Rob Sand Spends the Day at Iowa State Fair

DES MOINES, IA – Yesterday, candidate for governor Rob Sand spent the day at the Iowa State Fair, grilling pork chops with the Iowa Pork Producers, serving lunch at the Iowa Cattlemen’s Beef Quarters and touring the Beef Barn, and talking to and connecting with Iowans from across the state. Along the way, Rob sampled some fair favorites and some new menu items this year.

READ:

• KGAN:

  • Iowa Auditor Rob Sand, the only Democrat elected to a statewide office, is running for governor in 2026. He was at the Pork Producers Tent manning the grill Wednesday and talking with voters as they walked by.

• Quad-City Times:

  • Sand, who jumped into the Iowa governor’s race in May after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she will not seek re-election, has been crisscrossing the state on a 100-stop town hall tour where, he said, he’s hearing from Iowa voters who say they are tired of the polarization between Democrats and Republicans.

  • “Neither the Democratic nor the Republican parties solve enough problems to deserve their monopoly on our choices at the ballot booth,” Sand said. “I think that’s what people want. They want less of the finger-pointing, less of the fighting and more of the public service.”

  • During his town hall tour, Sand, the only elected statewide Democrat, has been introducing himself to Iowans as a moderate and bipartisan lawmaker who isn’t a big fan of party labels, which he says is what people across the state want in a governor.

LISTEN:

• The Simon Conway Show:

  • “I am doing events where we have full advanced notice. Anyone right now can go to RobSand.com/events, they can pull up any event, I’m doing 100 town halls, they don’t end until the middle of October. And so we are getting turnout at these events, 95% of them have included Republicans. And so I’m taking questions from Republicans, from Independent voters.”

  • “I feel a lot of momentum … when I’m walking around at the State Fair, a lot of people are coming up to me saying ‘I’m conservative, I’m a Republican and I’m supporting you, I’m tired of the direction of the state right now. I agree with a lot of the stuff they’re doing but some of this stuff is just off the wall and we need balance.’”