In April 2026, five months before his passing, Zahnd announced that he wouldn’t seek reelection and that he would be retiring.
“It’s been, as I’ve said, the greatest joy of my life,” Zahnd stated at the time. “Every day when I go into the courtroom and fight for victims and fight for justice for my people in Platte County, it is a solemn obligation that I feel.”
While the prosecutor emphasized his love of the role, he also said that it’s the “right time” for him to step down, and that he and his wife had been working on his “exit plan” for years.
Zahnd expressed his desire to spend more time with his sons, one of whom is studying law, and the other is a first-year PhD candidate. He joked that he’d live out his “politics” through his politically interested son.
His plan was to work until his tenure ended and to help his preferred successor, Mark Gibson, settle in if he won the election.