2024 fundraising reports: Iowa Gov. Reynolds raises $1.8M; family boosts Rob Sand’s fundraising to $8M

DES MOINES — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds raised $1.8 million last year, according to the state campaign finance report she filed Tuesday.

The Republican, who has been in office as governor since 2017, was not on the ballot in 2024 and she has not yet said publicly whether she plans to run for re-election in 2026.

State Auditor Rob Sand, a potential Democratic candidate for governor — who similarly has not yet announced his intentions for 2026 — raised $8.4 million last year, although $7 million of it came from his family, his report shows.

Campaign fundraising reports for the 2024 calendar year for state candidates who were not on the ballot in the 2024 elections were due Tuesday to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.

In a press release issued last week, Sand’s campaign said his 2024 fundraising was a state record and highlighted the more than 28,000 individual donations over the course of the year.

By comparison, Reynolds had over 2,800 individual donations in 2024. She had more than 2,100 in 2020, the same comparable year in the 2022 gubernatorial election cycle. And Fred Hubbell, the Democrats’ unsuccessful candidate for governor in 2018, received roughly 17,400 individual donations in that entire four-year election cycle.

“We’re making Iowa history here, and I can’t wait for everyone — supporters, the media, and the partisan insiders watching — to get a load of how powerful this anti-partisan grassroots team can be when we work together,” Sand wrote in an email to supporters, which was included in the campaign press release.

“I built an anti-partisan team that included people who donated to my opponent’s campaign, and together we took on powerful government insiders and fought for transparency and accountability so much that they passed a law to cut our ability to find waste, fraud, and abuse — and you’ve stepped up to make sure we can continue to be heard,” Sand said in the email about his last auditor campaign. “Thanks to supporters like you, we’ve been able to get voters the facts and keep them apprised of the good and bad in government.”

Of Sand’s 2024 fundraising haul, $3 million came from his wife, Christine Sand, and another $4 million came from her parents, Nixon and Nancy Lauridsen. Nixon Lauridsen and Christine Sand have been leaders in the Lauridsen family’s group of human and animal health and nutrition companies, The Lauridsen Group.

Republican Party of Iowa Chair Jeff Kaufmann, in a statement, accused Sand and his family of “trying to buy his political future.”

“Hardworking Iowans know the value of a dollar and don’t have the luxury of having a silver spoon feeding them their career,” Kaufmann said in the statement. “The charade is up for Rob Sand, and every hardworking Iowan now knows who he really is.”

Sand, who was first elected state auditor in 2018, has not yet said whether he plans to run for re-election as state auditor in 2026 or seek the governor’s office. A spokesman for Sand’s campaign said Sand is focused on his work as auditor.

“Iowans take that responsibility seriously and they have contributed to him because they know he does, too, despite this administration’s work to take away his authority and make it tougher to hold governments accountable,” the campaign spokesman said in a statement. “Rob Sand will continue traveling the state, meeting with Iowans from across the political spectrum, and find the best way to make sure the government is accountable and transparent.”

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While Reynolds did not have seven-digit donors at the top of her 2024 list, she did have 66 donations of $10,000 or more, including 10 from political action committees, or PACs. The average donation to Reynolds’ campaign in 2024 was $647.

Reynolds spent just $433,000 in 2024 and finished the year with $3 million in her campaign account.

The $7 million in donations from his family skews Sands’ averages. With those donations included, the average donation to Sand in 2024 was $302. When excluding those donations, the average donation to Sand in 2024 was just $57.

Sand spent $1.2 million during 2024 and finished the year with $7.5 million in his campaign account.

Jennifer Konfrst, Democrats’ leader in the Iowa House and another potential gubernatorial candidate, raised roughly $947,000 in 2024. Part of Konfrst’s duties as her party’s leader in the chamber is to raise funds to support other Democratic candidates for the House.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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