Governor
Rob Sand
Democrat
Zach Lahn
Republican
COST OF LIVING & AFFORDABILITY
Rob Sand
Sand has proposed lowering utility and housing costs and expanding universal Pre-K and school meals to save working families money.
As state auditor, Sand highlighted how lower- and middle-income communities pay higher property taxes than wealthier communities. He says Iowa’s new property tax overhaul was pushed through so quickly that “very few people who had voted for it actually read it,” calling that no way to run state government, and favors giving local governments more say over taxation decisions.
Sand opposes policies that have hurt Iowa farmers and threatened to increase costs on families by $2,100 in 2026 alone.
Sand proposes “A Healthier Iowa for All” plan: an income tax credit for adopting conservation practices and a per-acre property tax credit for farms using approved nutrient management plans.
Campaign Issues, Press release, 2/20/26; Rob Sand, Governor for All, accessed 8/4/2026; “Low-income areas pay more in property taxes, Auditor Rob Sand reports”, iowacapitaldispatch.com, 01/23/24; “Sand advocates for listening to locals”, Crestonnews.com, 07/16/26.
Zach Lahn
Lahn has not offered a plan on cost of living issues.
Lahn said he would not support the legalization of recreational marijuana.
Lahn: The Gazette, 11/6/2025; Campaign Policy; YouTube, Tucker Carlson, 2/23/2026; Iowa Democratic Party, 6/12/2026; KCRG, 7/23/2026.
JOBS & WAGES
Rob Sand
Sand supports the right of workers to fight for fair wages, better benefits, and safer workplaces. He has pledged to hold corporations accountable when they take taxpayer incentives and lay off Iowa workers and move jobs overseas.
Sand proposes legalizing, taxing, and regulating adult-use cannabis (similar to alcohol) as one way to help close what he calls a nearly $1.4 billion state budget hole, estimating it could create about 7,000 jobs, open a new revenue stream for small and mid-size family farms, and keep tax dollars Iowans currently spend in Illinois, Missouri, and Minnesota at home; would also reverse a 2024 state ban on consumable hemp products.
Sand points to June 2026 as Iowa’s worst month for layoffs in a year (656 workers), driven by Whirlpool’s Middle Amana plant, the state’s own privatization of its IT department (192 jobs), and continued Wells Fargo cuts in Des Moines (over 1,500 jobs since 2022), saying Iowa needs to fight for and protect good-paying jobs.
Sand: Press Release, 3/5/26; Blog for Iowa, 12/9/2025; UAW, 11/5/2025; ISEA, 4/11/2026; Des Moines Register, 6/15/2026; Rob Sand Governor for All, accessed 8/4/2026; Rob Sand Governor for All, 7/15/2026.
Zach Lahn
Lahn has remained silent on protecting the right of workers to fight for fair wages, better benefits, and safer workplaces.
Lahn’s answer on jobs points at immigrants rather than at the employers cutting Iowa payrolls.
Lahn: Facebook, 5/7/2026; Iowa Starting Line, 6/3/2026; Iowa Democratic Party, 6/4/2026; campaign website.
Quality Health Care
Rob Sand
Sand says the state’s maternal health crisis is forcing Iowa families to leave the state to give birth, reacting to CHI Health Mercy Council Bluffs ending labor and delivery services (effective Aug. 31), which leaves Pottawattamie County with only one birthing location and will send patients across the border to Omaha: “We can’t keep the next generation of Iowa families here if they have to cross state lines to have babies.”
Sand pledges to reverse Medicaid privatization on Day 1. As State Auditor, found an 891% increase in illegal denials of care by Medicaid managed-care organizations after Iowa privatized Medicaid in 2016 (comparing 2013–2019 data).
Sand: Rob Sand Governor for All, 7/9/2026; WOWT, 7/9/2026; Iowa Capital Dispatch, 10/20/2021; Associated Press, 10/20/2021; Ottumwa Courier, 6/29/2026.
Zach Lahn
As Montana state director for Americans for Prosperity in 2014–15, Lahn led an unsuccessful campaign to block expanding health care coverage to roughly 70,000 Montanans.
Lahn backs keeping Medicaid in the hands of private insurers, despite costs increasing nearly three times faster after privatization.
U.S. Senate
Josh Turek
Democrat
Ashley Hinson
Republican
COST OF LIVING & AFFORDABILITY
Josh Turek
Turek says Iowa is “leading the nation in farm foreclosures with farm suicide rates skyrocketing.” He says rural voters he meets describe feeling ‘betrayal’ over tariffs and the effects of the Iran war on fuel and fertilizer prices.
Turek wants a federal ban on price gouging on food so Iowans pay less at the grocery store, plus a crackdown on pharmacy benefit managers gouging on prescriptions and on the monopolies that drive up prices for working-class Iowans.
