Rob Sand Packs Story and Linn County Town Halls with Iowans Ready for Change

DES MOINES, IA — This week, nominee for governor Rob Sand checked off stops #94 and #95 on his annual 100 Town Hall Tour, with more than 700 Iowans coming out in Story County and another 1,000 in Linn County — the largest town hall of the campaign so far.

At both stops, Rob laid out his plans and talked about how he’s ready to get to work on day one tackling Iowa’s toughest challenges, from improving water quality and addressing the cancer crisis to expanding access to affordable health care, strengthening Iowa’s economy and public schools, and lowering costs for hardworking families.

Learn more about Rob Sand’s recent 100 Town Hall Tour stops below:

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KGAN: Governor candidate Rob Sand decries two-party system during town hall in Linn County

Democratic candidate for governor Rob Sand held a campaign town hall in Cedar Rapids Wednesday night, marking his 95th out of 100 stops throughout Iowa.
As he has done at past town halls, Sand surveyed the room to see how many Democrats, Republicans and independents there were in the room, as well as ask everyone to sing “America, The Beautiful” together. During the one-hour event, which his campaign says over 1,000 people attended, the auditor spent part of the night criticizing the two-party system.
“When you’re solving the world’s problems you don’t take party identification at the door and exclude the people who are in the opposite one,” Sand told the room.

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The Gazette: Rob Sand draws 1,000 to Cedar Rapids town hall, talks political division

“How can you convince me that our community can once again smile when you pass by somebody,” Cammue asked, “or your neighbor can’t just be like where he’s from? I mean, we all can just melt into this part of the American dream and make this state a great state.”
About 1,000 people attended, making it Sand’s largest town hall of the gubernatorial campaign so far, according to his campaign.
Sand argued the changes would give candidates an incentive to appeal beyond their partisan bases and treat opponents respectfully rather than demonize them. He has made political accountability a centerpiece of his campaign and has committed to holding 100 town halls annually. His campaign has proposed requiring statewide elected officials to hold 20 public town halls each year to qualify for the ballot.

Ames Tribune: Governor candidate Rob Sand calls two-party system ‘broken’ in Ames

Iowa Democratic governor candidate Rob Sand told Ames voters he’s tired of the current “broken” political system.
Sand told the crowd Iowa has “real big problems” — it’s at the bottom for economic growth, near the top for cancer growth, and has a water quality crisis.
“All of those issues are dependent, at least in part, on our state government actually trying to do something to make things better,” Sand said. “But because it’s a broken two-choice political system, too many of them think that they don’t have to, and they can just keep their position of power.”

Iowa State Daily: Rob Sand’s ‘100 Town Hall Tour’ stops at Iowa State

Rob Sand, the Democratic candidate for the Iowa governor race, visited Iowa State’s Memorial Union for his Story County Town Hall Monday.
“Our political system is broken, and I think it is broken because it is run by private clubs,” Sand said. “I am talking about the Democratic and the Republican parties. They both figured out that solving problems is hard. You have to talk to people that you do not necessarily even like. They have also noticed that you can get elected again and again because we’ve got a two-party choice system, and as long as you lie about and demonize the only other realistic option on the ballot, you can have a successful political career.”
“I want to get back to what we were talking about at the start: common sense, checks and balances, people sitting down working together,” Sand said. “That is what we are going to have if I win this race.”

Homegrown Iowan: Record campaign turnout for Rob Sand in Cedar Rapids

More than 1,000 Iowans streamed into the Veterans Memorial Building in Cedar Rapids to listen to gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, the largest town hall turnout of his campaign so far.
Sand insists he will be a “governor for all,” and even handed his microphone to members of the audience who said they were Republicans.
The biggest crowd reaction came when Sand said if elected governor, he would end Medicaid privatization that has driven up costs for patients and health care providers.
“I want everyone to get the treatment they want in Iowa,” Sand said in response to a woman who said she had to seek treatment for her cancer elsewhere.
He noted that his opponent, Republican Zach Lahn, supports banning mRNA vaccines even as trial results have shown a new vaccine can prevent melanoma from returning or spreading for high-risk patients.