State Auditor Rob Sand has urged members of the Iowa Democratic Party’s governing body to give Rita Hart another term as state chair. In a January 1 message to State Central Committee members (enclosed in full below), Sand credited Hart with getting the party out of debt and raising enough money to fund full-time communications, finance, and data staff.

He also asserted that Iowa was “more GOP than the rest of the country in 2022, then more Dem than the rest of the country in 2024.” I believe he meant to say that the swing toward Donald Trump in Iowa was (slightly) less than the national swing toward Trump this year. Iowa’s voting patterns are clearly not “more Dem” than the U.S. as a whole; the president-elect won the popular vote by about 1.5 points nationally but by 13.2 points in Iowa.

Sand pushed back against what he called “inaccurate info about the party’s performance” and Hart. In particular, he defended the party’s decision to send fewer absentee ballot request forms to voters this year than in past election cycles, saying Republican-backed changes to Iowa law made it more risky to push voting by mail and wiser to invest in other programs.

He appeared to be referring to a recent Substack post by Robert Leonard, which faulted the Iowa Democratic Party for “lost opportunities” during the 2024 election cycle. Leonard wrote, “One Democratic legislator tells me that normally Iowa Democrats send out approximately 250,000 absentee ballot request forms and this year only 40,000 were sent.” It’s important to remember that the state party was not the only entity pushing early GOTV. For example, the Polk County Democrats distributed an estimated 190,000 absentee ballot request forms to around 95,000 households in late August and early September.

Sand asked members of the governing body to unite behind Hart and her “Forward Victory: 2026” plan, saying it would be “positive change for the IDP” to keep a chair for more than one term. Since Michael Kiernan stepped down for health reasons in 2010, nine people have led the party: Sue Dvorsky, Tyler Olson, Scott Brennan, Andy McGuire, Derek Eadon, Troy Price, Mark Smith, Ross Wilburn, and Hart.

The Iowa Democratic Party’s State Central Committee will meet on January 4 to elect a new chair. Three candidates are expected to be nominated: Hart, Tim Winter, and Alexandra Nickolas-Dermody. Dexter Merschbrock announced in December that he was seeking the position but endorsed Nickolas-Dermody this week.

UPDATE: Hart won the election by 38 votes to ten for Winter and one for Nickolas-Dermody. Kim Callahan was also nominated during the January 4 meeting but did not win any votes.

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Full text of Rob Sand’s January 1 message, delivered via email:

Dear IDP SCC Members,

Thank you for your work on doors, phones, and texts. They make a difference. I’m passionate about public service but don’t enjoy politics, so I rarely weigh in on IDP affairs. Over the past few weeks, though, I’ve seen inaccurate info about the party’s performance and Chair Rita Hart. So, like my work for every Iowan in the State Auditor’s Office, I’ll set the record straight here.

When Chair Hart took office, the IDP had no full-time communications, finance, or data staff, and was in debt. Under Chair Hart’s leadership, the IDP is fully staffed and debt-free today. She deserves credit for leading that effort, helped by many others.

It has been reported that the party sent fewer absentee ballot request forms than in past years. Well, the GOP cut the timeframe for absentees and required ballots be received by election day. So now, pushing ABRs like we used to can literally cost us votes if the ballot doesn’t show up on time. And ABRs aren’t free. Instead of putting the same resources towards a newly risky effort, other avenues were pursued that I agree were a wiser use of resources. (I agree the Party needs to sometimes do a better job of communicating about these issues.)

I’ve seen complaints about the IDP needing a strategic plan and job descriptions. Those exist.

Chair Hart outlined a multi-year plan when she was first elected and has made progress on it.

So, how did we do? We are one state in a very big country. Changing Iowa politics isn’t a swim in a pool: it is in a river, with a powerful, changing current we do not control. Only a fool insists your Decorah tube trip on the Upper Iowa during a drought will take the same time as theirs after massive rains. Like that tuber, we must judge results against the nation’s current. There’s no exact math, but the math there is1 shows the IDP did worse than the current in 2022 and better than the current in 2024. We all want to do better yet. But that’s positive change.

Let me repeat this, then please repeat it to others yourself: Iowa was more GOP than the rest of the country in 2022, then more Dem than the rest of the country in 2024.

So, though I had not planned to weigh in on the chair race, given this inaccurate information circulating I now feel the need to ask that you please unite behind Rita and the Forward Victory: 2026 principles she has laid out. That, frankly, would be yet more positive change for the IDP: keeping a chair for more than one term so that the IDP can continue to build.

Thank you, Rob Sand

1 Yes, in fact, I do like numbers. Comparing the difference between 2022 US Senate races to 2020 Presidential vote in Iowa to the nation, Iowa was 2.1 points worse than the current. Or, comparing 2022 Governor races to 2020 Presidential vote in Iowa to the nation, Iowa was 10.2 points worse than the current. So in 2022, Iowa’s change was between 2.1 to 10.2 points worse than the nation’s change. Then, Comparing 2024 to 2020 presidential votes, Iowa was one point better than the current (the nation went 6 points to the right but Iowa only 5). That means Iowa from 2022 to 2024 went toward Dems by somewhere around 3.1 to 11.2 points. I’d lean closer to the smaller number.

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