from Iowa City over to Carroll up to Storm Lake and back to Denison — you couldn’t help but notice Feenstra signs dotting the manicured front lawns.
Yet political reporter Laura Belin headlined her piece on Sunday, May 31, “As Feenstra sinks, GOP establishment hits panic button. Even with Trump’s backing, Feenstra could lose.”
Fact is, voter support in Iowa for President Trump has grown steadily over the past decade: 51% in 2016, 53% in 2020, and 55.7% in 2024.
So this situation captured my attention and inspired me to dig a little deeper.
Why would longtime MAGA voters not support MAGA pick Randy Feenstra?
Zach Lahn (pronounced “Lane”) has had the resources to personally invest millions into his campaign, as documented by campaign finance reports.
I wanted to learn more about the surging candidate:
People don’t seem to mind that he has been living in Kansas and recently relocated to Iowa to run for governor.
The Kansas Reflector (part of StatesNewsroom) reported on Friday, May 29, that Lahn declined to respond to questions about why he chose to run for governor in Iowa instead of Kansas or his decision in 2024 to transfer his voter registration to Iowa after voting in Kansas elections in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
The Des Moines Register reported that Lahn had flown 37 flights on his personal plane between Iowa and Wichita since Oct. 1, 2025, which Lahn has said were taken to visit family.
Lahn is listed as co-founder and “head of school” at Wonder, a private K-12 school in Wichita, Kansas, since 2017 that charges $10,000 annual tuition. Its website provides little detail about operations, though it does note that the first Wonder graduate has a passion for Jesus and self-improvement.
Lahn and his current wife, Annie, co-founded Wonder in 2017. Each was married to others when they met. They now co-parent seven children. Annie was married for a decade to Chase Koch, son of multi-billionaire Charles Koch and co-founder of the Chase and Annie Koch Foundation.
When founded, Wonder was “supported by Annie and Chase Koch,” according to a Wichita State University website. (Wonder private school, located on the college campus, had a lease agreement for $90,000 a year.) The Koch family members are known as major benefactors of Wichita State, for whom the Charles Koch Arena and Koch Global Trading Center are named.
Lahn has little content on his LinkedIn professional profile, which is standard in the business world as a point of reference for investors. It does not appear to have been updated recently and has no photo. Lahn is “Zach L” and head of school at Wonder.
(LinkedIn does not mention Lahn grew up near Sioux City, graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, worked for Montana and Colorado members of Congress, and served as Montana director of Americans for Prosperity, the libertarian advocacy group founded by Charles and David Koch.)
Lahn is “steward” of The Homeplace, a 100-year-old farmhouse in Belle Plaine, Iowa, which he purchased in 2015 as the great-grandson of the original homeowner and builder. Restoration of the home was featured on a reality TV show that aired in 2023.
Sex toy claims and documents
But what really captured my attention in the race for governor was a 15-second ad dropped by Randy Feenstra on Wednesday, May 27:
“Zach Lahn says he represents Iowa values. But Lahn invested a million dollars in a sex toy company called FirmTech. They’re even connected with Porn hub, a website hurting marriages and harming children. Zach Lahn’s phony values end where his profits begin.”
Yes, The Des Moines Register had reported on Monday, May 18, about Lahn’s investment in a “men’s sexual health company.” His campaign did tell the newspaper that FirmTech initially produced ‘medical devices,’ and that he stepped down from the board in 2023, before the company released ‘pleasure’ products.”
So, never mind that a primary investor in a company focused on men’s sexual health also runs a private school for children K-12.
A basic online search for FirmTech surfaces references to the “cock ring” that constrains blood flow to help men maintain harder erections longer.
The company says on its homepage, “Put a ring on it” and “Get Harder, Longer-Lasting Erections & Intense Orgasms.”
Porn hub specifically promotes the FirmTech cock ring. The description of the device and its impact posted at pornhub.com is too graphic for me to repeat (you will have to click on the link to read it—be forewarned that you will likely permanently alter your algorithm for ads).
