Rob Sand Wins Iowa Governor Race, Delivering A Message Of Change To Trump And GOP

Thank you, Iowa. Thank you, Iowa. I love you, Iowa. We got a family up here of Republicans and Democrats and Independents. I want to first thank my wife, Christine, and our two boys, Tate and Axel, for your support and for the sacrifices that you shared in our effort. I couldn't have done it without you, truly. Christine, you've carried a weight. You've offered helpful advice. You deserve just as much credit for this as I do. My parents... My parents, Leslie and Kevin, my sister Jen, my in-laws, Nix, your help was invaluable in deciding which tie to wear for the third debate. Thank you for that. I really appreciate that. Augie, thank you for being my bill. And most importantly, Walter, rest in peace. The energy and the excitement that he brought to the campaign was irreplaceable. Christine said something profound the other day. She had been bracing for a difficult October. And yet everything that we imagined it would be was nothing compared to how hard it has been losing Walter. There are countless other family members and friends who have been with me every step of the way. It's been a long 18 months on the campaign trail, and I could not have gotten here without your support. You know who you are. Thank you. Thank you to my running mate and Iowa's next lieutenant governor, Dave Mobauer. We love Dave, don't we? We love this guy. When I asked him to join the ticket, we were actually at his mom's house with his mom. I looked around the house, and I could tell that he had the same kind of upbringing that I did. Raised by good people with good values, same kinds of sayings on the wall, same kinds of decoration. And I got to say, anyone who can get elected in a county that goes 75% for the other party in the race for president has to be a peacemaker and a public servant. Amen for that. Literally, no wonder why we had multiple Republican elected officials who endorsed me just because I picked Dave. I hadn't talked to them. I hadn't called them. I hadn't asked for their endorsement. They just saw that I picked Dave Mobauer, and they're like, well, me too then. Yeah. So we got a good one here, Iowa. A really good one. He brings along a great family, too. Thank you to Linda as well and the kids for letting Dave help me get here today. Very excited for our partnership ahead and to have his work ethic especially added to serve Iowans. Thank you to Republican and independent public endorsers of this campaign for your courage and for your leadership, genuinely. We do live in a broken, two-choice political system where it requires real listening to learn that a candidate that is in the other party doesn't see you as the enemy. You listened. You knew that you would receive some negative reaction. For endorsing across party lines, but you knew that the angriest ones are the loudest. And you knew that you were willing to stand publicly on principle to support returning our state to balanced government. We have to have. We have to have bigger hearts and minds than just our party. And everyone who did that across party lines with a public endorsement showed that. And we thank you for it. To Iowa Democrats, you've had a hard few years here in Iowa. But balanced government has been restored. You stayed strong. You worked hard. So many of you feel what I feel about the divisiveness of our political system, and you were excited to have somebody as a candidate in your party who was actually talking about that and focusing on it. But even among those of you that don't like that part as much. Well, the vast majority of you understood that the smallest party has to appeal to reasonable-minded people in other parties if it wants to build a coalition that reaches a majority. Because of all of us coming together in January, no Iowan has to fear their government anymore. To those who did not vote for me, I'm going to listen to you and serve you just the same. I hope you already know that I had senior leaders in the auditor's office who were an independent and a Republican who had made campaign contributions to my opponent in 2018. I'm going to continue a similar approach. I hope if you see me out and about in our state, I mean I'm going to be out and about, and I know that there's plenty of Iowans who did not vote for me, so you are going to see me out and about. I hope that you stop me, and I hope you introduce yourself, and I hope you kindly tell me why you didn't vote for me. I hope you also keep an open mind. Because you're going to get to know me better over the next four years, and maybe you'll feel differently the next time. Bottom line is this. Again, for the folks who didn't vote for me, I'm going to work just as hard for you as I do for anyone else. Thank you also for voting and for being heard. Appreciate that. Now, given that we are here tonight, Democrats and Independents and Republicans together, as we did at 200 town halls and countless rallies across this state, who is going to start us in singing America the Beautiful? You know what? Hold on. We didn't have anybody go yet, right? All right, I'm going to step aside. And just so that we have a clear note and one person we can all join in, Virginia will start us off. A clear message. They want government not to work for a few insiders or special interests or for one party, but for all Iowans. From the beginning of this campaign, it's been about being something bigger than Democrats versus Republicans. It's been about our shared yearning to be one with our neighbors. And it's about... Speaking that indisputable truth that our leaders, like most of us, should be seeking in Iowa that isn't redder or bluer, but better and truer. It's been about returning to our proud and long-standing Iowa tradition of balanced government, that we do our best work when we're forced to work together. I actually heard a Democratic and a Republican legislative leader around 2013 say just exactly that, we do our best work when we're forced to work together. Come January, we will be forced to work together. That teamwork, that teamwork, if we are one as a state, is only natural. Left wing, right wing, same bird. When Iowa Democrats and Iowa Republicans and Iowa Independents send their kids off to school in the morning, they don't tell them, be red or be blue. We all tell them the same thing. Be good. Do your