Rob Sand: Reflections on the Road: My First Town Hall Tour Stops

Rob Sand: “I still believe in the Iowa values of showing up and listening to each other with the shared goal of making life a little bit better and a little bit easier for all of us.”

DES MOINES, IA – After kicking off his 100 Town Hall Tour across Iowa this week, Rob Sand detailed his first two stops in Waukee and Ankeny in a new blog post on Substack. Over 800 Iowans showed up between the two events, and Rob had the opportunity to answer several questions from community members at each event. Topics were wide-ranging: public education, cancer rates, workforce development, health care and mental health access, protecting fundamental freedoms, and more.

Substack is the latest tool Rob is using to connect with Iowans and share what he’s hearing directly from Iowans as he travels the state.

Subscribe to Rob’s Substack here. Read the full post here or key quotes below:

Excluding my 600 town halls over the last six years, my two stops in Waukee and Ankeny last night alone already add up to more town halls Kim Reynolds has done throughout her tenure as governor. I also made it out of both town halls without telling the audience we’re all going to die, so I have that going for me, too.
There’s a phrase we all know: absolute power corrupts absolutely. Thanks to the insiders who have run our government for the last decade, we now know exactly how long that takes – about ten years.
Where has this ten years of one-party control gotten us? Forty-ninth in the nation for economic development, 48th for personal income growth, middle of the pack for public education, and number one in cancer growth.
I still believe in the Iowa values of showing up and listening to each other with the shared goal of making life a little bit better and a little bit easier for all of us.
But what I can promise you is that I will always listen, that every voice matters to me, and that I will be a governor for every Iowan – whether we belong to the same party and whether you voted for me or not. Together, we can make Iowa the nation-leading state it used to be, and bring Iowans from all walks of life together in the process.