Rob Sand Wins Iowa Governor's Race, Defeating Zach Lahn to Flip the Seat for Democrats

Democrat Rob Sand has won the race for Iowa governor, defeating Republican Zach Lahn on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The Associated Press called the race for Sand, and CBS News and NBC News also projected him the winner late Tuesday night.

Sand, the state auditor, will succeed retiring Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. He becomes the first Democrat elected governor of Iowa since 2006, according to CBS News, in a state President Donald Trump carried by about 13 points in 2024.

Iowa governor results

CBS News’ results table, with about 97% of the expected vote counted late Tuesday, showed:

These are unofficial numbers. Counties still have to canvass, and the state will certify the final totals in the coming weeks.

Who is Rob Sand?

Sand, 44, was first elected state auditor in 2018 and reelected in 2022, CBS News reported. Going into Election Day he was the only Democrat holding statewide elected office in Iowa, and NBC News described him as a long-watched rising star in a party trying to win back rural voters.

He launched his campaign about a month after Reynolds announced in April 2025 that she would not seek reelection, entering the race with $8 million already raised, according to CBS. He ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and made a 100-stop tour of the state.

On the trail, Sand presented himself as a moderate problem-solver. CBS News reported that he criticized the two-party system and pushed for nonpartisan primaries, a message aimed at Iowa’s growing number of independent voters. He pledged to raise the minimum wage and make health care and prescription drugs more affordable, NBC News reported.

How Zach Lahn got here

Lahn, 40, is a farmer and businessman who pulled off an upset in the Republican primary in May, beating Rep. Randy Feenstra, the candidate Trump had endorsed. CBS reported that Lahn won that primary by about 1,700 votes with backing from Turning Point Action and MAHA Action, a group created by allies of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

After the primary, Trump endorsed Lahn and campaigned for him, as did Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to CBS. Lahn pledged to cut taxes and help small businesses, and argued that Sand was “just like all the other Democrats,” NBC News reported.

What the race was about

• Costs and the farm economy. CBS News reported that Iowa has been hit hard by tariffs, higher oil and gas prices and the Iran war, and that Sand pressed the Republican establishment on those issues.
• Water quality and cancer rates. Pollution from agribusiness and Iowa’s rising cancer rates were central themes for both campaigns, according to NBC News.
• Residency attacks. Sand and his allies cast Lahn as a “part-time Iowan” because he lived and voted in Kansas until recently. Lahn said his blended family splits time between the states.
• Sand’s family business. Lahn called Sand a “liberal billionaire,” pointing to his wife’s role as CEO of her family’s company, and claimed the company polluted Iowa waterways, which Sand rebutted, NBC reported.

Why the result is drawing attention

Iowa has trended steadily Republican over the past decade. Before Tuesday, the state had no Democrats in its U.S. House delegation, CBS noted. A Democratic win for governor, alongside a closely watched U.S. Senate race in the state, makes Iowa one of the night’s most notable results for both parties.

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