Whatever happened to ex-Iowa Sen. Brad Zaun? Trump supporter says he likes his new SBA job

Former Iowa state Sen. Brad Zaun told a group of Republicans it has been an “honor” to serve in President Donald Trump’s administration, helping implement his agenda through the Small Business Administration.

Zaun was appointed regional administrator of the SBA earlier this year after losing his Senate reelection contest in November.

Zaun was one of Trump’s earliest endorsers when he first ran for president in 2015 and has maintained a strong relationship with the president.

Zaun spoke to the Westside Conservative Club on Wednesday, June 11, at the Machine Shed Restaurant in Urbandale about getting hired to his new post and about his first months on the job.

After the election, he said, he and his wife were “pretty depressed.”

“And I said, ‘God, must have a different plan for me,’” Zaun said. “And I said, ‘I bet you, in six months, we'll laugh about this.’ Well, right after that, I got a call from … (White House Chief of Staff) Susie Wiles.”

"They said, 'Listen, what do you want to do? The president wants you to be part of his team,'" Zaun said.

He said he floated the idea of serving as an ambassador in the Caribbean before learning that "you spend a lot of time getting Americans out of jail for the stupid things they do while they're drinking.”

He said he also fielded a call from U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who wanted Zaun to head up a national school choice initiative.

“It's something, if you know anything about me, I'm very passionate about,” Zaun said. “And so I had several conversations regarding that. My wife says to me, ‘Aren't you tired of fighting with people all the time?’”

He said he thought “pretty seriously” about accepting that position but ultimately got a call about the job at the Small Business Administration.

Zaun said it felt like a full-circle moment.

He had benefited from an SBA loan as the young owner of a hardware store in Urbandale years ago. He said the job also lets him live at home nearer to his grandchildren as he oversees a four-state region that includes Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.

“I'm just really enjoying this job,” he said. “It's just really been a privilege and an honor to be part of this historic administration.”

As part of Trump’s focus on dramatically scaling back the size of the federal government, Zaun said his office has reduced its workforce by 43%. And although the room applauded at that number, Zaun said “it has not always been that much fun.”

“The team that I have in those four states are incredible people,” he said. “And it really bothers me when I hear people bad mouthing our federal employees or even our state employees, because there is a lot of people that are very dedicated to public service. And the team that I have are very passionate about small business.”

But he cheered the focus on reducing waste, cutting bureaucratic hurdles and reducing budgets.

“I'm just shocked at some of the wasteful spending that I saw when I got in there, and we have reined in that,” he said. “A great example is, there was, at the end of the Biden administration, there was over 9,000 credit cards that were issued, and there was 7,300 employees at the Small Business Administration.”

He said they’ve also scrapped diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives.

But the traditional work of helping coach new and small business owners and offering help to businesses recovering after major disasters continues, Zaun said.   

“I can tell you that there is a lot of great things going on,” he said. “I could tell you that in the first 100 days of the new president, that our loans, our business loans, are up 11%, which tells you something about what's going on.”

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on X at @brianneDMR.

(This story was updated to add a photo gallery.)