Trump, Republicans get NIGHTMARE NEWS in deep red state

I'm joined now by the Democratic nominee. for governor of Iowa, Rob Sand. Rob, thanks for joining me. Yeah, thanks for. having me, Brian. Appreciate it. So, we. have some really big news in an unlikely. state, the state of Iowa, and that is a. major ratings change just took place by. the Cook Political Report. Can you. explain a little bit about what that. update was? Yeah, they moved it from lean Republican to a. toss-up, which is the second time they. moved it in this race. They actually had. it ranked as solid Republican and the. day that I announced that I was running. for governor, they moved it through.

likely Republican all the way to lean, which is a pretty unusual move on their. part, but you know, I've already been. elected twice statewide as state. auditor. Prior to that, chief public. corruption prosecutor in the state. I. uncovered the largest lottery rigging. scheme in American history. So, uh when I got into the race, I was. already bringing. um. you know, a a body of work that a lot of. Iowans knew and had seen and were. familiar with and were supportive of. And and the truth is that. I feel like they're.

kind of late to the game and moving it. to a toss-up. Can I say that? I just. did. Like I think most people in Iowa are. looking at this race and and saying that. we've got all the momentum and I I think. that it's that that's right. We we. absolutely have a winnable race here. So, Rob, what do you attribute that move. from? I mean, again, to go from solid. Republican all the way to a true toss-up. in a state that Democrats have been. chasing for quite a long I if I'm not. mistaken, was was Obama the last one to. win Iowa in 2008? Uh he won it in '12, so he won it twice. >> Okay, yeah. So, it's so it's been but. it's been a minute. Um so, what do you.

attribute um this this trajectory to? Uh. so, a few different things. Like I said, it helps to have already won in. statewide twice. So, I'm the state. auditor. Uh chief public corruption. prosecutor prior to that. I think that. makes a lot of. a big difference that a lot of people. don't necessarily appreciate, but I have. been going to all 100 county seats in. Iowa. every year. I tell people before I come. to town that I'm actually going to show. up and so if they want to you know, throw a tomato at me, they get a chance.

to do it. Whatever it is, I give them an. opportunity. And I think that matters. for a lot of people. I think the other. thing that a lot of folks. don't appreciate is how much is. happening in Iowa right now where the. leadership, the same people have been in. charge for so long that they have. totally lost touch with what Iowans want. to be focused on. Uh the easiest way to. understand that is we are over the last. 3 years 48 for personal income growth. We are number one for cancer growth and. they're spending their time in the. capital building figuring out how to.

make it harder for the state auditor to. find misspent tax money. We uncovered a. record amount of tax money misspent in. my first year or my first term and they. changed the law after that to make it. harder for us to do it. They now state. agencies can hide misspent money and. hide documents from the auditor's. office. This is wrong and the average. Iowan it you can like see their face. twist in disgust when they talk about. it. They're they're upset by that. They're upset by a school vouchers.

program that has no accountability. They're upset by. the the idea of the use of eminent. domain for a carbon capture pipeline. There's just a lot of stuff where, you. know, people feel oftentimes I think in. both parties voters feel trapped into. voting for one party that they're not. particularly excited about. And they've. been ticking them off enough up there by. doing things that don't help ordinary. Iowans that I think they've had enough. and then they look across the aisle at. me and they're like. he seems reasonable. Yeah. Well, it's it's worth asking here, you. know, while we're on the topic of of.

policies that don't work for Iowans, can. you talk about how the Iran war and. especially the closure of the Strait of. Hormuz. um has has kind of hit your state. particularly hard? Yeah, absolutely. Um. it's been brutal. I mean. we're in planning season right now. Uh. farmers need fertilizer and a huge chunk. of the world's fertilizer goes through. the strait. And so the fact that it's. all tied up in knots there means that. they're not getting access to it. It.

means that prices have skyrocketed and. prices were bad to begin with. There's. really only there's less than a handful. of sellers of fertilizer. It's a heavily. concentrated near monopoly market and. that's already bad enough. for growers and producers in the state. of Iowa. And and I think the big. difference is, you know, I I think a lot. of these folks they're they're they're. sick of having somebody piss on their. leg and someone else tell them it's. raining, you know? They know that these. tariffs are terrible for Iowa, but. Republican elected officials are so. blinded by their party allegiance that.

they're not willing to say the obvious. truth of what's happening to Iowans. And. what they do instead is they try to. pitch Iowans on the idea that oh, there's this golden age right around the. corner. Yeah. When we are seeing, Brian, a raise in bankruptcies and suicides. among farmers. It's kind of offensive, honestly, the unwillingness of elected. officials who were supposed to represent. this state instead just doing anything. that their party leader tells them to. Well, I mean, that's the elected. officials. Is there a recognition by.

