State Auditor Rob Sand speaks to an audience of some 50 people on Thursday, Aug. 21, in rural Van Horne as part of his 100 Town Hall Tour. Sand, a Democrat, is running for governor in 2026. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

VAN HORNE – Democratic State Auditor and gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand’s popularity across the political spectrum is hard to ignore these days as he chips away at visiting all 99 of Iowa’s counties – including Lee’s two county seats, Fort Madison and Keokuk – as part of his 100 Town Hall Tour. Sand’s non-partisan image which emphasizes pragmatism, grace, and a love of gas station pizza and homemade pie is seemingly paying dividends now in his uphill battle to flip the governor’s mansion in 2026.

But what flew under the radar during Sand’s recent town hall in rural Benton County was not how many registered Republicans or Independents showed up – roughly a handful – but that he was able to draw such a large crowd of Democrats outside an urban center in a county his own party has all but written off for more than a decade. A legislative district where one of the last Democrats to hold office – former state Rep. Dawn Pettengill – flipped parties. A county where not a single Democrat holds elected office today.

Organize a well-attended town hall there?

Enter Rob Sand.

Sand’s visit to Benton County on Thursday, Aug. 21, took him to a meticulously-maintained acreage roughly a mile-and-a-half south of Van Horne, pop. less than 800. While agricultural fields dominated the landscape in all directions, an old silo that had shifted slightly to the east during the 2020 Derecho formed part of the backdrop.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

After briefly speaking with members of the press from under a shade tree, Sand made his way to a cement slab in front of a large machine shed, taking his place away from the midday sun under a black and gold canopy with the word ‘HAWKEYES’ emblazoned on its sides. In front of him, an audience of roughly 50 people – most hailing from Benton or nearby Tama County – gathered in chairs. They looked and acted excited. The only Democrat currently holding statewide office in Iowa had come to visit them.

“One of the things that I want to do first though is acknowledge the reality of our political system. I have one word to describe it: broken,” Sand said to begin. “Democrats and Republicans, the candidates, elected officials, the consultants, they know one very simple truth – solving problems is hard, and making people’s only other realistic option seem evil is easy. … [T]he bottom line is that there are a lot of powerful people in both parties who do not want us to talk to each other. They don’t want Democrats and Republicans actually sitting down and realizing, ‘Hey, wait a minute, actually, I kind of agree with you on a lot of stuff.'”

Sand then asked for any registered Republicans to raise their hands and at least one individual obliged. When he asked for a show of hands from registered Independents, a few more hands crept up. He then moved on to what has become potent media fodder – singing “America the Beautiful.” And so, amid the soupy humidity – and with cameras from two television stations filming – Sand led the group in singing the first verse of the 19th century patriotic tune.

“Don’t you feel better already?” he asked following the verse’s conclusion and a brief applause. “Ok, thank you for coming,” he joked, garnering laughter.

Sand then spent the next 10 minutes describing his upbringing in Decorah, his work as an attorney including serving under the Office of the Attorney General of Iowa, and his most recent job as State Auditor – a role to which he has been elected twice.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“My dad’s family has been in Winneshiek County pretty much since we got off the boat in Norway,” he said. His wife Christine, a native of the Denison area, is “mostly Danish,” he added, and thus their union is a “mixed marriage.” Together they are raising two preteen sons.

Growing up in Decorah, he spent time on “faith, hunting, and fishing” – pillars of his childhood he still finds important today, he told the audience before moving on to politics.

“When I registered to vote, I registered as an Independent. … and I did that because I don’t really like political parties. I realize I am saying this to a crowd full of people who are mostly in mine. I’m just telling you how I feel and it’s how I’ve always felt.”

So why and how did he end up a registered Democrat? Because he wanted to vote in a primary election.

“Can anyone make that make sense to me?” he asked rhetorically. “Why in America would you have to join a private club where that private club gets access to your tax dollars and can deny you your constitutional right to vote unless you join the private club to vote in that election? That makes no sense to me.”

