“Lead us not into temptation,” State Auditor Rob Sand told some 450 Iowa Democrats on July 27. He tries to say those words every day, he explained, because the phrase has “been an important part of my life, and an important part of my faith, like it has for many other people.”

Sand’s remarks drew heavily on the language of faith to press the case against Republican policies.

The auditor is not on the ballot this November but is widely viewed as a possible candidate for governor in 2026. So while Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear was the main attraction at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Liberty and Justice Celebration in Des Moines, Sand’s six-minute speech was also notable as a preview of his next campaign—either for governor or for a third term in his current position.

A “GOOD NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN BOY FROM DECORAH”

It wouldn’t be remarkable for a Republican politician to begin a speech by quoting Jesus. (“Lead us not into temptation” is one line from the Lord’s Prayer, as recounted in the Gospel of Matthew.) But that approach is far less common for Democratic office-holders.

For Sand, the opener flowed into a few family stories. “Lead us not into temptation” is a big piece of his life “because growing up in the Sand family in Decorah, we didn’t just say grace. We sang it.” He had an aunt who created religious-themed artistic work. An uncle was a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

When his wife suggested naming their second son Axel, Sand recalled, “I did what every good husband does when they hear an idea from the wife that they don’t like: I kept my mouth shut.” After the audience laughed, he went on:

But then I did what every good Norwegian Lutheran boy from Decorah does, and I looked it up in the big book of Scandinavian names. And it meant “father of peace.”

And I couldn’t say no. Because instantly I thought about the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

He couldn’t have come up with a better name, he said.

“I THINK WE’RE SUPPOSED TO TURN THE OTHER CHEEK”

About a minute into his remarks, Sand turned to his record in office, where since 2019, “I’ve worked so hard to do right by this state.”

He framed his actions as a reflection of his values. One of his first decisions was to hire a leadership team including a Democrat, a Republican, and an independent. Two of those senior staffers had made campaign contributions to his opponent in the 2018 state auditor race.

“Why would I do that? That’s crazy. But I think we’re supposed to turn the other cheek,” he said, alluding to a concept from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, as described in the Gospel of Matthew.

Sand added that he is willing to say “the good truth” when Governor Kim Reynolds does something right, but is also willing to speak up when the governor does something wrong. Why? “Both because we shouldn’t bear false witness, but also because we should flip over the tables of the money changers at the Temple when they exploit the position that they have.”

One of the Ten Commandments prohibits bearing false witness. An account of Jesus overturning the money changers’ tables appears in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.

Again, this isn’t standard political rhetoric for Democrats. But it drew applause from the Liberty and Justice Celebration crowd.

IOWA REPUBLICANS “LEAD OTHERS INTO TEMPTATION”

Returning to the theme of “Lead us not into temptation,” Sand said he’s been thinking a lot about what Iowa’s Republican-controlled legislature and governor have done to “lead others into temptation.” His first example was one of the policies most hated by Iowa Democrats: the voucher program that now diverts hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to private schools each year.

Do you know how many things you can’t do as a private school, when you get tax dollars that used to go to a public school in the state of Iowa?

Just one. That’s it. There’s only one thing you can’t do. You can’t give a rebate.

Think of something else, Sand said—some “terrible, totally inappropriate” thing that could get a public school employee fired or even charged with a crime. “You can do that in a private school now, that’s getting tax dollars. Are we not leading them into temptation by letting them do things that they know they shouldn’t do?”

Sand brought up the decision to defund water quality sensors across the state, which was part of the agriculture and natural resources budget Republicans passed in 2023. (He mentioned “500 pieces of equipment that are supposed to tell us what’s in our lakes and rivers.” In fact, that budget reallocated $500,000 in state funding that previously paid for a network of more than 70 sensors on Iowa waterways.)

“Are we not leading people into temptation,” Sand asked, by telling them it doesn’t matter what’s in the water?

