Rob Sand Shows KCCI Around His Hometown of Decorah

DES MOINES, IA – This summer, KCCI’s chief political reporter Amanda Rooker followed nominee for governor Rob Sand back up north to his hometown of Decorah to learn more about the people, places, and experiences that shaped who he is today and his campaign for governor. Born and raised in Decorah, Rob reflected on riding his bike all over town, spending summers tubing on the Upper Iowa River, and organizing skateboarders and community leaders to build a local skatepark — his first lesson in what public service can accomplish when people come together.

Those experiences helped shape the way Rob sees Iowa and the future he wants to build for the next generation. Rob learned early that there’s more that unites us than divides us, and he’s carried that lesson throughout his career in public service. As governor, he’ll keep putting people ahead of politics and working to build an Iowa that’s not redder or bluer, but better and truer.

Learn more about KCCI’s time with Rob in Decorah below:

KCCI: What shaped Rob Sand? We went back to his hometown to find out

Long before Rob Sand was asking Iowans to make him their next governor, he was riding his bike across Decorah trying to find his friends.
An old friend rode through Sand’s interview on a bicycle with his kids. Former neighbors stopped to talk. One woman introduced herself by telling Sand she quilts with his mother.
For Sand, those encounters were more than a trip down memory lane. They offered a window into how the Democratic candidate for governor says growing up in a small northeast Iowa town shaped his views on public service, local government, political compromise and the outdoors.
Sand’s roots in Decorah extend beyond his own childhood. His father grew up here, too, and Sand said that meant there was a good chance someone around town knew his family, even when he did not know them.
The interruptions continued as Sand walked downtown. He ran into old neighbors and people who said they attend church with Sand’s parents. Another man said Sand’s dad had been his longtime doctor.
“It should be a position of being like a governor for all,” Sand said. “You’re really supposed to be putting everybody’s interests in mind.”
That belief in community decision-making is also tied to one of Sand’s first experiences with local government. A few minutes from downtown sits a skate park Sand said he helped get built when he was a teenager.
“It took two years of organizing and talking to neighbors and, you know, like just continuing to take one foot and put it in front of the other, one step after another to get it done,” Sand said.
For Sand, its significance is not simply that he and his friends got what they wanted. He said skateboarders and property owners had competing interests but eventually worked together on a solution.
“People who disagree with each other actually can work through issues together and help solve issues together,” Sand said.
Sand said that freedom helped him develop independence and confidence. He said he wants children growing up in Iowa today to have similar opportunities. That personal connection is one reason Sand points to water quality and outdoor recreation as priorities in his campaign.
But some of the most consequential lessons Sand says he took from Decorah have less to do with a specific issue than with how he believes government should work.
“Getting to know this kind of community that I grew up in helps you understand how I really have a sense of like how we really are all in it together,” Sand said. “Where we might have disagreements, it’s more important for us to focus where we can agree and where we know we can make things better, because that’s what we always did here.”
“The more we let people make decisions at the local level, the more you can have different solutions, because different communities have different strengths and weaknesses,” Sand said. “If you just let them figure out how they want to do it, the whole state is going to be better off.”