Zach was raised in Lexington and is a ninth-generation Kentuckian. Zach went to Stanford University and after college, worked as an eighth grade English teacher in the Mississippi Delta, as a part of the Teach For America program. He then attended the University of Michigan Law School, where he made the decision to serve his country and was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. He spent over 4 years in the Navy on active duty. In 2017, Zach became a federal prosecutor in the US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. In that role he traveled the country prosecuting crimes to protect people’s civil and constitutional rights.
In 2020 he found his way home when Governor Andy Beshear appointed Zach to be his policy advisor and eventual legislative director. After leaving the Beshear administration, Zach once again returned to his role as a federal prosecutor, this time in his hometown of Lexington, as an Assistant United States Attorney. After seeing firsthand the corruption and politicization of the Department of Justice, Zach made the difficult choice to resign from the job that he loved. But, he didn’t want that to be the end of his public service, and he didn’t want to back down from the fight. He’s running to face the failed DC leadership head-on by running to be Central Kentucky’s voice in Congress.