(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand emphasizes moderate stance at town hall • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]
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Date: 2025-06-25
As Democrat Rob Sand held his first of 100 planned town halls on the campaign trail for Iowa governor Wednesday, he emphasized he wants to be a public servant who doesn’t abide by party interests — and shared policy positions where he differs from most Democrats.
At the event at the Theater Arts Center in Waukee, Sand started by asking how many people in the crowd were Republicans, independents, and people who voted against him in elections, asking the audience to clap. Many did.
He then led the crowd to sing “America the Beautiful” with him before launching into his reasons for running for governor and answering questions from the crowd.
Sand, the only Democrat to currently hold statewide elected office in Iowa as state auditor, said though he is running as a Democrat, he is not a fan of political parties. When he first registered to vote, he registered as an independent, Sand said, but later “picked my poison” by registering as a Democrat to vote in political primaries. However, he said, “we should be talking about the fact that it is poison, we should still be talking about the fact that no matter what your party is, partisanship in this state and in this country has gone too far.”
He said he wants to focus instead on policies and ways that government can work to better serve Iowans on the campaign trail.
“Let’s talk about issues,” Sand said. “Let’s talk about integrity. Let’s talk about ideas. Let’s learn what the facts are by talking to all the different stakeholders involved, and then figure out what a good thing to do is that we can actually implement, and then talk about that.”
While Sand is currently one of the highest-profile candidates in the 2026 race for governor and entered the race with more than $8 million from the 2024 calendar year, he is also running as a Democrat — a potentially tough sell following several election cycles where Republicans have won big across state and federal offices in Iowa.
Gov. Kim Reynolds’ decision to not run for reelection in 2026, combined with national discontent with President Donald Trump’s administration and Congress, could put Democrats, including Sand, in a better position for the upcoming election than previous years. However, Sand said he does not want to focus on advancing a Democratic agenda as governor, but on enacting policies that will improve Iowa.
He criticized Reynolds’ comments at several events that she is in friendly competitions with other GOP governors to pass tax cuts and certain policies.
“We have a governor right now who has talked about the fact that she thinks she’s in competition with other Republican governors to enact policies those Republican governors are in states that are nothing like Iowa, that can pursue policies that would not work in Iowa,” Sand said. “… I cannot understand that mindset. I can’t. I would work with anybody to do something good for the state of Iowa, but also (if) someone’s trying to do something bad or suggesting something that I don’t think would work here, I wouldn’t be interested in it. I have seen too much of policies getting imported from elsewhere that don’t work for Iowa.”
In addition to saying he would not be interested in following a party agenda, Sand said he supports certain policies opposed by many Democrats. When asked by a member of the audience about limiting unhealthy foods available for purchase through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Sand said he is generally supportive of a restriction. Democrats and hunger advocates often oppose SNAP restrictions, saying it is an unnecessary restriction for families in need seeking food.
“I think that one is a good idea,” Sand said. “People who criticize it as paternalistic, saying like, ‘Oh, well, you know, you shouldn’t decide what they’re going to buy with SNAP.’ Well, feeding people might be paternalistic too, and I feed my kids, and we don’t buy them pop. And I think that makes sense.”
But he said he does not support certain components of these proposals, pointing to Reynolds’ waiver excluding certain foods like candy and soft drinks from SNAP approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in May that would allow for candy to be purchased if it has flour in it. Sand asked “Gee, I wonder, was there someone that makes flour that had a role in crafting that legislation?” and said these measures need to pass the “smell test” if implemented.
Sand has also made other comments differing from typical Democratic positions, including answering “no” when asked on the WHO AM Simon Conway show in May if “biological boys or men should play women’s sports.”
Republicans have criticized Sand for portraying himself as moderate in his gubernatorial campaign. At an event earlier Wednesday, potential GOP gubernatorial candidate Iowa Sen. Mike Bousselot, R-Ankeny, called Sand a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Though he said emphasized his moderate bonafides, Sand also said there are many measures passed by Republicans that he would oppose as governor. When asked about how he would work with Republicans at the Statehouse, who hold majorities in both chambers, Sand said Iowans could expect “more vetoes, probably.”
Sand said he would work across the aisle to advance measures he believe would help the state, but said that being a Democratic governor working with GOP-led chambers would mean some priorities are unlikely to pass.
“No one can honestly sit here and tell you, ‘I’m going to do this and I’m going to do that,’ because when we have divided government, it’s hard to get a lot of things done,” Sand said. “It also, though, means that for the folks out there who tend to be on the other side of the aisle, who are Republicans, having a Democratic governor doesn’t mean that I get to do everything I want, either. It means that we’re just going to have balance in the state of Iowa.”
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