"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.

State Auditor Rob Sand, the only Iowa Democrat currently serving in statewide office, announced a bid Monday for the open governor's race in an effort to break up a long streak of Republican leadership in the state.