{"id":852523,"date":"2026-06-08T09:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T09:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/852523\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T09:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T09:06:12","slug":"kentucky-gov-andy-beshear-joins-rob-sand-at-iowa-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/852523\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear joins Rob Sand at Iowa rally"},"content":{"rendered":"

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) \u2014 Rob Sand rallied a crowd for the first time as the official Democratic nominee<\/a> for Iowa governor on Sunday, kicking off a countdown to November with the support of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The race for governor between Sand and Republican Zach Lahn<\/a> stands to be one of the most competitive in the country as Iowans face a state budget deficit, struggling agricultural economy<\/a> and cancer crisis. Democrats are putting faith in him to blaze a trail in the state<\/a> after struggling electorally in recent cycles, hoping his message of unity will resonate with their fellow Iowans. <\/p>\n

A few hundred people in Des Moines roared, waved campaign signs and snapped photos as Sand took the stage, a state flag hanging behind him. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou might think we have a big hill to climb. I\u2019ve seen bigger,\u201d Sand said. \u201cWe\u2019re building a coalition of \u2014 not red versus blue \u2014 but of the well-fed versus the fed-up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sand, who was unopposed on the primary ballot, learned who his opponent would be after Tuesday\u2019s primary settled an unpredictable five-way Republican contest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The rally was the first one that Tracy Schloss has ever attended. A lifelong Democrat, Schloss said he doesn\u2019t like the state\u2019s direction after nearly a decade of total Republican control, saying the leaders have \u201clost sight of the common people.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time, you gotta step up or the country will still keep going the way it\u2019s going,\u201d said the 62-year-old retiree from Ankeny, a suburb of Des Moines.<\/p>\n

Schloss said he thinks Sand is a \u201cbright spot\u201d who can get voters excited, and he\u2019s more optimistic than he\u2019s been in recent years that the election will be a success for Democrats. <\/p>\n

Iowa is a political battleground this year<\/p>\n

Iowa has open races for both governor and U.S. senator for the first time since 1968, plus three battleground congressional races. National attention on the state has soared in recent months, drawing President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance to Iowa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Democrats still have a 200,000-person deficit in statewide voter registration, and they are outnumbered in every House district. Sand, along with Senate candidate Josh Turek<\/a>, say they can win over independents and Republicans who are frustrated with party politics and a Republican trifecta in Washington and Des Moines that they blame for the state\u2019s challenges. <\/p>\n

Turek will face U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who already has portrayed Turek as a liberal puppet for party leader Sen. Chuck Schumer.<\/p>\n

Lahn has also rejected Sand\u2019s nonpartisan pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob Sand is not a moderate,\u201d Lahn said in his victory speech Tuesday. \u201cHe\u2019s a liberal career politician pretending to be someone he\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sand says it\u2019s time for changes<\/p>\n

As he has during campaign events over the past year, Sand asked attendees to sing the first verse of \u201cAmerica the Beautiful.\u201d And when he introduced himself, he talked about his upbringing hunting, fishing and going to church.<\/p>\n

Even if Sand is elected governor in November, he will likely have to work with Republican majorities in the state House and Senate, which recently passed bills to restrict the executive\u2019s power that outgoing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law.<\/p>\n

Sand said it\u2019s good to have balance rather than a political system centered around amassing power and punishing political enemies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have found ourselves in this position because we have too many people who want us to only think about red or blue,\u201d Sand said Sunday. \u201cRed and blue are colors.\u201d <\/p>\n

Neither Sand nor Lahn use their party\u2019s traditional blue or red in campaign materials, opting instead for green. They both say they aren\u2019t beholden to their party establishments and that Iowans want a new direction, though Lahn\u2019s Republican Party has held a statehouse trifecta for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n

Little known before his bid for governor, Lahn made a splash as a business owner criticizing farm consolidation and tax breaks for corporate giants, a regenerative farmer who subscribes to Robert F. Kennedy\u2019s \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d movement<\/a> and a former political operative who galvanized Iowa\u2019s conservative grassroots.<\/p>\n

Sand\u2019s campaign has given about $750,000 to the Iowa Democratic Party already this cycle, funding that Republicans call hypocritical for a candidate who claims he is not a party man. The Sand campaign says that sum reflects his investment in a state party-run coordinated campaign that will help him get elected as governor, even as it also supports candidates up and down the ballot.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob Sand loves to talk about rising above the \u2018two-party system\u2019 \u2014 right up until it\u2019s time to campaign, cash checks, and share the stage with Democrat Party insiders,\u201d Iowa GOP spokeswoman Jade Cichy said in a statement Sunday.<\/p>\n

Beshear brings national support as he considers his own future<\/p>\n

Beshear, chair of the Democratic Governors Association and a potential presidential candidate<\/a> in 2028, told a cheering crowd Sunday that he\u2019s \u201call in\u201d for electing Sand.<\/p>\n

As Democrats continue to debate<\/a> what went wrong in 2024 and the direction of the party, Beshear has offered up his own example as the leader of a red state for lessons on how the party can go forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am living, breathing proof that Democrats can win anywhere, and we should be fighting everywhere,\u201d Beshear told the crowd Sunday.<\/p>\n

In addition to rallying with Sand, Beshear also attended a \u201cBeers with Beshear\u201d fundraiser for congressional candidate Sarah Trone Garriott, who wants to unseat Republican Rep. Zach Nunn in the competitive House district that includes Des Moines. Beshear told The Associated Press that he would see Turek, too. <\/p>\n

The Democratic Governors Association, which Beshear chairs, gave the Iowa Democratic Party about $140,000 so far this cycle, according to filing reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) \u2014 Rob Sand rallied a crowd for the first time as the official Democratic…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":852524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[7373,45807,108659,8120,69,90,57,28966,7776,2066,348193,357,28963,28022,50,80,28186,348194,348192,89,61,322,67,132,68,348191,30634],"class_list":["post-852523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","category-us","tag-2026-elections","tag-andy-beshear","tag-ashley-hinson","tag-charles-schumer","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-general-news","tag-ia-state-wire","tag-iowa","tag-jd-vance","tag-josh-turek","tag-kentucky","tag-kim-reynolds","tag-ky-state-wire","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-robert-f-kennedy","tag-sarah-trone-garriott","tag-tracy-schloss","tag-u-s-democratic-party","tag-u-s-news","tag-u-s-republican-party","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-zach-lahn","tag-zach-nunn"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116713697597214374","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}