best. Tell the truth. It's as simple as that. It's time that we focus on the values that we share, not on the things that divide us. This campaign has also been about returning us to our tradition of leading in good government reforms. Iowa, first state to create a redistricting commission that was independent from politics and a judicial nomination system based on merit and the opinions of ordinary Iowans. We should now return to that tradition. We should be among the first states to end the special legal privileges of the Democratic and the Republican parties, end the system that enables the lesser of two evils, and lead elected officials not into the temptation of politics, but down the straight and narrow path of public service rather than politics. These ideas didn't just win, they resonated. They didn't just resonate, maybe. They caught fire. I want to thank the Iowans from across the state and across the political spectrum who not only voted for me, but also got involved. Donated, volunteered, had conversations with people in their lives about the movement that we've been building. We saw unprecedented support from across the aisle throughout this campaign. Literally, thousands of registered Iowa Republicans and thousands of registered Iowa independents who didn't just vote for me, but donated to this campaign. We had over 117,000 donors to this campaign, chipping in an average of $155. Many of you are here tonight. Thank you again. We also heard countless stories from first-time voters in their 30s or 40s getting off the sidelines to vote for the first time in this race. It doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen by accident. It happens when people who have felt ignored for the last decade, who have lost all faith in their elected officials or in state government, or who have struggled to get by while watching politicians work to make life harder for them, finally feel heard. And seen, and recognized, and finally hearing someone say the thing that they think about our political system. Over the course of 200 public town halls, that's exactly what this campaign did. We gave Iowans a place to bring their concerns, their complaints, and their ideas to improve our state. We rejected the idea that you have to hate your neighbor just because they vote differently than you. And we said that we should expect more from our elected officials who are supposed to be working for us. That is what this campaign has been about. Now it's going to take all of us working together, from all political persuasions, to address the issues that our state faces. But I truly believe that we can do great things for this state, with all ideas, voices, and perspectives actually at the table. Politics should never, ever... Ever be about two private clubs who are more interested in beating up on each other than they are in solving our problems. Problem solving across the aisle is something that you can expect from me as your governor. My mission is going to be to make state government work better for all Iowans, to serve all Iowans, and to be accountable to all Iowans. We also learned something else in this campaign. The lies didn't work. The only two fair attacks about me were that I can ride a skateboard and I do like pizza. And as Christine said, these lies were nothing compared to our loss on October 15th, but they're also nothing compared to the struggle that so many Iowans go through every single day, trying to provide for their families or play the difficult hand that they've been dealt in life. Enough Iowans know me well enough that they spread the truth to others around them about who I am, and that proved that Iowa can still work like one big small town, where being open and being honest is the best way to get through it all in the end. Here's to Iowa on that one. I do want to thank my opponent, Zach Lane, for getting in the race. I said the same thing when Governor Reynolds announced her retirement. Public office and campaigning is a difficult thing to do in a way that few people truly understand. Putting your name out there and your ideas out there is tough. And I appreciated the places where we agreed. I'm glad to see someone win a Republican nomination talking about water quality and talking about cancer. Yeah. So let's use that bipartisan support from Iowa voters to actually get our water cleaned up and our cancer rates under control. Tonight, Iowans across the state made their voices heard, and they voted to restore our public schools to their former glory. They voted to address our cancer crisis with real solutions, not with rhetoric, and to make public service the focus of government, not politics, by regulating, well, the people that need regulation the most, politicians. More than anything else, Iowans voted for change, they voted for checks and balances, and they voted to bring transparency and accountability back to state government. Now, to Iowa's legislators, I look forward to working with you on the same common sense ideas and solutions that we advocated for throughout this campaign. Iowans, including Democrats and Independents, voted for these issues. They are broadly popular, and we would all do well to pass them into reality. As I said on the campaign trail, I'm going to be spending 100% of my time addressing the concerns of 100% of Iowans. And you have my word, legislators, any bill you vote for is a bill where you are invited to the bill signing ceremony. That's the kind of credit given where credit is due sort of common sense attitude that Iowans expect from their government. Thank you again to the people of the state of Iowa for putting your trust in me as your next governor. I hope and I hope no matter who you voted for in this race, I hope over the next week you're going to go find somebody that voted differently than you and ask them why and just listen and keep asking. Tell me more or say something else. Until they say something... But you agree with. When they do that, let them know, well, we agree on that. That's one thing that you can do yourself, everyone in the state, to help rebuild the social fabric of our state. And remember that all of us together, our neighbors, our friends, we all have a job to do to make this state better and truer, not just redder and bluer. Let's get to work. Subscribe to One India and never miss an update. Download the One India app now.