voters and citizens in Iowa. who, you know, despite the fact that. these elected officials are going to, you know, blindly defer to Trump and the. administration and, you know, take his. side on on all of this, are the voters. recognizing the reality of what's. happening? Yeah, yeah, they are. I mean, we actually just had an announcement. um that an additional 15,000 jobs. have been lost in Iowa. Uh we just put out a release on that. today. And I think that Iowans across.

the board are hurting. You know, there's. we've got an affordability crisis in. this country, but it's worse in states. where personal income growth has been so. slow and that's where where Iowa is. Uh at the end of the day, affordability. is a two-part equation. It's number one, you know, how much money do you have and. number two, what's it cost? And if you. don't have a lot of money because your. personal income growth is one of the. laggards in America, then it's worse. here. And I think Iowans see that and. they know that. And when people try to. tell them something else and try to tell.

them it's. it's a sunny day out there, uh then they. know two things. Number one, it it. doesn't change what they're going. through financially. Number two, someone's lying to them about it, too. Right. Well, you know, look, running in. a state like Iowa. as is the case with where Democrats are. trying to be competitive in other red. states is going to require support from. independents and Republicans. And so on. that front, how has it been for you? How. has it been on the donor front? How has. it been, you know, anecdotally speaking. with voters who may have cast a ballot.

three times for for Trump or Joni Ernst. or any of these other Republican. officials statewide? I can give you a. anecdotes and I can give you a number, too. I'll start with a number. This blows my mind and I'm genuinely. curious if this has ever happened. anywhere before. We have more registered. Republican donors to our campaign than. any of the five Republicans have who are. running for governor on the other side. of this race. Yeah. Like that. >> Yeah. We didn't and we didn't we we. never set out like we weren't targeting.

them. It just happened. And I I think. that that's an indicator of just how. frustrated people are, but honestly, Brian, like a big piece of this campaign. is is is also it's acknowledging, I. think, what we all know, which is that. our democracy is run by two private. clubs, neither of which are particularly. good at solving our problems. Uh and the. fact that we say that out loud, I think. a lot of people can find themselves a. home right there where they're they're. sick of Democrats and Republicans, but. when you acknowledge as I do as a.

candidate that I don't know why we only. have two options. I think a lot that. resonates for a lot of people. But. another really fun story is um. I met a guy recently who um he he he had. some tough some tough stories to tell. about his his parents' political views. And. when I had a cheat had a chance to meet. him after that, you know, I was like, oh, I'm I'm I'm running for governor in. in Iowa and I'd be curious to hear, you. know, if they've if they're familiar. with our campaign at all because we tend. to get a lot supporters from across the.

aisle because our our message inherently. is, well, shoot. I mean, our campaign. slogan is not redder or bluer, but. better and truer. And the guy's like, there's no way like. they'd never support you. You got a D. behind your name. I'm sure that you're. dead to them. Yeah. And I get a text. message from him like maybe 2 days. later. I talked to my dad. He knew who you were. He even donated to. your campaign last year. >> [laughter]. >> Yeah. So, [snorts] we're bringing people. together, you know, we're making. Thanksgiving fun again. That's that's.

another slogan that we like to throw. around. Rob, you had mentioned something at the. top that I that kind of caught my. attention and and that was that you were. responsible for taking down the the. lotto rigging scheme, the largest lotto. rigging scheme that we'd seen in this. country. Can you talk a little bit about. that? Yeah, um in fact, if you uh. >> [laughter]. >> sitting underneath my laptop, one of the. books is actually the book that I wrote. about it, The Winning Ticket. Uh if you. like true crime stories, uh I'd recommend reading it. I know you.

would expect me to say that you should. read it, um but the the Washington. Independent Review of Books actually. said it was a favorite read of the year. the year it came out. Uh which is 2022. So, I mean, bottom line on this thing is. um. this was something that happened. I was. an assistant attorney general as a. prosecutor. There was kind of this mystery of this. unclaimed lottery ticket for 16 million. bucks and then it kind of got claimed at. the last minute. They didn't pay it out. and lots of questions about who was. connected to it and why. And my boss.

retired and one of the last things he. did was hand me the case as he walked. out the door, which I was not happy. about. But he said like, well, you're the. youngest one in the office, so, you. know, all the all the unpleasant stuff goes to. the people with the least experience. >> you get saddled with the the lotto. rigging scheme. >> Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Uh but, you. know, look, I I did my job. I I worked. at it. I had some great helpers in the. form of some. law enforcement officials, Don Smith and Matt Anderson and and.

we ended up uncovering this case. We had. a trial. in the Polk County Courthouse when we. only knew about the Iowa ticket. National media the day that we picked a. jury said that they thought that the. defendant would get acquitted cuz they. didn't think I had the goods. We got two. guilty verdicts and the case grew from. there. So oh and my goodness, I have to. mention there are Bigfoot hunters. involved in the case like people who go. out into the woods to look for Bigfoot. So if you're not a true crime fan, maybe. that'll make you want to. >> Yeah, I was going to say that's got like.

