Rob Sand

Sand was born and raised in Decorah, Iowa. In 2005, Sand received a bachelor's degree in political science from Brown University, where he was named a Truman Scholar. Sand received a law degree from the University of Iowa Law School in 2010.[1][2][3] Sand's career experiences includes working as a public corruption prosecutor for the Attorney General of Iowa. In 2006, Sand also worked for Ed Fallon’s campaign for Governor of Iowa and managed Denise O’Brien’s general election campaign for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture.[4] During one college semester, he worked in Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin's (D) Washington, D.C., office.[5][6]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I was born and raised in Decorah, my family has roots to the area going back generations. I grew up fishing and hunting with my dad, a tradition I’m passing on to my two boys. Growing up in small-town Iowa will always be an important part of who I am.

I started my career in public service as an Assistant Iowa Attorney General and Iowa’s chief public corruption prosecutor, locking up scammers, taxpayer abusers, thieves, and sexually violent predators – putting away some of the worst of Iowa’s sexual offenders. I prosecuted all criminal cases related to the Iowa Film Office tax credit scandal and numerous crooked politicians – from both parties. I also uncovered and prosecuted the largest lottery rigging scheme in American history, which I wrote about in my book, The Winning Ticket.

The people of Iowa have elected me twice as State Auditor. I won my first race in 2018, defeating an incumbent Republican, and was the only Democrat to be reelected in 2022. In my first term as Auditor, I uncovered more waste, fraud, and abuse in a single term than any other State Auditor in Iowa history, and have uncovered millions in misspent money since taking office.

I work with both parties to get things done for Iowans. In the State Auditor’s Office, I had both an independent and a Republican in senior leadership positions, and promoted – not fired – employees who made campaign contributions to my political opponents. I’m running to make Iowa better and truer, not redder or bluer.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Traveling the state, Iowans tell me the same thing: our political system is broken. I couldn’t agree more. Our current elected officials have led Iowa down the wrong path for years, landing us in dead last for economic growth, middle of the pack for public education, and number one for cancer growth. We need to restore accountability and transparency in Iowa so we can get to work solving our state’s problems and delivering for Iowa families. That starts by banning stock trading for politicians, requiring mandatory prison sentences for taxpayer thieves, enforcing term and age limits, implementing transparency for the private school voucher program, and giving independent voters a voice by ending the two-choice system.We need to do more to address our rising cancer rates. Yet our current elected officials have failed to treat it like the crisis that it is. As governor, I plan to make meaningful investments in cancer research so we can identify the root causes and work to eliminate them at the source. As an Iowan, I always want to beat Nebraska. They invested over $23 million into cancer research while we just scratched the surface. Let’s put our universities to work by investing in research and give Iowa families a fighting chance to live better, healthier lives – and beat Nebraska while we’re at it. We also need to invest more in radon mitigation, water quality, and research into alcohol consumption to stop the rates from rising.After ten years of one-party rule, Iowa has the worst economy in the nation and is set to face a record-breaking budget deficit of nearly $1.4 billion. This reckless deficit threatens to leave Iowans without access to crucial services, including in education, health care, and law enforcement.

While costs have skyrocketed on everything, Iowans are being hit hardest, with less money in their pockets to cover those higher costs. On day one as governor, I’ll reign in reckless spending and get Iowa back on track by: restoring the full oversight powers of the Auditor’s Office, reversing the costly decision to privatize Medicaid, legalizing adult-use cannabis, and taxing out-of-state landowners at a higher rate to keep Iowa in Iowans’ hands.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

After we uncovered a record amount of misspent tax dollars in my first term as State Auditor, government insiders passed a bill allowing state agencies to hide key documents from the Auditor’s Office, making it harder to uncover waste, fraud, and abuse of tax dollars. You can’t imagine a clearer line drawn between who is working for Iowans and who is working for insiders than that. No matter who becomes Iowa’s next State Auditor, Republican or Democrat, the full powers of Iowa’s taxpayer watchdog should be restored to best protect Iowa’s tax dollars. Iowans deserve transparency and accountability, especially when it comes to how their money is being spent. I’ll fight to end the corruption and put public service over politics.

