Rob Sand Wins Iowa Governor Race, Defeats Zach Lahn

Democrat Rob Sand defeated Republican Zach Lahn in Iowa's race for governor on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. The Associated Press called the race for Sand. Decision Desk HQ and NBC also called the race for Sand just after 10:14 p.m. Central time, and Reuters reported the win from United States media projections.

Sand will be the first Democrat to win an Iowa governor's race since Chet Culver in 2006. Republicans have held the office since 2011. Sand succeeds Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, who decided not to seek another term.

The count at the call

The Associated Press results feed listed the race as called for Sand, with Sand at 692,582 votes, 83.76 percent of precincts reporting and an estimated 88.19 percent of the vote counted in that snapshot. At call time, the Iowa Secretary of State's site showed Sand leading Lahn 56 percent to 44 percent, with 70 of 99 counties reporting, the Des Moines Register reported.

The result came in a state President Donald Trump carried by more than 13 percentage points in 2024. Republicans hold a voter registration advantage of about 175,000 in Iowa, according to the Associated Press reporting cited in this story.

Who Sand is, and who he beat

Sand, 44, is a two-term state auditor and was the only Democrat holding statewide office in Iowa. He narrowly won reelection as auditor in 2022. Before that, he was an assistant attorney general who led the investigation and prosecution of the largest lottery rigging scheme in United States history.

Sand joined the race in May 2025 and faced no primary challenger. He campaigned on government accountability, cooperation across party lines, affordability and wider access to health care, including an end to Medicaid privatization. He criticized Iowa's education savings account program and called for more investment in public schools.

Lahn, a Republican businessman, farmer and former political operative running for office for the first time, won the Republican primary by edging United States Representative Randy Feenstra about 38 percent to 37 percent, after putting more than 2 million dollars of his own money into his primary campaign.

Money and what comes next

Sand raised about 59 million dollars across the cycle, compared with nearly 33 million dollars for Lahn. That made it the most expensive Iowa governor's race on record. Both candidates raised concerns about water quality and Iowa's high cancer rates. The state has the nation's second highest rate of new cancer diagnoses.

Sand takes office in January. He will work with a Republican controlled Legislature, since the GOP holds majorities in both the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate. His running mate is Crawford County Supervisor Dave Muhlbauer, a farmer from Manilla.