DES MOINES, Iowa—Democrat Rob Sand was elected governor of Iowa on Nov. 3.
Sand, Iowa’s state auditor, defeated Republican Zach Lahn in a landslide.
The Associated Press called the race at 10:12 p.m.
Sand led the polls in the months leading up to the election, and his rising popularity prompted the nonpartisan Cook Political Report to shift its ranking from Toss Up to Lean Democrat.
The governor-elect will succeed Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who said in 2025 that she wasn’t seeking reelection because she wants to spend more time with her family.
Sand, previously registered as an independent, said he’s never heard a “compelling reason” why people have to choose between Republicans and Democrats and promised attendees at a Town Hall at Iowa State University on Oct. 15 that he’d work for everyone if elected.
“The Republican Party has had large majorities in the legislature for 10 years, good, we’ll have to work together,” Sand said at the rally. “That’s an Iowa tradition.”
Sand ran on growing the economy, strengthening public education, lowering costs, and helping Iowans live better, healthier lives.
The governor-elect has advocated for an open primary election in Iowa as well as term and age limits for elected officials.
The governor-elect faced a personal tragedy leading up to the campaign, as his 42-year-old brother-in-law, Walter Lauridsen, died after a two-vehicle crash on Oct. 15 in Lucas County, Iowa.
“While this is a difficult and painful time for all of us, we know he is now at peace,” Sand wrote in an Oct. 16 X post.
The personal tragedy briefly paused some campaign attacks, but it did not erase a separate line of attack that has followed Lahn for months.
Voters told the Epoch Times they had concerns about whether Lahn was a full-time Iowa resident after Sand said in a campaign ad, “We live in Iowa, he doesn’t,” alleging that he spends time in Kansas with his blended family.
“I’m not running around saying, ‘Well, I’ll have to change my living situation if you elect me, but trust me, you should definitely elect me because then I’ll be in Iowa as much as humanly possible,’” Sand quipped at a town hall at Iowa State University on Oct. 15.
The Epoch Times asked Lahn what percentage of the time his feet were on Iowa soil in the past year.
“Probably nearly 100 percent, unless I’m traveling for work or something,” Lahn said after a town hall in Lyon County on Oct. 16.
When the Republican was asked how much he had been in Kansas in the past year, he responded, “Very little. I go there to pick up my kids.”
Lahn, who confirmed to the Epoch Times that he still owns property in Kansas, was born in Hinton, a small town north of Sioux City, but lived and was registered to vote in Kansas between 2018 and 2022 until he moved back to Iowa in 2023. He registered to vote in the Hawkeye State in October 2024 and announced his run for governor in November 2025.
He accused the Sand campaign of spending $15 million on television ads to push allegations that Lahn doesn’t live in Iowa.
Both candidates raised more than $16 million during the election, setting a record for the state’s most expensive governor’s race in history.
A handful of voters who cast their ballots at the Polk County Election Office in Des Moines on Oct. 14, the first day of early voting in Iowa, told The Epoch Times their key issues included the state’s poor water quality, surging state cancer rates, and a rising cost of living.
“I haven’t been able to go to, like, Gray’s Lake or Easter Lake or any of them because of how disgusting the water is,” Longtime Des Moines resident Mima Keco, 29, a Democrat, said. “I had a dog who got sick from the water [at Gray’s Lake] and started throwing up.”
Water quality issues in the state have been caused by runoff from fertilizer and manure from farms, prompting Central Iowa Water Works to run operations at the Nitrate Removal Facility for 193 days during the 2026 season before being taken offline in late July 2026.
“Our water is disgusting,” Democrat resident Maisie Stilwell said. “I don’t let my kids touch it. Like you know, certainly [I] will not let them drink the tap water, and I know most other parents won’t either because you know it is full of disgusting chemicals and it’s just dangerous.”
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