Iowa is struggling — with rising cancer rates, a shrinking economy, overburdened healthcare systems, and families being pushed out of communities they love.

This week, Rob Sand returns to Moderate Party to talk about why he’s running for governor in a moment when many people would run the other way. Rob is the only Democrat who can still win statewide in Iowa, and he’s trying to build a coalition grounded not in outrage, but in actual problem-solving.

We talk about listening, dissent, navigating disagreement without feeding division, and what it means to govern a state that’s hurting. It’s a conversation about leadership, humility, and why the work is still worth doing.

About Rob

Rob Sand was born and raised in Decorah, where his family has lived for generations, and where he grew up fishing, hunting, and discovering his passion for public service while helping build a community skatepark. He began his career as an Assistant Iowa Attorney General and the state’s chief public corruption prosecutor, taking on scammers, taxpayer abusers, violent criminals, and the largest lottery-rigging scheme in American history—later chronicled in his true-crime book The Winning Ticket. Iowans have since elected him twice as State Auditor, first in 2018, when he became the first Democrat to win the office since the 1960s, and again in 2022 as the only Democrat reelected statewide. In office, Rob has uncovered more than $29 million in waste, fraud, and abuse, held both parties accountable, and launched the Public Innovations and Efficiencies (PIE) program—an award-winning efficiency initiative now adopted in all 99 counties and replicated in other states. Known for working across political lines, Rob has included Independents and Republicans in senior leadership roles and supported staff regardless of their political donations, grounding his work not in left vs. right but right vs. wrong. Now running for governor, Rob is focused on lowering costs, protecting taxpayer dollars, restoring trust in government, and improving the lives of Iowa families. And when he’s not fighting corruption or working for Iowans, you can find him bowhunting, fishing, biking, taste-testing Casey’s pizza, or spending time with his wife Christine, their two sons, and their dog, Pow.

• Rob Sand for Iowa
• Reynolds signs law to limit Iowa state auditor's powers | Iowa Public Radio

In this episode, Hillari sits down with Lanae Erickson of Third Way to make sense of a political moment that feels chaotic, confusing, and—somehow—full of opportunity. Together, they unpack the blowout victories of moderates like Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, the progressive shockwave in New York City, and the shutdown fight that left Democrats divided and frustrated.

It’s a conversation about what voters are actually demanding—calm over chaos, strength without theatrics, and leaders who talk about the cost of living in plain English. Lanae brings new data and candid insight into how moderates can win (and govern), why the center-left keeps underestimating its own appeal, and what the Democratic Party needs to rethink before 2026 and 2028.

From gender dynamics to electability, from the moderate “training montage” to the politics of belief, this episode cuts through the noise and delivers the kind of clarity you rarely hear in the post-2025 fog.

If you care about where Democrats go next—and what it will take to actually build a governing majority—this is the conversation you’ll want to hear.

Links:

• Third Way Moderate Power Project

California just passed Proposition 50 — handing lawmakers temporary control of redistricting and pulling the state that once defined fair map-making into the same partisan brawl it used to condemn.

Across the country, states are quietly rewriting political boundaries mid-decade — not because populations changed, but because power did. Each redraw justifies the next, and the rulebook that was supposed to protect fairness keeps getting thinner.

Host Hillari Lombard unpacks how America’s redistricting arms race began, why the Supreme Court stepped back from policing it, and what happens when reformers decide they can’t afford to play by their own rules. She also admits something personal: she voted for Prop 50 — and she’s still not sure how she feels about it.

This episode asks a hard question: When every side keeps moving the lines to survive, how much of democracy do we lose along the way?

What to read next:

• Explainer: Understanding the mid-decade redistricting push in Texas | Harvard Kennedy School
• Proposition 50 passed in California. Here's what you missed