Democrat Rob Sand Wins Iowa Governor Race, Defeating Trump-Backed Republican Zach Lahn
Sand becomes the first Democrat to win Iowa’s governor’s office since 2006 after a campaign that drew more than $46 million in spending.
- Democrat Rob Sand is projected to win the Iowa governor's race, according to Decision Desk HQ, marking the first Democratic gubernatorial victory in the state since 2006.
- Tuesday's results are a major blow to President Donald Trump, who campaigned in Iowa for Republicans shortly before Election Day following Democratic investment in rural Midwestern communities.
- Campaign finance reports show the two candidates combined spent more than $46 million, with Sand spending $28.9 million to Republican Zach Lahn's $17.5 million while both ran on addressing rising living costs.
- Sand campaigned on reversing Medicaid privatization and establishing universal pre-K, while Lahn's platform drew support from the Make America Healthy Again movement, aligned with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Sand, Iowa's state auditor, defeated a Republican incumbent in 2018 to become the first Democratic auditor since the 1960s, emphasizing his experience working across the aisle with Republican colleagues.
41 Articles
41 Articles
Iowa picks a Democrat for governor
With long-time Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds wrapping up nearly a full decade in office, the Midwest state was primed for new leadership. On the ballot, Republican Zach Lahn faced off against Democrat Rob Sand to see who would lead the state, and the results are in.Lahn, a businessman and farmer, co-founded an investment firm called Homeplace Ventures, as well as a private school in Wichita, Kansas, called Wonder. Sand has served as the stat…
Rob Sand said he wasn't trying to turn Iowa blue. Well, he did.
On Tuesday, Rob Sand became the first Democrat since 2006 to win the governor’s race in Iowa, defeating ultra-MAHA conservative Zach Lahn and powering a Democratic resurgence in a state that had been drifting away from the party for years. As I wrote in a profile for the magazine, the 44-year-old state auditor ran as […]
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