all the all the all the all the. buzzwords you need for like for a for a. 2020 you know post 2020. story. You know I think I think this is. resonant because. you know in large part this Republican. Party came into power on on this. pretense that they would be the ones. focusing on you know. fraud or waste or abuse and in fact. we've we've seen the opposite. there are these announcements every day. where somebody gets rich because they've. bought you know positions 5 minutes.

before those announcements come out. I mean this is just a recurring theme. the rampant corruption that we're seeing. right now to the to the point where it. almost feels like like crime is is legal. and so. have you heard from folks that you've. spoken with in Iowa where there is a. disillusionment. over that point in particular and I mean. that's a. that that's a role that you can fill in. a way that nobody else can given your. past. Yeah, yeah. I I think that's a. good point to make and I I do think that. that's right. I haven't heard many.

people other than Democrats make the. point that you made but I think it's out. there in the ether and I think the thing. that we all need to keep in mind is. that right now we are at a point where. people are so divided that sticking your. neck out to suggest that there might be. something wrong with someone that you. voted for. is just going to get your head chopped. off. It's either going to be by the. people who were who voted for that same. person and call you a traitor or it's. going to be by the other people who say.

well you voted for this because there's. so much scorn in our politics right now. It's really hard for people to do that. because we haven't been willing to give. each other any grace which. it's there in the ether and and that's. part of the reason that one of the first. things that we've done our first plank. actually for our platform that we just. rolled out last week is accountability. for all. And it has to do with doing. things like banning stock trading for. elected officials, mandatory prison time. for people who steal from taxpayers. Yes, age limits. Yes, cognitive tests.

People who are in positions of trust and. power should we should be making sure. that they deserve that trust and power. But there's a couple things that we're. doing that are bigger than that too and. and I and I think Brian this is these. are some of the reasons why our campaign. is on fire. We are actually. creating opportunities for people to. feel welcome to have a real political. conversation. At a hundred public town halls last year. we had people actually applaud for the. attendees of the opposite political. party.

After we acknowledged that we disagreed. the people in the room we together we. sang the first verse of America the. Beautiful. And then this year we've been doing. events that we're calling democracy. revivals where we we sort of pre-select. we have we have people sign up in. advance and so we try to make sure we. have an even distribution of. Democrats, independents and Republicans. so that we can have balanced. conversations and it's not me in the. room being a candidate but it's the. attendees leading conversations where.

part of what you're going to be asked to. do is you introduce yourself to some. people who are in the opposite political. party and you're going to have to say. something that you like about their. party or something that frustrates you. about your own. And by doing that we. give people just this little bit of. space where they can meet in the middle. and say all right. maybe the problem isn't my neighbors. maybe it's this two-choice political. system that wants us to hate each other. because then we're easier to control. Rob finish off with this. You know there. are going to be people who take a look. here and recognize okay we've you know.

we've got limited resources we got to. focus our attention on on where we have. the highest likelihood of winning and. the reality is that in Iowa there are. more registered Republicans than. Democrats and so what do you say to. those people who write off any. hope or desire to win Iowa as just. wishcasting. you know and and and kind of cast aside. the the ratings changes or polls or. whatever it may be. Yeah, I mean number.

one like yes the Republicans are the. larger political party in Iowa but when. you combine independents and Democrats. the Republicans are dwarfed. And so. there's a lot of people in this state. who haven't affiliated with either. political party who are ready for. change. The other thing is that I think that. there's a lot of people in this state. who are registered either as Democrats. or as Republicans who want to. participate in primaries because we. closed primaries. We tell independent. voters in the state wrongly. that they are less equal that their vote.

doesn't count right? And so you'll find. people who are signed up with a party. who that doesn't mean that they. live and die by that party. They've done. it because they want to be enfranchised. But the other piece of this that I think. I just I cuz cuz you do hear this in. Iowa and I really want to push back in. this way. your party affiliation is not your. destiny. And the idea that you can't vote across. party lines is just bizarre right? Laura. Kelly was elected and reelected as the.

governor of Kansas when Kansas. went for President Trump by. substantially larger margins than Iowa. did. Andy Beshear was elected and reelected. as the governor of Kentucky when. Kentucky went for President Trump by. sometimes three times the amount that. that Iowa did. And there's a tremendous. number of people in this state who are. frustrated with the status quo and who. are ready for change. And when they find. someone who genuinely wants to bring. people together and look past.

disagreement to places where we can. agree. they're willing to they're willing to. cross the aisle to do that. Rob for folks who are watching and. listening right now how can they help. your campaign? Ah yes, thank you. robsand.com r o b s a. n d dot com. Awesome. I'm going to put. that link right here on the screen and. also in the post description for folks. who are listening on the podcast I'm. going to put it in the show notes. Rob. your campaign has been stellar it's. super exciting to watch really grateful. for you taking the time today and best. luck in the campaign trail. Thanks. Brian.

>> [music].