The Iowa governor’s office will now flip blue after Democrat Rob Sand is projected to defeat Republican Zach Lahn, Decision Desk HQ projects.
The race was to be the successor to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has been in office since 2017.
Agriculture and education have been among the top issues debated in the race.
Over the past year, I've traveled our state. We shocked the establishment by winning the primary talking about four key issues: keep Iowa kids in Iowa, save the family farm, make public education number one again, confront the cancer crisis,” Lahn wrote in a recent Des Moines Register op-ed.
Meanwhile, Sand said in an August post that “like most Iowa parents, we want to focus on math and reading, not political agendas from either extreme.”
“And like all Iowans, I want us to get back to having the best public schools in the country,” Sand continued.
My message has been the same since day one: - Keep Iowa kids in Iowa - Save the family farm - Make public education #1 again - Stop the cancer crisis. I'm asking for your vote to tackle these long-term systemic issues, reject the corporate interests and lobbyists, and put Iowa First. https://t.co/jKu5EB1Wmo
— Zach Lahn (@ZachLahn) November 1, 2026
Like most Iowa parents, we want to focus on math and reading, not political agendas from either extreme. And like all Iowans, I want us to get back to having the best public schools in the country. As governor, I'll fight for Iowa's public schools because my kids are counting on them, too.
— Rob Sand (@RobSandIA) August 24, 2026
President Donald Trump won Iowa with nearly 56 percent of the vote in the 2024 election, with then-Vice President Kamala Harris winning roughly 42.5 percent of the vote at the time.