Rob Sand Wins Over Christians, Conservatives, and Critics on Town Hall Tour

Boone County Voter: “I am a Christian. I’m a conservative. But I’m not a party-based person. I like to vote for the person as opposed to the party. And to me, (Sand) just seems really honest and down to earth. And I enjoyed him.”

DES MOINES, IA — This week, Rob Sand continued his annual 100 Town Hall Tour, stopping in Webster, Boone, Jasper, Warren, Hamilton, Greene, and Marshall counties. Along the route, Rob continued to reach out to Iowans from all political backgrounds, connecting with Republicans, independents, and Democrats alike–even the loving trolls from the internet.

Learn more about Rob’s recent 100 Town Hall Tour stops below:

The Gazette: ‘Looking for change:’ Iowa voters, including Republicans, responding to Sand

• Faith Courselle said she was apprehensive to attend a Rob Sand campaign town hall event. Courselle considers herself a Republican, and she voted for Donald Trump for president.

• But Courselle is “looking for a change,” she said, and has not locked herself into voting for Republican candidates this year. Courselle said she liked what she heard from Sand, the Democratic candidate for Iowa governor, during his event in Boone.

• “I like him,” said Courselle, who has lived in Boone for the past three years after moving from Wyoming. “I am a Christian. I’m a conservative. But I’m not a party-based person. I like to vote for the person as opposed to the party. And to me, (Sand) just seems really honest and down to earth. And I enjoyed him.”

• At each campaign town hall event — Sand held 100 last year, one each in Iowa’s 99 counties, and is repeating the feat this year — Sand asks attendees to raise their hands to identify whether they identify as Democrats, Republicans or no-party voters. And he regularly hands the microphone to one of those self-identified Republicans during the events’ question-and-answer segments.

• The approach appears to be working, at least with some segment of Iowa Republicans or Republican-leaning voters, who could be heard and found at all three Sand campaign town hall events this past Monday, July 27, in Central Iowa.

• “I do typically vote Republican, and I am a registered Republican. However, I think (Sand) is right that party shouldn’t be a factor in who we vote for,” Marcus Chamberlain, from Newton, said Monday after the town hall event there. “It should be based upon the person’s character and their policies.”

• Kevin Stumpf, who lives in Calhoun County, said he has supported Sand since 2022. Stumpf, who attended the Fort Dodge event Monday, is one of the more than 100 Iowa Republicans who have publicly endorsed Sand’s campaign, according to the campaign.

• “We have to bring people together. That’s my big thing. There’s too much divisiveness going around. Too much (being) divided. Everybody’s, ‘You’re on one side, this side.’ You can’t talk to each other,” Stumpf said. “But Rob’s that middle guy, and he’s going to bring everybody together. When everybody’s together, work together, we’re going to excel. But if you’re going to divide and conquer people, we’re not going to excel. So he’s the one that’s going to bring us all together.”

Indianola-Independent Advocate: 300 turn out to see gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand in Carlisle

• On Tuesday, Gary Leffler — who Sand greeted as a “loving troll on the internet” — got the first two questions for Sand at a town hall meeting in Carlisle.

• “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God,” Sand replied. “We need peacemakers desperately right now. I’m saying this to illustrate to you in the ways most personal to me that I share your faith. I will call you my brother in faith, even if we disagree on this issue.”

• “When I think about representation, I think about a lot of things,” responded Sand. “I think people can represent people who are different from them. But one of the things it requires in order to do that is listening.”

• And that is one thing that often is missing in today’s politics, Sand told the more than 300 people assembled in the Family Life Center of the Carlisle United Methodist Church on Tuesday.

• “I’m a believer that there are a lot of people in politics these days who aren’t listening,” he said. “When people feel a lack of representation from their government, that’s a problem. If they don’t listen to you and are not interested in your experiences and are not trying to solve your problems, are they representing you?”

• “I’m a big believer in good government,” replied Sand. “I believe in the intrinsic goodness of most people. I’ve met a lot of them. I like them. Some of them I’ve put in prison because not all of them are all that good.”

• He said he would create rules that would keep politicians away from “temptation,” including banning stock trading by elected officials, creating mandatory prison sentences for people who steal from government, implementing term limits and age limits at the top for government service, requiring candidates for office to pass a civics test, and allowing the state auditor to audit.

Raccoon Valley Radio: Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Wants to Get Back to “Common Sense Stuff” and Allow Ourselves to Disagree to Be Better

• Rob Sand spoke at the Greene County Community Center as part of his 100 Town Hall Tour. The Decorah native said growing up, he was a registered Independent, but then found out to vote in a primary, he had to choose to be either a Democrat or a Republican. Sand told the crowd, he didn’t like the fact that a Constitutional right to vote, and something that taxpayers pay to have elections, doesn’t actually count unless you belong to one of the two private clubs.

• He pointed out that he doesn’t toe any political party line, but does what he believes is the right thing to do, both in his job and in life.

• “I would rather tell you what I think than try to remember what it was that I said. If that’s a problem for you, keep this in mind. If you think I’m the right guy for the job and you agree with me on what you think are the most important issues, vote for me. Disagreement is natural, disagreement is healthy. If we’re actually really the same, would we disagree with each other? Doesn’t that help us figure out for both of us, a little bit closer to what the truth actually is than just sort of saying, ‘Oh, I guess I’ll go along to get along.’ I know it does, you know it does. It’s common sense but you don’t see it very much in politics.”

Iowa Capital Dispatch: Rob Sand advocates for more Iowa wetlands and grazing land

• Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand discussed plans to combat Iowa’s water quality issues and advocated for more mental health funding Monday at a town hall in Fort Dodge.

• Sand, who currently serves as state auditor, said he is “not satisfied” with Iowa’s efforts to address water quality. He  advocated for a data-driven approach to tackle the issue, and more wetlands that would improve soil health, water quality, biodiversity and recreational activities.

• “I want us to have the single biggest expansion of wetlands and grazing land that we have ever seen in the state of Iowa,” Sand said. “You can fish, you can photograph, all kinds of fun stuff that you can do in wetlands. We want our kids to take part.”

• Sand said Iowa families face too many barriers when seeking behavioral health treatment, adding that Iowa has restructured its efforts to treating mental health three times in six years,

• “It’s like surviving a shipwreck in the dark, with brief flashes of lightning showing possible help, but no consistent path to actually reach it,” Sand said.

• “Number one, we should be making sure that mental health professionals in the state of Iowa are paid a competitive wage,” Sand said. “What we do not want is a situation where they can say, ‘Boy, I could make a lot more money if I was just doing this somewhere else,’ but oftentimes, we have that.”

The Messenger: Sand touts plans for Iowa

• Rob Sand told a Fort Dodge audience Monday that he will bring a different approach to the governor’s office that will produce solutions that work for Iowans on everything from water quality to mental health.

• “I’ve had enough of this,” he told about 300 people in the Auditorium Building at the Webster County Fairgrounds.

• “When different people who think differently work together we get better answers for everyone,” he said. Disagreement, he added, is a healthy part of the process.

• Sand attributes many of Iowa’s problems to 10 years of complete Republican control of state government. But he isn’t advocating for complete Democratic control of state government. He said anyone who thinks that would be a good idea should “please visit California or New York.”

• To address ongoing concerns about the quality of the state’s water, he proposes the “single biggest expansion of wetlands and grazing lands in our state’s history.”

• His water quality plan also includes refusing to give immunity to corporations caught polluting, and making manure management plans more transparent.