Campaign websiteSand's campaign website stated the following:Rob's PrioritiesGrow the EconomyStrengthen Public EducationLower CostsHelp Iowans Live Better, Healthier LivesA small group of powerful insiders in Des Moines are putting special interests and themselves first while everyday Iowans are being left behind. And where has that gotten us? Just a few years ago, Iowa was in the top five for best states of education, but after a decade of one-party rule in Des Moines we’ve fallen to the middle of the pack. Earlier this year, the Trump administration ranked Iowa’s economy 49th in the nation and 48th for personal income growth. At the same time, Iowa’s cancer growth rate is the highest in the nation.“We’re winning the contests we want to lose, and losing the contests we want to win.”Rob Sand knows we need to move Iowa in a new directionAs Governor, Rob will get Iowa back on track – he’ll build consensus to get the state government out of the culture wars and focused on lowering costs, growing the economy, improving our education system, and helping Iowans live better, healthier lives.As State Auditor, Rob has uncovered a record amount of waste, fraud, and abuse. The insiders in Des Moines responded to Rob’s success by stripping the Auditor’s ability to find misspent tax dollars. As Governor, Rob will work to restore the taxpayer’s watchdog and to prevent your hard-earned money from being wasted. Rob’s office has also uncovered a shockingly high amount of illegal denials of care under Iowa’s Medicaid privatization executive order – which result in higher out-of-pocket healthcare costs for you and your family. As Governor, Rob will reverse the privatization of Medicaid the same way it was passed – by an executive order.As State Auditor, Rob instituted Statewide Work, Statewide Jobs, a program that cuts bureaucratic red tape and allows employees in his office to live anywhere in the state of Iowa, instead of forcing them to live in urban areas like Des Moines, Ames, or Iowa City, which are already growing and prosperous. As Governor, Rob has pledged to enact a similar program for state employees who can do their work anywhere in Iowa. This program would help revitalize small towns and rural communities who’ve seen jobs and opportunities disappear. Rob also eliminated the 4-year degree requirement to work in the Auditor’s office.It’s time to restore the slogan on Iowa’s quarter: “foundation in education.” New investments and initiatives, like universal all day pre-K, are needed to give our students the edge they need to compete for good paying jobs. Iowa’s private school voucher program takes resources away from public schools, and has no accountability for how that money is being spent. We can pay for universal pre-K by no longer sending our taxpayer dollars to Iowa’s wealthiest families to pay for the private school tuition they were going to pay on their own anyway. As Governor, Rob will fight to bring more oversight over the hundreds of millions of dollars being spent each year on vouchers.Rob’s Reforms will put the public, not political parties, in charge of our state, and will make politicians work together like normal Iowans to solve problemsRob is among the only candidates who will say the obvious: neither the Democrats nor the Republicans solve enough problems to earn their shared monopoly on our choices at the ballot box. If voters have more options that can win, we can break their stranglehold and make sure elected officials have to do more than just wear the right color hat to get reelected. Rob supports having a public primary where all eligible voters can participate, which would finally make independent voters equal in our state. From that, the top 4 candidates can advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation. In the general election, candidates will be encouraged to be civil and honest by using Approval Voting, where each voter can vote for as many of the four candidates as they approve of. The candidate with the most votes wins, as usual. How will a candidate earn approval from voters who most strongly prefer one of their opponents? By being kind, honest, and civil with their opponents, and by working to actually solve problems for those voters instead of dividing us.Rob Sand has the record to get it doneAfter serving two terms as Iowa State Auditor, uncovering record amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse, and working across the aisle while holding both parties accountable, Rob Sand is the leader Iowa needs to get back on track. As Governor, Rob will work with both parties to grow and strengthen the economy, lower costs, support public education, and help Iowans live better, healthier lives.Rob Will Take the Time to Get it RightRob and his campaign are dedicated to getting issues right, rather than jumping to conclusions. While you can find his general views on most issues by following on social media, he