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

In further explaining his decision to align with Democrats, Sand invoked Jesus Christ – “I think Jesus is for the little guy and I think the Democratic Party, at its best, is for the little guy.” – an explanation that ended up being one of several times he referenced Jesus or a story from the Bible as part of his remarks.

Some nine minutes after beginning his stump speech, Sand transitioned to a Q&A which took up the bulk of the visit. The audience’s questions covered a variety of topics including hunger, educational savings accounts or ESAs (private school vouchers), IPERS, legislation that limits the State Auditor’s office from accessing certain information, Medicaid, mental healthcare, the state’s skyrocketing cancer rate, and immigration.

Public schools

As part of his media availability ahead of the town hall, Sand took a question from this newspaper regarding public education in rural districts and the ever-increasing struggle to remain viable. When asked what was going to happen to public schools under a possible Sand administration, he replied, “We’re going to have more support for them. If I’m governor, we center public schools as the source of education in the state of Iowa.”

He also touched on action taken during his first year as State Auditor which allowed employees “the ability to live anywhere they wanted to in the state of Iowa.”

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“Being a guy from Decorah and knowing that our work is done in all 99 counties, I said, ‘Well, why don’t we let people live anywhere?’ And, I didn’t really get a good answer. It’s 2025. Remote work can work. And we should be supportive of that because I think it would help us get more people who want to be in small towns and in rural areas out to those areas which would make a tremendous impact on whether or not those areas survive.”

When asked if he sees another round of Iowa school consolidation as inevitable at this point, Sand firmly pushed back.

“Not at all. Not at all,” he replied. “And the people who say that kind of thing, I just think that there’s just a total lack of creativity and total lack of interest in doing hard work. And part of this goes back to the idea that is the center of this campaign – not redder or bluer, but better and truer. Right? Elected officials, candidates, they know; if I can just convince you that the other side’s evil, I don’t have to solve your problems. And so problems don’t get solved because they just run around badmouthing each other. I would like to end that system. Because if we have a system where we actually can hold elected officials and candidates accountable, they might actually decide to sit down and figure out, ‘How do we do the hard work of helping to repopulate our small towns and our rural areas?’ There are certainly ways to do it.”

While taking a question on ESAs during the Q&A, Sand steered clear of discussing an outright repeal of the legislation – a task that would more than likely be impossible under the Republican-controlled legislature – but rather focused on accountability in the program.

“Let’s have audits. Public audits for public dollars. That seems to me pretty easy,” he said. “Let’s add some transparency to the program. And let’s do this – let’s call their bluff. Folks like to say, ‘We’re for school choice.’ Ok, let’s see about that. Then let’s have a program where if you take public money, you take the public. Private schools don’t get to pick and choose.”

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

‘Hardest working elected official in the state of Iowa’

Toward the end of the visit, Sand addressed his schedule, telling the audience his stop in Van Horne that day was his 738th public town hall in Iowa since taking elected office – a statement that elicited robust applause.

“You’ve heard of the 99 county tour?” he asked, in seeming reference to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s legendary 99 county meetings. “Well, I do 100 [town halls] every year because Lee County has two county seats, so they get two stops, and also that way I can say I’m the hardest-working elected official in the state of Iowa.”

Before moving on to his closing, Sand asked the audience to sing another song, “Happy Birthday” in honor of a lady seated in the front row who was celebrating her 80th birthday.

Just ahead of 2 p.m., Sand called it quits, thanking the audience and then his hosts before heading to Cedar Rapids where he was to be the featured guest during The Gazette’s Pints & Politics later that evening.

While very few registered Republicans or Independents heard Sand’s message that day in rural Van Horne, the 50-some Democrats who did appeared more than energized following the visit. As they made their way to their cars scattered around the property’s many outbuildings, the excitement in people’s chatter was hard to miss.

Telegraph Note: Iowa’s gubernatorial election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, while the primary will be held on June 2, 2026. In addition to Sand, Democrat Julie Stauch has announced her campaign for governor. On the Republican side, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced in April she will not run for a third term. As of press time, state Rep. Eddie Andrews and former state Rep. Brad Sherman had both launched campaigns for the office.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER