Iowa Auditor Sand Visits Hampton During Governor Campaign Tour

Iowa Auditor Rob Sand, the only Democrat in statewide elected office, made a pit stop in Hampton on Friday, Oct. 17, as part of his statewide campaign tour for governor.

He and his team stopped by Rustic Brew at 10 a.m. on Friday, where locals waited with drinks in hand. One of those residents was Carol Sensor, who told the Chronicle that she was excited to meet with and speak to Sand.

"My daughter went to law school with him and she said he had more integrity than anyone she knew," Sensor said. "That was good enough for me."

While at Rustic Brew, Sand addressed the two-party system, protests, vouchers, childcare, water quality, and more.

"Here's the bottom-line truth," he told those in attendance. "The two-choice system functions the best for the people who are using it to get re-elected, not to solve problems for ordinary people. We should have a system where we have more options on the ballot, because when we have actual choices, they are all going to have to work a little harder for us rather than themselves."

He then asked "does anybody disagree with that?" to which many said "no."

"Then why don't we talk about this more?" he asked. "The system is broken. Let's change it. This has been a proud Iowa tradition ... We are the first state in the country to create a system that would prevent gerrymandering. The first state with an independent redistricting commission. We have a proud tradition of telling politicians that 'you know, we don't trust you as much as you think we do. We're going to put some guardrails up to make sure the system is working more for us than it is for you."

When asked about the current administration's handling of undocumented immigrants, he told local media outlets no good would come from deporting people who are contributing to society and paying taxes, so long as they don't have criminal records.

"Do people in the state of Iowa want road construction to last longer than it already has?" he asked. "This is ridiculous. If you are here, and you're paying taxes, and you don't have a criminal record, and you're working, you're a part of the community. I would think there needs to be some level of consequence for being here illegally, but I would think we would want you to stay, as long as you have no criminal record. I don't think that when we're in the middle of a workforce crisis, shipping people like that out is doing anybody any good."

When asked how he would address the issue of a lack of affordable childcare around the state, he responded "universal pre-k, all day for all students."

"That would mean a lot of our kids could get an earlier start and it's really smart for tax payers because every dollar you invest in early childhood education, you save 17 later on," he said. "It would also mean that those slots in daycare would open up, which would mean less pressure on the daycares and more openings for kids."

Sand also spoke about his PIE (Public Innovations and Efficiencies) Award, which he created in 2019 to encourage public entities across Iowa to implement efficiency practices.

"It's a big check list that you do as cities, counties and school districts to save money for tax payers," he said. "And if you get these things implemented, you're going to be entered into our annual PIE contest. The award for the PIE contest is ... pie. So it's a wonderful thing because I'll travel around the state bringing pies to the best-performing cities, counties and school districts to celebrate public servants for saving money for tax payers and eating more dessert."

(Franklin County Auditor Katy Flint and her team won a PIE Award for Best Performing County of Its Size for 2024.)

Sand told local reporters that he was happy with how the tour was going so far.

"I think people are excited," he said. "They are pretty fed up with high costs and a lack of accountability from elected officials and our message is really focused on those two things."

Sand's "100 Town Hall Tour" consisted of visiting every county in the state, starting with Dallas and Polk counties on June 25 and ending with Howard, Chickasaw, Bremer, Allamakee and Winneshiek counties on Oct. 21.

Sand served as the Assistant Attorney General of Iowa from 2010 to 2017. He's currently in his second term as state auditor.