The final stop after a day of speaking in Southwest corner of the state, Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand spoke with Union County constituents Tuesday afternoon at A&G Restaurant and Lounge.
A two-term state auditor who has served since 2018, Sand entered the race in May as a Democrat to become Iowa’s next governor in the 2026 election.
Sand grew up a descendant of Scandinavian immigrants in Decorah. He got his first taste of grassroots public service working with the local parks and rec director to get a skate park built, which is still there to this day.
Saving money for taxpayers has been central to Sand’s mission as state auditor. In his first term, he uncovered a record amount of misspent money. He later criticized measures state government has made that make it more difficult for his office to audit state agencies properly.
Sand has also stripped away requirements for employment in his office like place of residence or type of degree. This is just one way Sand says he is working to help grow rural Iowa.
“I know from growing up in Decorah that [remote work]’s a really big deal for a small town. I remember the conversations we would have growing up if a family left town. It hurts,” Sand said. “There are tens of thousands of jobs at the state level we can do this with. We ought to be doing it. It would be good for small towns, it would be good for rural areas.”
Sand explained he saw just how effective this idea was once he began offering it to the people in his office.
“When we gave freedom to employees in the auditor’s office to not live in Des Moines, some of them took us up on it,” Sand said. “People want to be here. People want to be in Creston, they want to be in Decorah, they want to live somewhere where you see the same faces everyday.”
Another aspect of daily life at the auditor’s office that Sand said he would bring with him as governor was bipartisanship.
“Different people with different experiences need to work together to get the best job done. I still think that partisanship itself is poison, that too many people don’t do enough thinking for themselves.” Sand said. “In my first year, we discovered a record amount of misspent money. How did we do it? We worked together, not just as prosecutors and accountants, but as Democrats and Republicans.”
Other topics Sand spoke on included school choice, the Area Education Agencies, mental health and marijuana. In an interview prior to the town hall, Sand explained what he would do to try and improve the school choice legislation.
“Even if a Democratic governor won, to repeal the bill entirely, it ain’t going to happen. I’m going to ask the legislature to actually call their own bluff,” Sand said. “Make it so if you take public dollars, you have to take the public. You can’t turn kids away. If this is supposed to be about supporting school choice for students, then put income caps on it, so all the people who were already paying for their own kids’ private school tuition can continue to pay for it with the money they have.”
Sand said that while proponents of the legislation may say it brings out competition, it isn’t true competition.
“I love competition, but competition is where people follow the same rules and may the best competitor win, so if this is about competition, then private schools should have to pay for an annual audit that is public so we can see how the money is getting spent,” Sand said. “They should have to take on the burden of complying with public meetings and public records, again, so we can see what’s going on with taxpayer money.”
Regarding the changes for AEAs, Sand first shared that his mother was once an AEA. He said he saw firsthand the pride people in the system had in their work, something people around the nation could see.
“Our AEA system was another thing that people all around America from other states would look at and go, wow, Iowa figured it out. They came to us,” Sand said. “I’ve done over 700 public town halls, and never have I had a single person say ‘I’ve had an issue with the AEAs.’ Right now we’re playing 52 card pickup. Where we’re going to end up a year from now under this new system, I don’t think we know right now, but my work as governor would be to make sure we make those services accessible, no matter what.”
Sand had a similar response to issues with Iowa’s mental health system, stating he would need to do a lot of studying to figure out what exactly to do.
On marijuana, Sand said it should be treated the same as alcohol.
“We are losing tax revenue in the state of Iowa, we are shipping all of our Iowa dollars to neighboring cities where people buy it anyway,” Sand said. “At the end of the day, folks, it’s a drug. It can be bad for you, but so can alcohol. We are in a bar right now, right?”
Sand first announced his 100-stop tour across Iowa in June. The tour will hit every county seat, including Lee County’s two county seats, with the final stop being in Winneshiek County on Oct. 21.
Sand, 42, lives with his wife, Christine. They have two boys, age 9 and 11. An avid outdoorsman who enjoys bowhunting, fishing and biking, he also enjoys live music.
Governor Kim Reynolds will not seek re-election next year. Other Democrats in the race are Hamilton County transit driver Paul Dahl and business development professional Julie Stauch of West Des Moines. Republicans in the ring include pastor, small business owner and state representative Eddie Andrews of Des Moines; U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra of Hull and State Representative Brad Sherman, a pastor from Williamsburg.