Hunting Democrat Sand faces Iowa’s anti-blue machine

Rob Sand’s candid, pro-hunting style and attacks on “two private clubs” are at the center of Democrats’ push to break Iowa’s Republican dominance. With primary ballots set for Tuesday, party hopes hinge on whether a former state auditor—unopposed for the Democ

On the Iowa trail, Rob Sand doesn’t begin like most politicians. He brings people into a room, has them sing “America the Beautiful,” talks about hunting, and then pivots to the kind of anger that can land with voters who feel ignored by politics.

“The thing I’m going to emphasize is that our democracy is run by two private clubs who have a lot of people in them who are happier to have you hate your uncle if they can wring another $10 donation out of you,” Sand told MS NOW in an interview.

He added: “They’re more focused on that than solving the problems that we face.”

Sand’s message is not aimed at calming Iowa’s political nerves. It’s aimed at interrupting them—an approach Democrats in the state are betting can create a blue wave in places Republicans have long treated as safe.

Sand is running to lead a state that Republicans have dominated for years under Donald Trump-era politics. Democrats believe his candidacy for governor could be a breakthrough needed to win key Iowa offices in the November midterm elections. With Trump’s approval ratings described as “deep underwater. ” gas prices high. and historical political trends favoring the party out of power. Democrats are weighing a comeback strategy in Iowa that puts the state at the center of efforts to win back control of both the US House of Representatives and the Senate.

Tuesday’s primary elections are expected to set the stage for months of intense campaigning.

For Sand, the stakes are personal in Iowa politics. He is the auditor and is the last Democrat holding statewide-elected office in the state. Democrats also see him as the kind of recognizable, mobile candidate who could lift other races on the ballot.

Sand is unopposed for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Five Republicans are running in their party’s primary, including Randy Feenstra, a congressman representing Iowa’s conservative northwestern corner, and Zach Lahn, a farmer and businessman, who are described as the top fundraisers.

That dynamic matters because Iowa’s political landscape has been locked down. Republicans have controlled the governor’s mansion since 2011, both US Senate seats since 2015, and all of its US House seats since 2023. Iowa also played a pivotal role in elevating Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008.

This year, Democrats believe they have a shot at winning three of the state’s US House seats. They also expect the race to succeed Joni Ernst—retiring as Iowa’s junior senator—to be competitive.

Sand’s positioning is built on a careful refusal to simply mimic national party slogans. On the campaign trail, he has shied away from embracing Democratic shibboleths while criticizing Republicans for leading Iowa astray. He points to an economy described as struggling and to cancer rates described as surging.

Democrats want that mixture—familiar enough to energize voters, critical enough to challenge incumbents—to translate into something bigger than a gubernatorial bid.

They already have a sign that the race is drawing real attention. In April. the Cook Political Report shifted their rating of Iowa’s gubernatorial election from “leans Republican” to “toss up.” Iowa’s Republican party chair Jeff Kaufmann blasted the shift on social media as “lazy. naïve” and as reliant on internal polling from the Sand campaign. For Democrats. the new rating is less a conclusion than a permission slip: not only does it elevate Sand. it also signals that the ticket could help races further down the ballot.

Outside the governor’s contest, national money is moving fast. Signs are mounting that national Republicans are taking the Democratic offensive seriously.

Last month, the main Super PAC for Republican senators, the Senate Leadership Fund, announced it would spend $29m in Iowa—just two years after Trump won it by 13 points, described as his largest margin ever.

Republican congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks framed Iowa as persuadable rather than locked in: “Here in Iowa. we see Iowa as a purple state. So we don’t see Iowa as a ruby red state.” She added that the infusion of money to defend the Senate seat was “not unusual at all. and I don’t think it necessarily has any impact on whether or not policies are liked or appreciated. or who the president is”.

Miller-Meeks’ vulnerability is part of the Democrats’ map. She was first elected to her south-eastern Iowa district by six votes in 2020, beat her Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan by about 800 votes in 2024, and is described as the most vulnerable member of Iowa’s House delegation.