Lahn at FirmTech
The Lahn campaign told The Des Moines Register that FirmTech initially produced medical devices and that Lahn stepped down from the board in 2023, before the company released pleasure products.
That claim is undermined by a YouTube video released a year earlier and cited in federal documents portraying FirmTech as a “sextech startup” that delivers pleasure products.
Fact is, Lahn was a major investor in a small company creating products and technology that help erectile dysfunction (ED) and is actively sold as a pleasure product. Yet he’s trying to create distance.
In a filing with federal regulators signed on June 20, 2023, by Elliott Justin, then-and-now FirmTech CEO, Lahn is listed as one of three company officials signing the Form C paperwork. It does not list a title for Lahn.
Here’s what the submission to the Securities and Exchange Commission includes:
FirmTech was formed on Sept. 16, 2020.
Only three directors are listed for FirmTech. The directors are Elliott Justin, founder and CEO, Dr. James Hoteling, urologist and associate professor at the University of Utah, and Zachary Lahn, head of school at Wonder.
The document said early stock ownership gave Justin 58.5% of the voting power, and Lahn had 28.2% as an investor through the Selah Group LLC.
Lahn appears to have paid $1 million on Sept. 8, 2021.
Overview: First smart erectile ring that increases pleasure and performance while aiding ED and heart disease
Since being founded in 2020, milestones have included “most innovative sex toy” from XBIZ, designed an advisory board of sex experts and urologists to address problems with men’s health, raised $2.5 million for R&D, launched successfully in 2022, “sold 1000s of C-rings months after launch”
Only three signatures appear at the end of the regulatory filing dated June 2023: Zach Lahn, general counsel Rachael Kierych and CEO Elliott Justin. He doesn’t have a title listed. Small print at the bottom says they’re authorized company representatives.
They’re selling c**k rings
So, it appears that Lahn was affiliated with FirmTech through June 2023, a year after the launch of the cock rings.
At issue, one could reasonably ask, is why an early major investor would insist he had no idea the market direction of the product and whether that’s even credible.
The product patent application, submitted by inventor and CEO Elliott Justin, is dated August 25, 2021. Is Lahn suggesting that, as a primary investor and board member of a startup, he didn’t understand what was being submitted on behalf of the company’s future? That makes zero sense in med-tech.
The official erectile device design patent date for FirmTech was granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Nov. 7, 2023. Related patent designs include sexual aids, sexual stimulation, masturbation devices, vibrators, and adult toys.
Trying to eliminate shame
The patent application actually includes the link to a YouTube video as an additional citation. Hatch Duo, an industrial design and product engineering company that worked with FirmTech, posted the video titled “Designing and innovating the future of sex tech: A look at FirmTech’s performance ring.”
It includes the banner: “It’s time to heat up your sex life with technology and comfort.”
The video was posted on June 27, 2022.
“It’s no secret that early-stage sextech startups or entrepreneurs navigating this industry may face roadblocks due to the stigmatized nature of conversations surrounding sexual health and wellness,” Hatch Duo wrote. “Sextech consists of technology designed to enhance and innovate sexual wellness and experience. If founders are willing to educate and normalize conversations about sex … we believe it’s essential to remain open-minded.”
FirmTech, a sextech company founded with money from Zach Lahn, has a mission to “change the conversation away from ‘erectile dysfunction’ to ‘erectile fitness.’ Normalizing the phrase eliminates shame and empowers men.”
Ironically, Lahn’s desire to distance himself from FirmTech suggests shame.
Or, maybe he just thinks it might hurt his ability to win his bid for governor.
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I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out our recent work here. I also publish Cedar Creek Nature Notes, about Violet the Dog and my adventures on our morning walks at Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County, Iowa.
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You are an amazing sleuth, Phoebe. I just saw an ad about Rob Sand that, in effect, tries to show him as not having done his job when anyone who follows the news knows our governor has hamstrung him from doing his job. Somebody needs to call that out!
Great reporting by Phoebe! She turned this around incredibly quickly.