will roll out detailed policy proposals throughout the campaign here. Sign up to receive email updates here to follow along.The Truer Better Agenda: Accountability for AllEverywhere I go, Iowans tell me the same thing: our political system is broken. I couldn’t agree more.I’ve been sounding the alarm about this and the dangers of the two-choice system for years.I’ve watched government insiders prioritize their own bottom lines or special interests ahead of doing what’s right for Iowans, and politicians pit neighbor against neighbor while failing to do anything to fix our problems – and in many cases make them worse. An echo chamber can’t produce results, no matter which party is in power.We have a lot of problems in Iowa – we have the worst economy in the nation, our public schools, which used to be our state’s crown jewel, are now middle of the pack at best, and we have the number one growth rate for cancer.This year, we have the opportunity to change course in Iowa. The government insiders know it, too. That’s why they’re trying to cling to control by working to limit the powers of the next governor – just like they did with the Auditor’s Office in 2023 – because they know time’s almost up for their corruption and inside dealings.Iowa’s political system and government is broken from the ground up. We can’t get to work solving Iowans toughest challenges with a broken foundation.That’s why I’m releasing a series of proposals that get to the root of our problems: fixing the broken political system through accountability, transparency, and a commitment to public service.I’m not talking about dusting old, failed policies off a shelf, or promoting pie-in-the-sky ideas that will never go anywhere. I’m talking about real, common-sense ways we can improve our political system – and Iowans’ lives.This is a forgotten Iowa tradition. We were the first state in the nation to make sure politicians couldn’t gerrymander by setting up an independent redistricting commission. The first state in the nation to make sure politicians couldn’t just appoint their cronies as judges by setting up a merit-based judicial selection system. Iowa set the standard for accountability, but after a decade of one-party control, we’ve lost our way. It’s time to get back to what Iowa does best: protecting the values of fairness and accountability in our public offices, making government be about public service, not politics, and put Iowans, not insiders, first.Since launching my campaign for governor, I’ve been traveling the state, hearing directly from Iowa families about what keeps them up at night. I’ve spent months meeting with experts and stakeholders across fields to develop realistic, affordable, and achievable proposals we could implement to start solving some of our state’s toughest challenges.I’m releasing my Accountability for All plan to hold our government officials accountable and put Iowans – not politics or special interests – first, including:Banning stock trading so politicians can’t use insider information to benefit and enrich themselves: Government insiders – like members of Congress, state legislators, and statewide elected officials like the Governor – have access to inside information about key industries and companies. Elected officials in these roles should not be permitted to trade stocks, plain and simple. I support banning stock trading at the federal level so politicians can’t use inside information to benefit and enrich themselves, and I will also call for Iowa to do it at the state level. As governor, I’ll call to reform our financial disclosure laws to bring more transparency to potential conflicts of interest by statewide elected officials and legislators, including:Requiring all candidates for office to file personal financial disclosures listing all individual stocks and financial holdings;Reporting quarterly earnings per financial holding; and providing updated reports for any changes.Officials would also be required to put stock holdings in blind trusts until they are no longer in their positions of power.Violations of these laws would result in mandatory prison time, not a slap on the wrist or a sternly-worded letter from a toothless agency.Requiring mandatory prison sentences for taxpayer abusers and thieves: This is a no-brainer. I’ve introduced this policy every year as State Auditor since I took office, yet government insiders have refused to take action on this common-sense proposal. Makes you wonder why. Thieves who steal Iowans’ hard-earned tax dollars should get more than a slap on the wrist, which is far too often what happens. The punishment must be severe enough to deter people from committing these crimes in the first place. I support mandatory prison time for anyone found guilty of stealing over $10,000 in taxpayer dollars, banning anyone convicted of fraud from doing business with the state, and stripping them of taxpayer-funded