DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Rob Sand will rally a crowd for the first time as the official Democratic nominee for Iowa governor on Sunday, kicking off a countdown to November with the support of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
The race for governor between Sand and Republican Zach Lahn stands to be one of the most competitive in the country as Iowans face a state budget deficit, struggling agricultural economy and cancer crisis.
Even as Sand downplays party politics, Democrats are putting faith in him to blaze a trail in the state after struggling electorally in recent cycles.
“We are all in on flipping Iowa,” said Beshear, chair of the Democratic Governors Association and a potential presidential candidate in 2028. “It’s certainly time for a change, and I think the people of Iowa know that Rob Sand will always put them first and lead in a way that lifts families up and doesn’t leave them out.”
Sand, who was unopposed on the primary ballot, learned who his opponent would be after Tuesday’s primary settled an unpredictable five-way Republican contest.
Little known before his bid for governor, Lahn made a splash as a business owner criticizing farm consolidation and tax breaks for corporate giants, a regenerative farmer who subscribes to Robert F. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement and a former political operative who galvanized Iowa’s conservative grassroots.
Iowa has open races for both governor and U.S. senator for the first time since 1968, plus three battleground congressional races. National attention on the state has soared in recent months, drawing President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance to Iowa.
Democrats will have an uphill climb with a 200,000-person deficit in statewide voter registration, and they are outnumbered in every House district. Sand, along with Senate candidate Josh Turek, say they can win over independents and Republicans who are frustrated with party politics and a Republican trifecta in Washington and Des Moines that they blame for the state’s challenges.
Turek will face U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who already has portrayed Turek as a liberal puppet for party leader Sen. Chuck Schumer.
Lahn has also rejected Sand’s nonpartisan pitch.
“Rob Sand is not a moderate,” Lahn said in his victory speech Tuesday. “He’s a liberal career politician pretending to be someone he’s not.”
Sand says divided government is a good thing
Sand is vocal about his dislike of partisanship, his distrust of both political parties and his desire for divided government in Iowa. He says he thinks most Iowans feel the same.
Even if Sand is elected governor in November, he will likely have to work with Republican majorities in the state House and Senate, which recently passed bills to restrict the executive’s power that outgoing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law.
“I’m not here to tell you that the answer to 10 years of one-party control is to give the other party 10 years of one-party control. I don’t think that’s right,” Sand said Tuesday after casting his primary ballot. “But I do think that it’s time to say enough to the people who have had 10 years of one-party control. It’s time for balanced government in Iowa.”
Neither Sand or Lahn use their party’s traditional blue or red in campaign materials, opting instead for green. They both say they aren’t beholden to their party establishments and that Iowans want a new direction, though Lahn’s Republican Party has held a statehouse trifecta for nearly a decade.
Sand’s campaign has given about $750,000 to the Iowa Democratic Party already this cycle, funding that Republicans call hypocritical for a candidate who claims he is not a party man. The Sand campaign says that sum reflects his investment in a state party-run coordinated campaign that will help him get elected as governor, even as it also supports candidates up and down the ballot.
Beshear brings national support as he considers his own future
As Democrats continue to debate what went wrong in 2024 and the direction of the party, Beshear has offered up his own example as the leader of a red state for lessons on how the party can go forward.
Beshear said he is trying to be a “voice of reason in the chaos” of Trump’s administration and that he is comfortable being listed among the names of Democrats considering a presidential bid in 2028, even as he said he is focused on the critical midterms.
In addition to rallying with Sand, Beshear will also be at a “Beers with Beshear” fundraiser for congressional candidate Sarah Trone Garriott, who wants to unseat Republican Rep. Zach Nunn in the competitive House district that includes Des Moines. Beshear said he will see Turek too.
The Democratic Governors Association, which Beshear chairs, gave the Iowa Democratic Party about $140,000 so far this cycle, according to filing reports.
Hannah Fingerhut, The Associated Press
