The surprise announcement last week that Iowa’s popular Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds would not seek reelection next year has raised the possibility that the Hawkeye State may elect its first Democrat governor in 20 years.
Reynolds, the state’s first-ever woman governor, announced she would not seek a third term. At 65, with husband Kevin in remission from lung cancer, Reynolds made clear it was time for her to move on.
Despite the increasing Republican leanings of Iowa (Donald Trump has carried it three times, and GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst have little trouble at the polls), the governorship is usually “up for grabs” when an incumbent steps down, and the resulting race can go either way.
“Rob Sand, the Democratic state auditor, has $8 million in the bank and much of that from his wife’s wealthy family,” former Rep. Greg Ganske, R-Iowa, told Newsmax, “I expect him to be their nominee.”
A onetime male model and assistant state attorney general, Sand, 42, got his start in politics as a supporter of Vermont Gov. Howard Dean for president in the 2004 Iowa caucuses and was an early Barack Obama backer in ’08.
Sand’s polar opposite in state politics is the near-certain Republican nominee: State Attorney General Brenna Bird, who became an overnight political “Wonder Woman” in 2022 when she unseated state Attorney General Tom Miller — known as the “Eternal General” because he held the office for a record 40 years.
Where Sand got his start in politics with Dean and Obama, Bird cut her political eyeteeth working for outspoken illegal immigration foe and former Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. She also served as legal counsel to Republican Gov. Terry Branstad and as county attorney of Guthrie County.
When Reynolds was actually boosting Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis for president, Bird, now 49, was an early supporter of Donald Trump — almost a cinch to endorse her and campaign for her.
A Sand-Bird contest is likely to be fiercely debated, hard fought and close.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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