Democrat Rob Sand broke fundraising records again, as his campaign for governor took in $9,385,646 between May 27 and July 14, according to newly published campaign finance reports from the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. Republican candidate Zach Lahn raised $6,372,831, although 78 percent of Lahn’s total amount raised this period came from one Washington D.C.-based political action committee.
When Lahn announced his campaign for governor last November, he said, “I’m not a politician — I’m my own biggest donor, and I can’t be bought.” His campaign site still says Lahn is “his own biggest donor, and does not answer to large corporations or special interests.” Lahn was his own biggest donor, having loaned his campaign $2.5 million during the Republican primary, but he isn’t anymore.
The Republican Governors Association’s Right Direction PAC donated a total of $5 million to Lahn over the course of five weeks during this last reporting period. It also provided media production services worth $15,000 as an in-kind contribution.
The PAC made its first contribution of $1 million to Lahn on June 5, three days after he beat Randy Feenstra by 0.77 percentage points in the Republican primary. It made another contribution of $1 million the following week. Ten days later on June 22, the PAC gave Lahn $500,000. Four days later, it gave Lahn another $1 million. The PAC made another $500,000 contribution one week after that. The Republican Governors Association’s PAC made its final contribution of the period — another $1 million donation — on July 10.
The Iowa Republican Party also donated to Lahn’s campaign, giving it $134,000 on July 14, the final day of the reporting period. Lahn received a total of 431 donations between May 27 and July 14.
According to Sand’s campaign, it received 33,500 donations during the same period, including donations from “over 2,400 registered Republicans across all 99 counties.” The campaign noted it did not receive any donations during the period from Sand’s wife or in-laws. During the first reporting period of the year, which ran from Jan. 1 to May 14, Christine Sand gave the campaign $1.5 million, her father Nixon Lauridsen donated $2,019,000, and her brothers, Augustine Lauridsen and Walter Lauridsen, each contributed $500,000.
The Democratic Governors Association donated $2.5 million to the Sand campaign on July 13, which was 27 percent of its $9,385,646 total. The Iowa Democratic Party did not donate, but four county Democratic parties — Buchanan, Humboldt, Montgomery and Poweshiek — did. Each of the four county parties gave $500.
The Lahn campaign finished the reporting period with $1,045,365 on hand, which is less than a 10th of what Sand’s campaign finished with. Sand’s campaign reported $17,957,959 in the bank.
Lahn’s campaign reported $294,684 in unpaid bills as of July 14. Sand’s campaign had no unpaid bills.
