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August 15th Len’s Political Note #746 Rob Sand Iowa Governor
2026 General Election
Rob Sand
Not so long ago, Iowa was toss up territory. Unpopular, term-limited Kim Reynolds, Iowa’s 43rd Governor, is a Republican as was her predecessor #42 Terry Barnstad. Before him, though, #41 Chet Culver was a Democrat as was #40 Tom Vilsack. The 20th century was the same: Republican, Republican, Democrat, Democrat. You have to go back to the 1938 election to get a long series of Republicans as Iowa governors, a series that finally ends with the 1956 election.
Senators are roughly the same – alternating Senators. Though 91 year old Chuck Grassley, first elected in 1980, makes for a pretty long line of red for one of those Senate seats. As for the House of Representatives, in 2018, Iowa filled three of its four Congressional seats with Democrats.
Currently, Republicans dominate. Both US Senators are Republicans. All four members of the House of Representatives are Republicans. The Governor, the Lt. Governor, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Treasurer, and the elected Secretary of Agriculture are all Republicans.
There is an exception. Just one. Rob Sand, Democrat Rob Sand is the State Auditor.
Things could change for the better for Democrats. Four Democrats want to run against US Senator Joni Ernst. Candidates for Iowa 01 and Iowa 02, and Iowa 03 could flip those seats creating national reverberations. Democrats have candidates for Attorney General and Secretary of State. Rob Sand is running for Governor.
If Rob Sand wins and a few of the other Democrats win as well, Iowa’s politics will begin to look like Iowa politics used to look.
Of course, Rob Sand and his colleagues could all lose in November, 2026. Making sure he and his allies do not lose is partly our responsibility. We need to provide support. I will conclude this piece about him asking you to donate to Ron Sand. That will help.
Rob Sand was born in Iowa. His dad was a doctor; his mom was a physical therapist. At an early age, he was a lobbyist – pressing town leaders to build a skate park. He went away to college and graduated from Brown University in Providence, RI. He did not stay in Providence, though. He spent a semester interning for Iowa Democrat Senator Tom Harkin. Rob Sand also modeled menswear in Milan and Paris.
Rob Sand graduated from Brown in 2005 and came home in time to work on a gubernatorial campaign in 2006. When his candidate lost the primary, Rob Sand became campaign manager for the Secretary of Agriculture nominee. His candidate lost 50-48.
Rob Sand went back to school – to the University of Iowa’s School of Law. He clerked for the Attorney General, was a summer associate for a Cedar Rapids firm, and, in September 2010, months after graduating with his JD, he became an Assistant in the Attorney General’s office.
Rob Sand was a prosecutor for the Attorney General’s office for seven years. Despite his inexperience, he led the prosecution that arose from a scheme for the State Film Office to award tax credits improperly. One producer got ten years in jail, another film maker was acquitted. Working for the Deputy Attorney General, he led the successful prosecutions that grew out of fraudulent lottery tickets and of a financial advisor in connection with an international Ponzi scheme.
Rob Sand left the Attorney General’s office in 2017 as he prepared his campaign for state auditor. He defeated the incumbent Republican 51-47 in 2018. In office, he displayed his distinctive commitment to what he called a tri-partisan way of governing. He appointed three assistants – a Democrat, a Republican, and an independent.
Long before DOGE, he developed a kinder and gentler mechanism for achieving government efficiency. He introduced his Public Innovations and Efficiency Program (PIE) that offered rewards for fiscal efficiencies. Distinctive among politicians, Rob Sand credited someone else for the idea – the Republican State Auditor from Mississippi.
Neither his innovations nor his tri-partisanship made reelection automatic for Rob Sand. He won the 2022 race 50.1 to 49.8, defeating Todd Halbur, who had been a county auditor for more than two decades.
As Rob Sand prepares for his run for governor, Republicans will raise an issue about funds that were put in the wrong state account. Rob Sand explains that the legislature had been unclear about changes in the law and that the depositing error made little difference: “if you make a deposit and you tell them to put it in your savings account but it goes in your checking, you’ll be disappointed when it’s not there but you’ll just move it over again. You haven’t lost any money”. He added that “there was always money available for the [intended] services.”
The only other accusation against Rob Sand was for unethical behavior during the 2024 election. He gave out slices of pizza to people standing in long lines as they waited to vote.
Rob Sand addressed some serious issues during his term as Auditor. He accused the head of Children and Families of Iowa of embezzling. The Auditor’s office discovered over $400,000 of improper disbursements of which more than $300,000 went to the Head of the organization herself. The rest went to members of her family. He found smaller improper disbursements in the small city of Conesville and he had battles with the State Office of Management about the release of public records, particularly information about the management of Education Savings Accounts.
You could say that Rob Sands did his job and is ready to move on after two terms as State Auditor. He certainly has prepared himself. When he announced, he also announced he had $8 million set aside for his campaign. Since that announcement, he has raised $2 million more. Rob Sand’s financial preparation has not discouraged other Democrats from running, but he is the favorite for the Democratic nomination. He demonstrated his political skills, surviving in 2022, a year when Iowa’s two remaining Democratic Members of Congress lost as did the Democratic State Treasurer.
