Rob Sand

Robert Sand (born August 12, 1982) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the 33rd Iowa State Auditor since 2019.

He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Sand graduated from Decorah High School in 2001.

Sand enrolled at Brown University, where he was awarded a Harry S. Truman Scholarship.

While he was in college, he took a semester off to intern in the Washington, D.C., office of U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, a member of the Democratic Party from Iowa.

He made his first political donation to Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign, but missed the Iowa caucus because he was modeling menswear in Milan.

He also modeled in Paris.

Sand graduated from Brown with a bachelor's degree in political science in 2005.

Sand enrolled at the University of Iowa College of Law.

In 2006, Sand worked as an aide for State Representative Ed Fallon's campaign for governor of Iowa.

After Fallon lost the primary election, Sand became the campaign manager for Denise O'Brien, the Democratic Party's nominee for Iowa secretary of agriculture.

While he was on the campaign trail, he met Tom J. Miller, the attorney general of Iowa.

He caucused for Barack Obama' presidential campaign in 2008.

Sand was assistant attorney general of Iowa from 2010 to 2017.

He earned his Juris Doctor in 2010.

In law school, he was both president of the Iowa Student Bar Association and an editor-in-chief of a law journal.

Miller appointed Sand assistant attorney general in September 2010.

Upon joining the attorney general's office, he became the lead prosecutor for the Iowa Film Office tax credit scandal, in which millions of dollars of film tax credits were fraudulently obtained.

After completing the Iowa Film Office case, Sand was recruited by Tom H. Miller, the deputy attorney general, to work in the Area Prosecutions Division, which focuses on prosecuting white-collar financial crimes.

Sand prosecuted an investment advisor for deceiving people to invest into the International Bank of Meekamui, an international Ponzi scheme emanating from Papua New Guinea.

Sand also prosecuted the Hot Lotto fraud scandal, in which seven lottery tickets across five states were rigged, with the amount totaling $25 million.

Eddie Tipton, the former information security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, confessed to rigging a random number generator in the largest lottery rigging scheme in American history.

Tipton was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2017.

After completing the prosecution, Sand resigned from the Attorney General's office so that he could run for office.

In 2018, he ran for state auditor, defeating Republican incumbent Mary Mosiman.

After considering a run for governor of Iowa in 2022, Sand opted to run for reelection.

Sand was reelected in 2022, becoming the only Democratic statewide officeholder in Iowa.

Sand is from Decorah, Iowa.

His mother, Leslie, worked as a physical therapist while his father, Kevin, was a doctor.

While he attended Decorah High School, he spent two years lobbying community leaders in Decorah to build a skate park.

In the 2018 elections, Sand ran for Iowa State Auditor.

He was not opposed in the Democratic Party primary election.

Sand defeated Republican Mary Mosiman, the incumbent, in the general election 51% to 46%, while Libertarian Fred Perryman received 3% of the vote.

He became the second Democrat elected into that position in over a century.

Sand was sworn into office on January 2, 2019.

At his swearing-in ceremony, he announced that he would have a balanced leadership team, with his top three assistants being a Democrat, a Republican, and an independent.

As state auditor, Sand developed the Public Innovations and Efficiencies (PIE) program, which awards fiscal efficiency in government.

The PIE program inspired Shad White, the Republican state auditor of Mississippi, to develop a similar program.

Prior to the 2020 presidential caucuses, Sand's endorsement was sought by multiple candidates.

He did not endorse a candidate, though he did co-host a campaign event in Decorah with Cory Booker that he said did not constitute an endorsement.