Democrat Rob Sand has defeated Republican businessman Zach Lahn in Iowa’s governor's race, according to an AP race call.
Sand won Iowa’s governor’s race on a promise to work across party lines.
He’ll get his first test in January, when he takes office with Republicans still in charge of both chambers of the Iowa Legislature. Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann called those majorities a “red wall.”
The two-term state auditor defeated Lahn with more than 55% of the vote, according to unofficial results. Sand is the first Democrat elected Iowa governor since Chet Culver in 2006 and will succeed Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who chose not to run again.
President Donald Trump carried Iowa by more than 13 points just two years ago.
Sand ran on government accountability and cooperation across party lines. Before becoming state auditor, he was an Iowa prosecutor who led the prosecution of the largest lottery-rigging scheme in U.S. history, involving manipulated jackpots across five states.
Education was a major dividing line for the candidates. Sand criticized Iowa’s education savings account (ESA) program, which uses public money to help families pay private school tuition. He called for greater investment in public schools. Lahn defended the program, saying parents deserve more choices in their children’s education.
Sand also campaigned on healthcare and affordability, calling for an end to Medicaid privatization and caps on utility service fees.
Lahn, a first-time candidate, emphasized his business experience. He previously worked for Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group associated with the Koch family, and co-founded Wonder, a private school in Wichita, Kansas.
The governor’s race came with a hefty price tag. Campaign finance reports covering mid-July through mid-October showed the candidates spent more than $46 million. Sand accounted for about $29 million of that spending.
Sand will succeed Reynolds, Iowa’s first female governor, in January at the start of the 2027 legislative session.
Election Results
Sand reaches out to voters who opposed him
Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” played as Sand walked onstage to cheers at the Iowa Democrats’ watch party in Des Moines.
“To Iowa Democrats, you've had a hard few years here in Iowa, but balanced government has been restored,” Sand said to loud applause.
He thanked supporters across party lines and his running mate, Lt. Gov.-elect Dave Muhlbauer, a fifth-generation western Iowa farmer and Crawford County supervisor. He also remembered his brother-in-law, Walter Lauridsen II, who died Oct. 15 at age 42 after being struck by a vehicle in Lucas County.
Sand invited people who voted against him to stop him when they see him around Iowa and tell him why. He said he’d bring the same approach to the governor’s office that he took as auditor, where he organized his senior leadership team to span political parties, including a Democrat, an Independent and a Republican.
"Because of all of us coming together in January, no Iowan has to fear their government any more,” Sand said. “To those who did not vote for me, I'm going to listen to you and serve you just the same."
Lahn tells supporters he’ll keep going
In his concession speech, Lahn thanked Sand and wished him well. He told supporters he intended to keep pressing the issues that brought him into the race, including Iowa’s high cancer rates, water quality, the loss of family farms and the departure of young people from the state.
“We had a spirited campaign. We clearly have very different ideas, very different visions about the future of Iowa. I wish him well in this,” Lahn said.
Lahn, a first-time candidate, narrowly beat Trump-backed U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra in the Republican primary. He drew support from grassroots activists and backers of the Make America Healthy Again movement associated with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Trump later endorsed Lahn.
Lahn said he entered the race because he worried about whether young Iowans could build a life and raise a family in the state. He laid out four goals for supporters on election night: keep young people in Iowa, preserve family farms, improve public schools and confront the state’s high cancer rates.
Lahn also urged supporters of Make America Healthy Again to stay involved, saying access to healthy food and children’s health would remain priorities.
Lahn owns an investment company and revived his family’s farm in eastern Iowa. He previously worked for Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group associated with the Koch family, and helped start a private school in Wichita, Kansas. On election night, he told supporters he believed their campaign had already shifted the conversation within the Republican Party.
He closed with a parting line for Iowans: “We'll see you in four years.”
Kaufmann called the night disappointing and praised Lahn for bringing detailed proposals into the race and sticking with them from the primary through the general election. He pointed to Republican control of the Iowa House and Senate as the party’s remaining source of leverage.
“But in terms of the of the governorship, look, there’s still a red wall out there, and the red wall is called the Iowa Legislature,” Kaufmann said.
Where the candidates agreed and where they split
Sand sees water quality and cancer as places to start working with Republicans. Both candidates backed voluntary conservation and supported funding Iowa's voter-approved Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund, commonly known as IWILL, which has remained unfunded since voters approved it in 2010.
Sand also proposed restoring wetlands and clearing waiting lists for farm conservation assistance. Lahn wanted to target nitrate monitoring and incentives to the hardest-hit waterways.
They split on private school tuition. Sand wants to restore income limits on taxpayer-funded scholarships and invest more in public schools. Lahn defended keeping the scholarships open to families at all income levels.
Sand also campaigned on ending private management of Medicaid and eliminating state tax breaks for large data center projects.
The candidates raised a combined $81 million, according to state filings, more than twice the gubernatorial fundraising record Reynolds and Democrat Fred Hubbell set in 2018.
Sand said his campaign town halls gave Iowans a place to bring complaints and offer ideas. He asked voters to keep talking with neighbors who voted differently and said he’d bring that same approach to the Statehouse.
“Problem solving across the aisle is something that you can expect from me as your governor,” Sand said.
He pointed to cleaner water, lower cancer rates and stronger public schools as priorities lawmakers could work on together. He also said voters wanted divided government to bring more scrutiny to how the state operates.
“Tonight, Iowans across the state made their voices heard, and they voted to restore our public schools to their former glory. They voted to address our cancer crisis with real solutions, not with rhetoric, and to make public service the focus of government, not politics,” Sand said. “… More than anything else, Iowans voted for change. They voted for checks and balances, and they voted to bring transparency and accountability back to state government."
