Zach Lahn, a businessman, and Rob Sand, a former Iowa assistant attorney general and two-term state auditor, are competing to succeed retiring Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has served as governor for nearly a decade.
The opponents faced off Tuesday night for a 90-minute debate where they discussed fraud, culture wars and data centers, and even found agreement on some issues.
The race in Iowa is the state’s first open gubernatorial showdown in 20 years, with Reynolds last year announcing she wouldn’t seek re-election.
Sand, the only Democrat to currently hold statewide office in Iowa, quickly became his party’s frontrunner and faced no opposition in this year’s primary.
Lahn, a self-described entrepreneur and farmer, had to navigate a crowded and contentious primary battle. He won a five-candidate Republican nomination race that included Rep. Randy Feenstra, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Sand is aiming to become the first Democrat in two decades elected governor in Iowa, a one-time swing state that’s shifted to the right over the past decade. The final Fox News Power Rankings ahead of Election Day rated the race between Lahn and Sand as Lean Democrat.
Here are the five top moments.
DRAG QUEENS, TRANS PASTOR, ABORTION RALLIES: INSIDE DEM GOVERNOR HOPEFUL’S PROGRESSIVE CHURCH
The candidates differed on several culture war issues, such as abortion, parental rights and childhood transgender concerns. Sand affirmed that he would refuse to sign any new bill that he deemed culturally “divisive.”
“The divisive stuff that people dont agree on, lets end that,” Sand said. “So vetoing culture war bills to me is just a different way to say I want us to put 100% of our legislating time into issues that impact 100% of Iowans.”
Sand also said that there is pressure from Republicans and the right to implement greater restrictions on abortion, even though the state has already implemented a six-week ban.
“Its incredibly restrictive,” Sand said. “I do not think we have to go further but a lot of the folks in the legislature said when that ban became law that they want to go further. I would veto going further.”
Meanwhile, Lahn said he is “100%” behind culture battles being fought by conservatives.
“There is an issue with these ideologies infiltrating into our culture and I think parents, especially when we talk about some of these issues coming up in schools, theyre just looking for something they should be able to count on. And I think it is absolutely important that we put every single protection in place to make that our daughters are protected, that girls are protected, that womens sports are protected,” Lahn said.
Lahn also said that he was motivated to run for office to protect the most vulnerable.
“That’s the lives of the unborn. Thats our daughters. Thats the young kids in school,” Lahn said.
Fraud and improper spending of taxpayer dollars was top of mind for both Lahn and Sand, but the candidates differed in their approaches to tackling corruption.
Sand, who used to be the state’s auditor, pushed for mandated audits on the state’s Education Savings Account program, calling it “common-sense.”
“They’re not required
