Iowa
Who's running
Rob Sand grew up in Decorah, Iowa. He was a prosecutor in the Iowa attorney general's office from 2010 to 2017, where he took on a big lottery fraud case. He was elected state auditor in 2018 and barely won again in 2022. He is the only Democrat holding statewide office in Iowa. He announced for governor in May 2025 and was the only Democrat on the June primary ballot. He has raised a record $37.8 million.
- Move private school voucher money for wealthier families into universal pre-K.
- Undo Medicaid privatization by executive order.
- Legalize, tax, and regulate adult-use cannabis.
- A 5 percent K-12 funding increase in year one, paid for partly by ending data center tax breaks.
Zach Lahn was born in Sioux City, Iowa. He worked for Koch-backed groups like Americans for Prosperity and ran Republican campaigns. He co-founded a private school in Wichita, Kansas. He moved back to Iowa in 2023 and had never held office. He announced in November 2025 and won the June 2 primary by less than one point over Rep. Randy Feenstra, who had Trump's endorsement. Trump endorsed Lahn in July.
- Eliminate the personal income tax, and later property taxes on primary homes.
- School "innovation zones" and phonics instead of more spending.
- Find out what "Big Ag and Big Pharma knew" about the safety of their products.
- End data center tax breaks.
The tea ☕
- The Des Moines Register reported Lahn lived in Kansas until 2023 and that flight records showed 75 nights in Wichita between October 2025 and spring 2026. Sand calls him a "part-time Iowan" and a "change of address candidate." Lahn says the trips were for family reasons.
- Lahn's running mate, state Rep. Derek Wulf, was reportedly under investigation by the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office in September over claims he misled lenders and business partners about his finances.
- Lahn's ads go after Sand's family money. KCRG found Sand's relatives have given his campaigns $13.1 million since 2018.
- Lahn holds a 28 percent stake in a company that sells sexual health products. He says he left the board before it sold those products and cannot sell his shares, but SEC filings with his signature describe them.
- PolitiFact rated False Lahn's debate claim that tax cuts Sand criticized save a family of four $7,500 a year.
- Sand pulled out of the October 21 Iowa PBS debate after a death in his family. The campaigns said they would try to find a new date.