Although four Republicans have announced for Governor, we can be as certain that Congressman Randy Feenstra will be their nominee as we are certain that Rob Sand will be the Democratic nominee. Feenstra was a three-term state senator when he was elected, in 2020, to represent Iowa’s only solidly Republican district. He ousted the embarrassingly racist Steve King who had been stripped of his committee memberships after asking, in Congress, what was offensive about the term “white nationalist.”
Randy Feenstra graduated from Western Christian High School, a private, co-ed, Calvinist School in Hull, Iowa. The school was called “Western” because it had a New Jersey counterpart. Not unimportant to its distinguished basketball playing Republican alum, Western Christian has won just short of a dozen state basketball championships. Feenstra is a graduate of Dordt College (now University), a private, evangelical school founded in Iowa in1955 and named after the early 18th century Dutch synod called to defeat the Arminian heresy which wasm from the perspective of some, a treasonous willingness to compromise with the Spanish.
Feenstra got his BA in business communications in 1991 and went to work in Hull managing sales for the Foreign Candy Corporation, importers of the sour hard candies called Warheads. During the course of his work, he was elected County treasurer. After serving for seven years, in 2008, he was elected to the State Senate. In 2020, while running for Congress as the slightest bit left of extremist Steve King, Randy Feenstra received the support of the National right to Life Committee, the US Chamber of Commerce, and talk show host Ben Shapiro. While he progressed politically, he also progressed academically, earning a Masters in Public Administration from Iowa State, and a PhD in Business from Northcentral University.
Randy Feenstra won his race against Steve King and satisfied those national supporters. He voted against the Respect for Marriage Act which codified same sex marriage. He is an enthusiast for Trump’s tariff plans and has thanked him for those plans. His farming constituency may be less enthusiastic.
Running for governor, he explains he has stood with President Trump on issues that are important to farmers: Stopping Communist China from buying American farmland and securing the southern border. He is convinced that the Big Beautiful Bill will “protect the family budget, the farming community, and main street businesses. He is with President Trump in the effort to “defeat the left” and usher in “America’s next golden age.”
He has no particulars for what he would do as governor, but the generalities are enough to convince most of us that he should not be governor. Help Rob Sand win this election. DONATE. Start now and keep on donating. The Republican will get lots of financial help. Rob Sand needs you.
OTHER IOWA RACES
Catelin Drey
Iowa State Senate District 01. Marketing Account Manaager and founder of Moms for Iowa, her victory would ensure that Republicans do not have a supermajority in the Iowa State Senate. See Len’s Political Note #738. DONATE
IOWA 01. Law Professor and former state rep Christina Bohannan to defeat incumbent Marianette Miller-Meeks. See Len’s Political Note #737. Every House Seat Democrats can win in Iowa has national implications. DONATE
Kathy Dolter. Lindsay James
Iowa 02 This race is still forming. Retired Army Nurse and former Community College Dean Kathy Dolter has announced her candidacy. You can DONATE to her. State Rep and Pastor Lndsay James has not yet announced. Wait a little while and you can donate to her. One of them will be the Democratic candidate against trying to unseat incumbent Republican Ashley Hinson.
Sarah Garriott. Jennifer Konfrst
Iowa 03. Neither of the two Democrats running to unseat Incumbent Republican Zach Nunn appears as the front runner. Nunn has not served himself well as he restlessly considered a run for governor and then a run for the more heavily Republican Iowa 04. Meanwhile, he will face one of two Democrats who share his view that he should be doing something other than representing Iowa 03: State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott has served as a church pastor and a hospital chaplain. DONATE Jennifer Konfrst. Is the State House Minority Leader. She worked for Iowa PBS for several years and teaches journalism at Drake University. DONATE
US Senate. State Rep JD Scholten is still pitching for the Sioux City Explorers minor league baseball team. He is also pitching himself as the opponent to incumbent US Senator Joni Ernst whose “everybody has to die” response to a question about the loss of Medicaid may prove to be fatal to her incumbency. See Len’s Political Note #733. DONATE. If he is going to compete, JD Scholten will have to raise more money. If he does not, there are two other Democrats running: State Senator Zach Wahls and local Chamber of Commerce Executive Nathan Sage.
Downballot
Secretary of State: Naval Academy Graduate and former helicopter pilot Ryan Peterman will be the Democratic candidate. He is committed to using the office to expand opportunities to vote. DONATE
Attorney General: Labor Attorney and former state rep Nate Willems will be the Democratic candidate. He is committed to protecting Iowans from violent criminals and from corporations that violate labor laws and hurt consumers. DONATE
MIDWESTERN DEMOCRATS WHO ARE DEFENDING VULNERABLE GOVERNORSHIPS in 2026
Jocelyn Benson
Michigan
Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmore is term limited. At least four Democrats are running to replace her; at least four Republicans are running as well. And the former mayor of Detroit, Mike Duggan, is running as an independent. He can have an impact on this campaign
Secretary of State Democrat Jocelyn Benson has raised $3.5 million. That is three or four times as much as other Democrats and enough to make her the front runner for the nomination. Furthermore, she leads the second place Democratic candidate for the nomination in polls by 30 to 40 points.
