Democratic candidate for governor Rob Sand broke existing campaign fundraising records in Iowa by raising more than $9.6 million in the first five months of this year. According to the campaign finance reports covering Jan. 1 to May 13, which were published this week by the Iowa and Campaign Disclosure Board, Sand outraised all five Republican candidates for governor during the reporting period.
In a news release on Tuesday, the Sand campaign highlighted that almost 95 percent of the approximately 49,300 contributions it has received since Jan. 1 “were $100 or less.” The news release did not mention that a little over $4.5 million, or roughly 47 percent, of the $9,667,859 Sand raised came from family members. His wife Christine Sand gave the campaign $1.5 million, her father Nixon Lauridsen donated $2,019,000, and Sand’s brothers-in-law, Augustine Lauridsen and Walter Lauridsen, each contributed $500,000. All three of the Lauridsens live in Iowa, as does Christine Sand.
Even without the family contributions, Sand still outraised all five Republicans combined by more than $2 million.
Zach Lahn, the top fundraiser since January among the Republicans running for governor, received $650,000 of his total $980,152 from just three donors, only one of whom is listed as a resident of Iowa in his campaign finance report. Jana Scharnberg of West Des Moines gave Lahn’s campaign $250,000. The campaign also received $250,000 from Richard Spanton of Franklin, Tennessee. Patricia Tippie, whose address is listed in the campaign finance report as a P.O. Box in Austin, Texas, donated $150,000. Tippie has significant ties to Iowa. She and her late husband Henry B. Tippie have been major donors to such Iowa institutions as University of Iowa, whose business college was renamed the Henry B. Tippie College of Business in 1999.
Lahn, who entered the race last November, declaring, “I’m my own biggest donor,” has not donated any money to his campaign this year, according to his campaign finance report. Still, Lahn remains his campaign’s biggest donor. Lahn loaned his campaign $2 million last year. (Since it was a loan, rather than a contribution, Lahn will be able to pay himself back the full amount using campaign contributions if he chooses to do so.)
Rep. Randy Feenstra, who is still the overall leading fundraiser among Republicans in the race, raised $739,059 during the five-month reporting period. Overall, Feenstra has raised $5,042,891 for his campaign, while Lahn has raised a total of $3,137,083 (that total includes the $2 million he loaned himself). Lahn did end the Jan. 1 to May 13 period with more campaign cash on hand than Feenstra. Lahn had $707,217 in the bank, and Feenstra had $580,149.
Feenstra and Lahn were the biggest spenders among Republicans during the reporting period. Feenstra spent $3,361,095, Lahn spent $2,422,173.
The three other Republicans running for governor have raised and spent considerably less this year than Feenstra and Lahn. Adam Steen raised $497,340 and spent $689,647. He finished the reporting period with $157,873 on hand. Brad Sherman raised $153,541, spent $110,525 and had $128,126 remaining as of May 13. Eddie Andrews raised $15,566 and spent almost as much, $15,097. Andrews had $5,598 in the bank when he filed his report.
Rob Sand, who is not facing a primary opponent, spent $4,586,581 between Jan. 1 and May 13, more than any of the Republicans. He finished the reporting period with more than 10 times the amount of cash-on-hand of all five Republicans combined. The Republicans collectively have a total of $1,578,963 in their bank accounts. Sand has $18,291,789.
