"I'm not a party line guy," Rob Sand said as he launched a gubernatorial campaign. "I'm a right or wrong guy."

Rob Sand, Iowa’s elected state auditor and the only Democrat now holding a major political office in the state, said on Monday that he would run for governor next year, boosting his party’s hopes of gaining a policymaking foothold in a place that Republicans dominate.

Iowa’s State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, announced a run for governor in 2026. Sand is currently the only Democrat in a statewide elected office in Iowa after being elected to the state auditor position in 2018,