benefits like retirement and health care.Restoring the full powers of the Auditor’s Office: After we uncovered a record amount of misspent tax dollars in my first term as State Auditor, government insiders passed a bill – which Governor Reynolds signed – allowing government agencies to hide key documents from the Auditor’s Office, making it harder to uncover waste, fraud, and abuse of tax dollars. You can’t imagine a clearer line drawn between who is working for Iowans and who is working for insiders than that. No matter who becomes Iowa’s next State Auditor, Republican or Democrat, the full powers of Iowa’s taxpayer watchdog should be restored to best protect Iowa’s tax dollars.Strengthen whistleblower protections: We need to support and protect those who are brave enough to come forward to call out powerful insiders without fear of retaliation. Currently, Iowa only offers whistleblower protections for state employees. As governor, I’d extend those protections to allow every Iowan to feel empowered to come forward with evidence of wrongdoing or abuses of power.Making the Public Innovations and Efficiencies (PIE) program mandatory across government agencies: We launched this program in the Auditor’s Office, and it’s been a huge success in saving tax dollars – so much so that the Republican State Auditor of Mississippi copied it. If I’m governor, I’d make this program mandatory for all government agencies to ensure tax dollars are being used as efficiently as possible across the state. Plus, the award is an actual pie, and who doesn’t love pie?Implementing rules and transparency for the private school voucher program: The current school voucher program is an open invitation to waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. This school year alone, the voucher program is estimated to cost taxpayers $350 million meant for our public schools to unaccountable private schools, while funding for public schools isn’t keeping up with inflation. We need to ensure public oversight over public dollars. I support:Requiring annual audits of the private school voucher program to ensure that the money is spent responsibly.Limiting tuition increases so that the schools can’t just hike costs and become as unaffordable as they were before.Implementing income limits so that the money is going to students and families who need it the most – not to the wealthiest Iowans who were sending their kids to private schools anyway.Ending sweetheart deals for companies like Odyssey, which manages the school voucher program and more than doubled its rate less than a month after signing their no-bid contract, costing taxpayers an additional $2.7 million. Government insiders are trying to lock in those deals for years to come, regardless of who is elected in November. That’s wrong.Establishing requirements for elected officials so we can get back to public service, not protecting the careers of insiders, including:Enforcing term limits: Iowa is one of only a handful of states that doesn’t have term limits in place for elected officials. Public service is a noble calling and we want to elect people with good experience, but too many years in power can lead to complacency, inefficiency, and even corruption. We need term limits to prevent career politicians who have no desire to actually solve any of our problems from holding indefinite positions of power. I support limiting statewide elected officeholders to no more than 3 terms in any statewide office, and state legislators to no more than 12 years in the legislature. Plus, no more than a total of 20 years maximum overall in any state office.Enforcing age limits: Iowans and Americans are ready for a new generation of leadership. Our Constitution has minimum ages for different offices for good reasons, and we should have similar guardrails. I support enforcing age limits for our elected officials and judges in line with the standards set for the Iowa state Supreme Court. At 78-years-old, we thank them for their service, wish them a happy retirement, and clear the way for the next generation to serve. I have been on the record in support of mandating age limits far before the trust had been broken by elected officials who put their own careers ahead of what’s best for the people they represent, and enforcing age limits can help rebuild that trust.Requiring elected officials to take cognitive tests: Over the last several years, self-interested politicians have eroded voters’ trust by putting their careers ahead of what’s best for the people they represent. Requiring cognitive tests is a step toward rebuilding that trust and ensuring our elected leaders are up for the job. Candidates should be required to submit a letter from their doctor attesting to their mental and physical fitness in order to appear on the ballot. I’ve been calling for implementing cognitive tests for years. It’s time to get it done.Requiring elected officials to