Turek is running to restore the food assistance Iowa families lost, as pantries across the state absorb the overflow — one Iowa pantry is now serving 36% more households than before the law, outpacing what it saw during COVID.
Ashley Hinson
Hinson voted against ending the war in Iran on the House floor, even as the conflict drove up the fuel and fertilizer costs that Iowa farmers are absorbing.
Hinson voted for the law that cut millions of dollars in SNAP funding that families relied on to buy groceries. Iowa food assistance enrollment has fallen about 9% since, roughly 25,000 people.
Hinson: H.Con.Res.86; H.R.1, Roll Call 145, 5/22/2025; Des Moines Register, 7/10/2026; CBS2Iowa, 7/6/26; Turek press release, 4/29/26; H.R.7567.
JOBS & WAGES
Josh Turek
In the Iowa House, Turek sponsored a bill protecting workers’ right to organize (HF281), and he wants to pass the federal PRO Act so workers can bargain together for higher pay. He pushed to end subminimum pay for workers with disabilities, saying “no one should have to take less pay just because of a physical disability.”
Turek sponsored legislation that would protect workers, farmers, ranchers and local communities in Iowa from the dangers of consolidation in the meatpacking sector.
Quality Health Care
Josh Turek
Turek supports reversing federal cuts that will result in the loss of health coverage for 10 million Americans, including over 102,000 people in Iowa. That legislation also limits Medicare’s ability to negotiate for lower drug prices.
Ashley Hinson
Hinson called herself “proud” to vote for legislation that cut health care for millions of Americans, saying it would “deliver a stronger, safer, and more prosperous America and Iowa.” The legislation will kick over 102,000 people in Iowa off their health insurance and put rural hospitals at risk.
Attorney General
Nate Willems
Democrat
Brenna Bird
Republican
COST OF LIVING & AFFORDABILITY
Nate Willems
Willems has pledged to rebuild the AG’s Consumer Protection Division — which he says Tom Miller built into a national model over 40 years — and to “take on corporations who try to rip off Iowans by price gouging or stealing their hard-earned wages.” He has made protecting seniors a specific priority — stopping scams before they start, enforcing nursing home safety standards, and working with prosecutors on fraud prevention.
Willems: Iowa Capital Dispatch, 5/7/25; Campaign website (‘Home’); Times Republican, 6/20/26; Iowa Capital Dispatch, 5/7/25.
Brenna Bird
Bird joined other attorneys general to sue e-commerce platform Temu for harvesting Iowans’ personal data, misrepresenting the quality and price of goods, and using sign-up scams.
Bird pushed a plan barring Iowans on SNAP from using their benefits to buy groceries her office deemed unhealthy. A federal judge struck the restrictions down. Bird called the ruling “disappointing” and said the state would “explore all legal options” to keep pursuing it.
JOBS & WAGES
Nate Willems
Willems is a labor and workers’ compensation attorney who has represented unions and workers. He’s recovered roughly $15 million for more than 11,000 current and former hospital and clinic workers, and negotiated Iowa’s largest-ever police collective-bargaining wage increase, for Carter Lake officers.
As a state representative from 2008 to 2012, Willems introduced legislation to strengthen the rights of Iowa workers, including paid time off, sick leave, and prohibiting discrimination against people who are unemployed when they apply for a job.
Willems: The Gazette, 4/11/26; Democratic Attorneys General Association, 5/6/26; Rush & Nicholson Lawyers Blog, 6/27/23; IowaStartingLine, 3/22/23; Campaign website (‘Endorsements’); Campaign website (‘Meet Nate’); Iowa Legislature House File 2135; Iowa Legislature House File 196; Iowa Legislature House File 2140.
Brenna Bird
Bird remained silent on protecting the rights of workers to fight for fair wages, better benefits, and safer workplaces.
Bird says wage theft is primarily a federal responsibility and has not made investigating and prosecuting wage theft a priority of the Attorney General’s office.
Bird: BirdforIowa.com; “Iowa Attorney General Candidates Disagree on State Role in Wage Theft Probes”, RadioIowa.com, 08/24/2026.
Quality Health Care
Nate Willems
Willems supports safe staffing standards in nursing. Said that since nursing homes accept Medicaid funding, Iowans have the right to expect them to fulfill promises, and the Attorney General should enforce those promises.
Willems: Times-Republican, 6/20/26.
Brenna Bird
Bird created a new task force to crack down on fraud, waste, and abuse in Iowa’s Medicaid program instead of asking for adequate funding for the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit that already exists. The new task force aligns with federal legislation that will kick over 102,000 people in Iowa off their health insurance.