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Rob Sand, now campaigning for Iowa governor, stops in Davenport
The state auditor said he plans to host 100 town hall meetings this summer
By Sarah Watson, - Quad-City Times
May. 14, 2025 6:35 pm, Updated: May. 15, 2025 7:37 am
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DAVENPORT — Rob Sand, the state auditor who announced this week he would make a bid for Iowa governor in 2026, stopped in Davenport to rally supporters Wednesday.
Sand, the only Democrat holding statewide elected office in Iowa, told supporters he was running to be a public servant and said his faith was a motivating force. He characterized Republican leadership as running for party members and special interest groups.
"I think Iowans are fed up with it," Sand said. "I think they want a new direction, and I think we can deliver on that for Iowans."
Sand, a 42-year-old lawyer, was first elected state auditor in 2018 and was reelected by a slim margin — fewer than 3,000 votes — in 2022.
Sand cited his experience as a prosecutor, including leading an investigation into what he called the largest lottery rigging scheme in American history, investigations into Iowa film office tax credit violations and violent crime cases.
As auditor, Sand said his office started a government efficiency program that the state auditor of Mississippi copied. Sand said he promoted people in the auditor's office who contributed to his 2018 opponent, and said he would take the same bipartisan approach if elected governor.
"I don't want to do politics. I want to do public service," Sand said, which earned cheers from his supporters.
If elected to the governor's office, Sand said he would prioritize "restoring the power of the auditor's office so that Iowans actually know how their tax dollars are getting spent."
Also, he pointed to federal statistics that show Iowa is 49th in the country in economic growth and said he would push for policies to grow the state's economy.
"There's a number of things that we could be doing better on the economy," Sand said. "One easy piece of that is we should be treating cannabis the same way we treat alcohol. That would grow our economy. It would help us stop spending money to pursue wrong-headed policies, and it would also help fix the state budget."
Sand has talked about his love of fishing, hunting and outdoors activities, and said the state should increase its stock of public land as a way to help reverse the brain drain of young people moving out of Iowa and overall give Iowans more opportunities to be outdoors. He pointed to a 2000s analysis by the Natural Resources Council of Maine that ranked Iowa 49th in the country with about 1 percent of its land owned by the state or federal government.
Sand acknowledged that if he won the governor's race there would likely be a majority Republican Legislature. Shared power, he said "would force us to do the things, the common sense things that we both agree on, and I have no problem working with people who are in the other party."
Sand said he'd raised $2.2 million in the first 24 hours after he announced.
Sand raised $8.6 million last year, although $7 million of it came from his wife, Christine, and in-laws, Nixon and Nancy Lauridsen, campaign finance reports show. He finished the year with $7.5 million in his campaign account.
Sand said he plans to do 100 town halls this summer, and will announce them all at once "like a rock band going on tour." Iowans of all political stripes are welcome, he said. On Wednesday, along with Davenport, he was slated to stop in Cedar Falls and Oelwein.
In Davenport, Beverly Strayhall said she supports Sand because she appreciates how he stands up to and works with people of both parties, is honest and presents the facts and his stances clearly.
Strayhall came sporting a T-shirt that read. "I.O.W.A. 'It's okay with alcohol."
"Hopefully I won't have to wear this shirt when he's governor," Strayhall said.
Iowa GOP chair Jeff Kaufmann criticized Sand in a statement when Sand announced his campaign, calling him an "out-of-touch liberal pushing a radical agenda" of higher taxes and allowing transgender women and girls to compete in female sports.
Sand's campaign announcement comes after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds made a surprise announcement last month that she would not seek a third term, leaving a wide-open Republican primary.
Randy Feenstra, the Republican congressman representing northwest Iowa, filed paperwork Monday with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board to set up a campaign for governor in 2026. Other statewide elected Republicans and legislators have said they're considering running.
Former one-term Republican state lawmaker Brad Sherman, a pastor from Williamsburg, is so far the only declared Republican candidate for governor.
Sand has an uphill battle in a state that has moved right in recent elections. President Donald Trump won Iowa by 13 percentage points in 2024 and Reynolds won by 18 percentage points in 2022. Iowa has not elected a Democrat as governor since 2006.
Next fall's election will be the first gubernatorial race in Iowa since 2006 without an incumbent running.
The Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau and Associated Press contributed to this report.