Democrat Rob Sand Wins Iowa Governor's Race, Ending GOP Control of the Office
Democrat Rob Sand defeated Republican Zach Lahn in the race for Iowa governor, according to NPR. The Associated Press, a news agency that projects election winners, called the race for Sand on Tuesday, November 3.
When the AP made the call, 86% of the votes had been counted, with 1,189,622 total votes reported, according to The New York Times.
Republicans have held the governor's office since 2011. Sand's win is the first time a Democrat has been elected Iowa governor since Chet Culver in 2006. Sand will succeed Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who decided not to seek another term.
President Donald Trump carried Iowa by more than 13 percentage points in 2024. Trump endorsed Lahn in the governor's race. Republicans also hold majorities in both the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate.
Sand, a Democrat, announced his bid for the open seat in May 2025. He became the Democratic nominee in June 2026. Sand was first elected Iowa state auditor and won reelection to that office in 2022. Before that, he was an assistant attorney general who led the investigation and prosecution of a lottery-rigging scheme involving manipulated jackpots across five states. NPR describes that case as the largest lottery-rigging scheme in U.S. history.
Lahn is a Republican businessman who ran for governor in 2026. Campaign finance reports covering mid-July through mid-October showed that candidates for Iowa governor spent more than $46 million combined. Sand accounted for about $29 million of that total.
