The Associated Press has called Iowa's governor's race for Democrat Rob Sand, defeating Republican businessman Zach Lahn and flipping an office Republicans have held since 2011. Sand was on 723,608 votes with 89.86 percent of precincts reporting when the AP made the call late on Tuesday night.
Sand, 44, is Iowa's two-term state auditor and the only Democrat holding statewide office in the state. He won re-election as auditor in 2022 by fewer than 3,000 votes, and has now done what no Iowa Democrat has done in two decades — he becomes the first Democrat elected governor of Iowa since Chet Culver in 2006. He succeeds Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, who chose not to seek another term. Thanking the state on X, Sand wrote: "Thank you, Iowa."
Lahn was a first-time candidate who surprised even members of his own party by winning the Republican primary. The flip lands in a state President Donald Trump carried by more than 13 points in 2024, making it one of the clearest signs of how far Tuesday's Democratic wave reached. Sand campaigned heavily on affordability, stressing the cost pressures on Iowa families.
Sand takes office in January, and for Iowa families the result means divided government in Des Moines: a Democratic governor will have to negotiate taxes, school funding and farm-state priorities with a Republican-controlled Legislature, so nothing on either side's list becomes law without the other side agreeing to it.
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