take a civics test: I think it’s good that high schoolers now have to pass a citizenship test to graduate. Certainly, our statewide elected officials and state legislators should have to pass one to serve in positions of trust and power. They can take it when they turn in their signatures to get on the ballot.Require annual public town halls for officeholders: If you want a job in public service, you have to be willing to meet Iowans where they are – in their communities. As governor, I would propose a requirement for all statewide elected officials and legislators to complete annual public town halls. You don’t have to do 100 every year like I do (would be cool if you did though) but my proposal would require 20 per year for statewide elected officials and 5 for state legislators in their districts. Each town hall would require at least two weeks’ notice, be posted publicly either online or in print, must be free to attend and open to members of the press, and half the time must be devoted to answering non-scripted and non-preselected questions. I support enforcing this through ballot access – if you don’t fulfill this responsibility throughout your term, you can’t get on the ballot. Think of it as an annual performance review: if you can’t face the people you represent, you have no business being in public service.Give independent voters an equal voice in our democracy and end the two-choice system: Iowa’s current election system forces you to join a private club in order to exercise your constitutional right to vote, disenfranchising independent voters. That’s wrong, undemocratic, and should be brought to an end. We need to eliminate the two-choice system that pits neighbor against neighbor and forces Iowans to choose the lesser of two evils. It enables corruption. The last decade of one-party control has landed Iowa in a bad spot, but if you think the solution to that is giving the other party a decade of that same power, I invite you to visit California or New York. We should have a single public primary for candidates of all political parties or none at all, from which up to four candidates advance to the general election. In the general elections, Iowans can use approval voting: vote for as many of the candidates have earned your support and whoever has the most support, wins. Candidates will have an incentive to be more civil and more honest. Balance can help unite Iowans, repair our broken political system, and solve some of our state’s toughest challenges.The last decade of one-party control and insiders putting politics over Iowans has eroded trust in nearly every realm – from our failing economy, our declining public schools, and our growing cancer rates. These policies have led to Iowans leaving the state in droves, seeking better opportunities and more freedom elsewhere.As governor, I want to get to work addressing some of Iowa’s toughest challenges on day one. That all starts with repairing the broken foundation.Rob Sand’s Plan to Legalize, Tax, and Regulate Adult-use CannabisIowa is facing a budget crisis to the tune of $1.4 billion. A common-sense way to help address that would be to fully legalize adult-use cannabis in Iowa.Right now, Iowans are driving over the border to purchase regulated, taxed cannabis in our neighboring states. Iowa taxpayers are spending their money in Illinois, Missouri, and Minnesota when that money could be kept right here at home to help boost Iowa’s economy and increase state revenue.Establishing an adult-use cannabis industry in Iowa would also create thousands of full-time and part-time jobs as well as entrepreneurship and investment opportunities for Iowans and Iowa small businesses, and also support Iowa farmers.Here’s what Rob would do:Legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis like alcohol: Right now, alcohol is regulated under the Alcoholic Beverages Division. As governor, Rob would add cannabis experts to the already-existing division to be charged with regulating the cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, and sale of cannabis. These experts would implement age restrictions, quality and safety standards, and taxation similar to how alcohol is regulated in the state.Support Iowa farmers: Legalizing cannabis in Iowa would open up an additional revenue stream for Iowa farmers and the agriculture sector – the backbone of Iowa’s economy. As governor, Rob would prioritize the issue of grow licenses for small and mid-size family farms to help support them and manage the amount of initial licenses being issued across the state.Reverse the prohibition of sales of consumable hemp products: In 2024, Gov. Reynolds signed HF 2605 into law, despite the harm and confusion it caused small businesses across the state. We should reverse that law to allow sales of hemp and THC beverage products while ensuring oversight and regulation over those products by hemp producers selling their