Congressman John James has a similar polling advantage among Republicans, but is roughly tied with Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt in funds available and only somewhat ahead of latecomer former Attorney General Mike Cox.
Independent former Detroit mayor runs a reasonably close third in every three way race that includes Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and has raised about as much as she has. He is a factor.
Democrats seeking to win this election should DONATE to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson – now and throughout the campaign. It does not seem to matter which Republican opposes her in the general election, there is a slight tilt in her favor. She will need resources to win.
Sara Rodriguez
Wisconsin
Governor Tony Evers has completed two successful terms in office, but Wisconsin does not set term limits for him. Nevertheless, he has recently announced he would not run for reelection. So far, the only announced Democrat is Lt. Governor and former nurse and public health executive Sara Rodriguez. We have to wait a little bit to see if there are more candidates.
Ethan Corson
Kansas
Democratic Governor Laura Kelly is term limited. The contest, so far, for the Democratic nomination, is between two state Senators – Ethan Corson and Cindy Holscher. Ethan Corson has gotten off to a fast start – raising $230,000 in a week after announcing. It is possible that his record of flipping a Republican district, bipartisan work, and focus on improving schools, lowering taxes on the middle class, and recruiting business to Kansas would work as an appropriate follow up to Laura Kelly’s moderate positions. DONATE to Ethan Corson or wait. These are early days.
The Republicans have at least seven candidates. It is worth watching to see if someone like podcast Doug Billings or former Governor and Lt. Governor for Sam Brownback during the failed right wing Kansas experiment becomes the front runner. If that happens, donations to the likely Democratic primary winner could keep the Kansas Governor’s office blue.
Michael Bennet
Colorado
Governor Jared Polis is term limited. The contest for the Dem nomination is between US Senator Michael Bennet and State Attorney General Phil Weiser. Whichever candidate wins the nomination, the odds are in favor of the Democrat winning in November. Unless, of course, the two Democrats do so much harm to each other that they provide an opening for the Republican nominee.
Michael Bennet has a more than 30% lead in one poll for the primary election and large leads in other polls. Michael Bennet has collected a slew of endorsements and a fair amount of money. He ended the quarter with $1.3 million available. Weiser, who had been raising money for the race longer, had $2.5 million available.
Unless he falters in his fund raising, DONATE to Bennet. That might help him gain an overwhelming win. We want resources available to defeat whichever of the three Republican candidates wins. Right now two state senators and a former state rep. are competing. So far, none of them have more than $25,000 in cash available.
MIDWESTERN DEMOCRATS WHO ARE CHALLENGING VULNERABLE REPUBLICANS FOR GOVERNORSHIPS
Amy Acton
Ohio
Republican Governor Mike DeWine is term limited. Former Elon Musk associate in Donald Trump’s DOGE effort, Vivek Ramaswamy is running. He’s not the only candidate, but the combination of his resources (his $7.8 million cash on hand is not even relevant for a multi-millionaire) and his support from Trump make him the overwhelming front runner. His Democratic challenger is former state health director Amy Acton – more praised than vilified (but both) for her leadership during the pandemic. See Len’s Political Note #724
Amy Acton has found her voice – mocking Ramaswamy for flying from city to city in Ohio when driving would do. Ramaswamy is vulnerable to a tough campaign. DONATE. It is time Ohio had a Democratic governor again.
You should also donate to Amy Acton to redirect former Senator Sherrod Brown and former Congressman and Senate candidate Tim Ryan. They are both considering a run for governor when either of them would be much more valuable as the Democratic candidate for US Senator against the recent Republican appointee to that position.
DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR IN NOVEMBER, 2025
Mikie Sheril
New Jersey
Keep New Jersey Blue. Recent polls have shown Congresswoman Mikie Sherill leading the Republican nominee Jack Ciatarelli: 45-37 in a recent poll and 48-42 in the most recent poll. Keep Mikie Sherill in the lead; help her win this election. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #732
Abigail Spanberger
Virginia
Make Virginia Blue. A July poll found former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger leading the Republican nominee Lt. Governor Winsome Earl-Sears by a 49-37 margin. Twelve points is substantial. Furthermore, Abigail Spanberger has a similar funding raising lead, having raised $27 million for this race compared to her opponent’s less than $12 million. Abigail Spanberger is still raising money. It is important, but not as urgent as New Jersey. DONATE See Len’s Political note #705
Virginia Downballot
Consider the Virginia down ballot candidates as well: Lt. Governor candidate State Senator Ghazala Hashmi DONATE. In Virginia, the Lt. Governor is elected separately. See Len’s Political Note #735
Also consider former Delegate Jay Jones for Attorney General DONATE. He is running behind the incumbent Republican in the financial race. See Len’s Political Note #734.