His next example was “a little personal”: “What are we doing when we literally create eight categories of documents that state agencies now are no longer supposed to provide to the state auditor?” Sand said that policy, which Republican lawmakers approved and Reynolds signed last year, sends the message that “waste, fraud, and abuse are OK in these eight categories. Don’t worry, the auditor can’t find it if you steal this money over here.”

Sand has often referred to that law, known as Senate File 478, as “the greatest pro-corruption bill and the worst perversion of checks and balances in Iowa’s history.”

“Over and over and over again,” he told Democrats in Des Moines, we see the Republican trifecta “leading people into temptation in the state of Iowa, tempting them to abuse our tax dollars, and tempting them to abuse our rights. Our fundamental rights.”

“HOW DARE THEY TAKE AWAY OUR ABILITY TO CARE FOR EACH OTHER?”

“Let’s not forget the AEAs,” Sand said, turning to the most contentious issue of this year’s legislative session. Reynolds insisted on dismantling the funding structure for the Area Education Agencies, which have operated for 50 years. The new system centralizes more power in the state Department of Education and limits the services AEAs can offer to schools and children with special needs. Thousands of Iowans urged legislators not to pass the governor’s plan.

Democrats expect anger over the AEA overhaul to be a voting issue for many Iowans this November. The topic has a family connection for Sand, whose mother was a physical therapist for the northeast Iowa AEA. He told the crowd in Des Moines that his mother spent her career “doing the Lord’s work, healing with her hands.” She would come home after spending a day in schools or at home visits and say, “My kid learned to walk today.” Sand recalled, “She said it with the same pride” she would have felt about one of his or his sister’s milestones.

He drew more applause as he slammed the change, using language that evoked human relationships rather than budgets or governance: “How dare they take away our ability to care for each other through that program and through that work across the state?”

“THEY HAVE FALLEN VICTIM TO THE TEMPTATION”

Sand returned to his opening metaphor in the final part of his speech, which addressed the coming elections. Iowa Republicans “have been praying for one-party control,” he said. “And for the last eight years, their prayers have been answered. And so they have fallen victim to the temptation to use that power not for Iowans, but for insiders. That temptation to put politics over people. It stops in 2024,” he said.

He wrapped up by predicting Democrats would win Iowa House races and flip Congressional seats. The party would then build power “so we can restore checks and balances and make sure that we have transparency, accountability, and justice rising in the state of Iowa like a new dawn in the East.”

To my knowledge, that’s not a direct quote from Scripture, but the idea of justice rising like the dawn echoes themes from some religious texts, such as Psalm 37 and the Book of Isaiah.

Linguists George Lakoff and Elisabeth Wehling argued in a handbook first published in 2012 that “Democrats have too often failed to use language linking their moral values with their policies.” Sand has clearly taken such advice on board. Whatever office he runs for next cycle, he won’t cede the realm of faith to Republicans.

UPDATE: During a June 2024 interview on the Iowa PBS program “Iowa Press,” reporter Dave Price asked Sand whether his 99-county tour is a “soft launch” for a possible 2026 campaign. Here’s part of Sand’s reply:

We have hit a new high water mark for accessibility for a statewide official. We announced all 100 stops the same day. So, there are cities that we are not, and counties that we are not going to until July, August, September, October. You can look them up right now at auditor.iowa.gov/townhall and you can find out when I’m going to be in your county. This is public service. I want to represent everybody.

And I was thinking about this the other day, actually I realized to me there is a piece of this that is very much faith based. My faith is really important to me and I worship a guy who made a point to spend time with the people that nobody else thought was worth spending time with. And that, to me too, is public service. You are supposed to be accessible to everyone. You are supposed to be available to everyone. I’m looking for new ways to do that. It is hard to plan all 100 of these in advance and announce them the same day. But I want people in Iowa to know, I’ll talk to you. You want something you want to ask me about, you want something you want to yell at me about, here I am, this is when I’m going to be there. I think that’s important.

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You can listen to Sand’s remarks at the Liberty and Justice Celebration here.

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Top photo of Rob Sand by Greg Hauenstein is published with permission; view more of Hauenstein’s Iowa political photography here.