products through cannabis retailers.Establish clear provisions for cannabis products, including:Establishing a clear licensing process: Task the division with licensing cannabis growers, manufacturers, retailers, and safety testing labs who will be the only businesses in Iowa permitted to produce, transport, and sell regulated cannabis products. Ensure that only safe, quality, and state-compliant products are being sold.Limiting total THC content: Product limitations will include a maximum of 10mg of THC per serving and a maximum of 100mg of THC per package, similar to limitations in neighboring states.Restricting purchases by age: Require retailers to restrict purchase of cannabis products to adults 21 and over, like with alcohol sales. Selling cannabis products to minors is illegal.Regulating cannabis product packaging: Packaging must meet child-resistant packaging standards and cannot have any images that may appeal to children such as candy, baked goods, cartoons, or animals. Packaging must mention potential risks associated with cannabis use, a listing of noncannabis ingredients, and an itemization of all cannabinoid and terpene ingredients specified for the product. Products should not be similar to candy, like gummies.Limiting advertisements: Any cannabis business advertisements cannot be targeted toward minors and cannot display any use of cannabis.No public consumption: just as you can’t drink in public, you can’t smoke pot in public. Iowans shouldn’t have to smell it everywhere.Create jobs: Legalizing adult-use cannabis would create new opportunities for small business owners in Iowa. Using data from other states with legal adult-use cannabis, it’s estimated to create around 7,000 jobs.The Truer Better Agenda: A Healthier Iowa for AllI hear it everywhere I go: cancer.Everyone knows someone – a parent, a spouse, a friend – who has been affected by this crisis, even those without family histories or genetic exposure.Cancer doesn’t care who you vote for, what your politics are, or where you live. It’s the top issue on everyone’s mind no matter what part of the state I’m in, and rightfully so. Yet over the last several years, Iowa has become one of only two states in the country with a growing cancer rate – and with the fastest rising cancer growth rate in the nation – while our current elected officials stick their heads in the sand and pretend there is no problem.Or even worse: we hit a new low with legislators trying to tell Iowans we don’t have a nitrates problem because spinach and lettuce have high nitrates. I’m pretty sure leafy greens are not what is making Iowans sick – first, because, of course; but also, because, as an Iowan, I can tell you, we aren’t eating a ton of them.We can have debates about a lot of things as it relates to Iowa’s sky-high cancer rate, but here are a few things we know: Iowa has a water quality problem. Nitrates, at a certain level, do cause cancer, and our waters are often above high levels. Iowa has some of the highest rates of radon in the country, contributing to our sky-high lung cancer rates – we have six times the average amount of radon. Alcohol consumption is related to cancer – we’re not Wisconsin, but we’re right behind them at number two in the country. And, we smoke more than most states.However, according to the Iowa Cancer Registry, we screen for cancer at about the same rate as the rest of the country, so we know we’re not just looking for cancer more than the average state – we really do have more of it. And according to the American Association for Cancer Research, “roughly 40 percent of cancers in the US are attributable to modifiable risk factors” – things we can control to decrease our cancer risks – smoking, drinking, weight gain and diet, UV exposure, and more.This is a multi-faceted problem that will take a multi-faceted approach to addressing. But one thing is certain: for the health of Iowans and the future of our state, we cannot continue to do nothing, or worse, make it harder to learn about the size of our problem.As it stands, we’re prepared to close another legislative session with no meaningful action being taken by our elected officials. The timeline to tackle Iowa’s cancer crisis is currently multiple generations away, a finish line far too distant for a state staring down a cancer rate that demands immediate action.This should be a top priority for every elected official in the state of Iowa – regardless of party. I spent last summer traveling the state as part of my 100 Town Hall Tour and participating in policy briefings with experts across industries and fields to learn more about the issue and what meaningful action we can take to address it. I’m releasing the following commonsense, bipartisan proposals that I think make meaningful progress to addressing Iowa’s water quality issues, reducing the cancer rates, and improving overall health for Iowa families.No immunity for che