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Rob Sand raised $9.5M last year, without help from family, in his campaign for Iowa governor
New state fundraising reports show Sand received more than 8,000 donations in one day when he launched his gubernatorial campaign in May
Jan. 20, 2026 6:04 pm, Updated: Jan. 20, 2026 7:25 pm
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DES MOINES — On the day he launched his campaign for Iowa governor last May, Rob Sand received a staggering 8,180 individual donations to his campaign, totaling more than $2.2 million.
On Day 2, another 4,321 donations poured in.
Sand proved to be a prolific fundraiser last year: the Democratic state auditor running for governor raised $9.6 million in 2025, receiving nearly 117,000 individual donations, according to state campaign fundraising reports filed this week.
Sand finished the year with more than $13.2 million in his campaign account, the records show.
For comparison’s sake, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2021, the year before her re-election campaign, raised nearly $3.8 million on 20,012 individual donations, and finished that year with $4.8 million in her account.
At the time, Reynolds’ campaign said both dollar figures were Iowa state office fundraising records.
None of the donations to Sand in 2025 came from his immediate family or in-laws; his wife and her family donated $7 million to him in 2024.
Sand, the state auditor and lone statewide elected Democrat, is one of two Democrats running for Iowa governor in this year’s elections. The other is West Des Moines consultant Julie Stauch.
Reynolds, who has held the office since 2017, announced last year that she will not seek re-election to another four-year term.
Five Republicans are campaigning for their party’s nomination for governor: western Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra, state legislator Eddie Andrews of Johnston, former state agency director Adam Steen of Indianola, business owner Zach Lahn of Belle Plaine, and former state legislator Brad Sherman of Williamsburg.
Iowa’s open-seat gubernatorial election is rated “lean Republican” by national political forecasters Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and “likely Republican” by Inside Elections.
“Iowans from every corner of the state and all political stripes are supporting Rob Sand as Iowa’s next governor because they know he will put them first and get to work on Day One tackling Iowa’s toughest challenges,” Sand Deputy Campaign Manager Emma O’Brien said in a press release earlier this month.
“This record-breaking haul is proof that Iowans are tired of the status quo in Des Moines that has left them behind over the last decade of one-party rule, and are putting their hard-earned dollars behind a campaign that prioritizes people over politics and works to build an Iowa that isn’t redder or bluer, but better and truer,” O’Brien said. “From now until Election Day, Rob will keep his foot on the gas and continue meeting voters where they are, talking about the issues that matter, and fighting to improve Iowans’ lives.”
Sand’s campaign said the 2025 fundraising includes donations from all 99 counties and individuals of all political stripes, including more than 1,200 registered Republican voters from 98 counties and more than 4,000 no-party voters. The campaign also said it received no donations from corporate Political Action Committees.
Feenstra raised more than $4.3 million from 1,987 individual donations in 2025, according to his report. In a press release, Feenstra’s campaign said the figure was a record for a Republican candidate for Iowa governor in a nonelection year.
Feenstra ended the year with $3.2 million in his account.
“I’m blown away by the incredible support we’ve received from thousands of Iowans in just seven short months,” Feenstra said in the campaign press release. He said donors gave to his campaign “because Iowans believe in our vision to take our state to new heights and advance President Trump’s America First agenda in Iowa.
“I’m grateful to everyone who has supported our campaign, and I look forward to earning the vote of every Iowan who wants to see a stronger Iowa.”
All campaign fundraising reports are public records and are available for viewing at the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board’s website, ethics.iowa.gov.
Noteworthy from Sand’s fundraising, spending
Sand received support from both large- and small-dollar donors.
Sand’s top individual donors were Kirk and Robin Kirkegaard, of Indianola: they donated $500,000 to Sand last year.
He also received $250,000 from Reid Hoffman, the cofounder of LinkedIn and a prominent Democratic donor from California; $200,000 from Fred Hubbell, the real estate business owner and 2018 Democratic candidate for Iowa governor; and seven donations of $100,000 to $103,000.
Among the other high-dollar donations to Sand was $50,000 from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Community Choice Credit Union contributed more than $341,000 to Sand.
On the other end of the donor spectrum, Sand received 8,540 donations of exactly $1, and more than 63,000 donations of $10 or less.
Out of his total haul, more than $2.4 million came on the more than 113,000 donations of $100 or less, which comprised nearly 97 percent of all individual donations.
On the campaign’s spending side, Sand’s operation spent more than $1.3 million on a national political advertising and consulting business, Break Something. On its website, the company bills itself as “an ‘all screen’ media firm, online fundraising firm, and full service advertising agency with a niche in cutting edge digital tactics.”
Noteworthy from Feenstra’s fundraising, spending
Feenstra’s top individual donor was Jeff Broin, the CEO and founder of POET, a biofuels company with facilities throughout Iowa, South Dakota and other states, and offices in South Dakota and Kansas.
Broin donated $250,000 to Feenstra’s gubernatorial campaign last year, state records show.
POET has partnered with Summit Carbon Solutions on that company’s carbon capture pipeline project, which has sparked property rights and eminent domain policy debates in Iowa and South Dakota.
Feenstra also received a $164,000 donation from his congressional leadership PAC, Delivers PAC, and $100,000 from his congressional campaign account.
Feenstra also had a large share of small-dollar donors: 1,457 donations to his campaign last year — 73 percent of his individual donations — were $100 or less.
Noteworthy from other candidates’ fundraising
- Lahn ended the year with more than $2.1 million in his campaign account, but that includes a $2 million loan from Lahn to his campaign. Lahn raised roughly $157,000. Lahn announced his campaign late in the year, on Nov. 6.
- Steen raised roughly $500,000 and ended the year with $336,000 in his account. His top donors were Randy and Ronda Bern, of Runnells. Randy Bern is president and cofounder of Vannguard Utility Partners, a utilities contract locating company.
- Sherman raised nearly $202,000 and ended the year with just more than $85,000 in his campaign account. His top donor was Leo Kelly, a Marion man who was convicted of federal charges from his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol. Kelly donated $25,000 to Sherman.
- Andrews raised just more than $40,000, but also had more than $35,000 in expenditures, leaving him with just more than $5,000 in his account at the end of the year.
- Stauch’s 2025 campaign fundraising had not yet been published by the state as of late Tuesday afternoon.
Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com
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