By “just historical precedent alone, [it] is going to be a challenging year”, Miller-Meeks said.

Bohannan, for her part, is staking her campaign on trust built across party lines and on Trump’s unpopularity. She believes her name recognition—shaped by her two previous runs against Miller-Meeks—combined with national anger, can break through.

“Thousands and thousands of Trump voters voted for me last cycle because I went out and met them where they are. ” Bohannan said. noting she outperformed Harris in the district in 2024. “I’ve established trust and relationships with them across party. and those relationships now [are] something that we’re building on.”.

In the primary, Bohannan is challenged by Travis Terrell. The Federal Election Commission figures in the race show Terrell’s campaign raised about $21,000 and Bohannan’s $5.6m.

The bigger internal contest—one that cuts to the heart of Democrats’ Iowa strategy—is in the Democratic Senate nomination.

Iowa’s most contentious primaries on the Democratic side is framed as a test of who can reach right-leaning voters in a state that has turned reliably Republican for years.

State representative Josh Turek is one of two Democrats vying to represent Iowa in the US Senate. In his argument for his own candidacy, he describes this moment as an opening.

“I think this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us to be able to win here in Iowa. I mean, this is a state that has completely hit the bottom,” Turek said.

But Turek’s campaign has been fought directly by state senator Zach Wahls over the question of electability.

Wahls accused Turek of being backed by “millions of anonymous dark money dollars” and said he is supported by Chuck Schumer. the Democratic US Senate minority leader whose strategic choices have drawn ire from some in the party. VoteVets—described as a PAC dedicated to electing military veterans that had previously received money from Senate Democrats’ campaign fund—has spent about $5m on advertisements and other expenditures in Turek’s favor.

“If you want to have a hope and a prayer. a shot at winning this race in November. if you think it is going to be easier to do that with the candidate who refuses to distance himself from Democrats in DC. than [with] somebody who is willing to be honest with voters about the failures of Democratic party leaders. you know. I think you made a fundamental error in your calculation. ” Wahls said.

Turek counters with a personal argument that mixes disability, biography, and political map-reading.

Turek was born with spina bifida from his father’s exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam and uses a wheelchair. He argues his candidacy is better positioned to win because he represents a right-leaning district in western Iowa, while Wahls’s eastern Iowa district is heavily Democratic.

“This is about electability, and on that, I don’t think there is much of a comparison,” Turek said.

He added: “There’s something specific about my story and background and résumé that has this unique ability to win over independents and moderate Republicans.”

Schumer has not made an endorsement in the race, but other high-profile Democrats have. Senator Elizabeth Warren and former eastern Iowa congressman Dave Loebsack are backing Wahls. Former Iowa senator Tom Harkin and former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg are backing Turek. in addition to four sitting US senators.

When voters go to the polls on Tuesday. the Democratic Senate nomination is only one of several contests Democrats are trying to line up. The eventual nominee is expected to face congresswoman Ashley Hinson in the Senate race. Hinson is running unopposed and has Trump’s endorsement in the Republican primary.

Even as Democrats build toward November, the question hanging over every headline is whether Sand’s style—part populist, part Iowa-specific, and openly critical of the political system’s money-and-rage incentives—can persuade skeptical voters across multiple races.

Republicans have a long history of defending the terrain. Democrats, on the other side, are trying to prove they finally have the right combination of statewide name recognition, national pressure, and a message that doesn’t ask Iowa voters to pretend politics is working.

In a year where the party in power faces a wall of criticism and costs stay high, Sand is betting that agitation can be redirected—away from “two private clubs” and toward the kind of election-night results Democrats have been unable to deliver in Iowa for more than a decade.

Rob Sand Iowa governor Democratic Party Josh Turek Zach Wahls Joni Ernst Mariannette Miller-Meeks Christina Bohannan Ashley Hinson Iowa Senate race Super PAC Senate Leadership Fund