- Employee
- Rob Sand
- Position
- Auditor of State
- Period
- Jan 2, 2019 – Sept. 24, 2026
- Annual salary
- $103,212.00
| Gross earned | $797,702 |
| Est. taxes & pension | −$184K to −$223K |
| Est. take-home | $574K–$614K |
The auditor's other job: Democratic donor.
Since becoming State Auditor, Rob Sand has personally written $436K in checks to Democratic candidates, the Iowa Democratic Party and his own campaign, on a $103K state salary.
ROB SANDPersonal contributions · FEC & IECDB records
No. 95
Pay to the order of
Democratic candidates, the Iowa Democratic Party & his own campaign
$435,718.26
Four hundred thirty-five thousand seven hundred eighteen and 26/100 dollars
MemoSince taking office, 2019–2026
Illustration: the total of 95 separate contributions
73¢
For every dollar he has taken home as State Auditor, Rob Sand has written about 73 cents in political checks.
- 38¢ to other Democrats $227,370
- 35¢ to his own campaign $208,348
- 27¢ everything else
Take-home is estimated at 72–77% of gross pay (midpoint shown). The records show who wrote each check. They don't show which account the money came from. Notes
What the checks paid for
A closer look at some of the people and platforms his personal checks went to, in their own words and records. Totals cover every personal contribution on record, including those made before he took office.
Positions described are the recipients' own, drawn from their platforms, campaigns and votes. They are not statements by Rob Sand.
Who got his checks
34 Democratic candidates, party committees and PACs, plus his own campaign. Personal contributions since he took office. The register goes back to 2006.
And that's just his personal checkbook.
His campaign committee, Rob Sand for Iowa, has sent $1,913,749 to other Democratic committees since 2019, $1,515,800 of it in 2026 alone. Nearly all of it went to the Iowa Democratic Party. This is money donors gave his campaign, so it isn't counted in any figure above.
Every check, in order
Every itemized contribution on record, back to 2006, with a running total: $559,257 from him personally. Filter by whose money it was or when, search by payee, or re-sort.
0 entries · total $0
| No. | Date | Pay to | Source | Amount | Running total |
|---|
† The Iowa Democratic Party reported a gift from him on this date in both the federal and state databases, for different amounts. That's most likely one gift split between its federal and state accounts, and both halves are counted. ↺ A refund of an earlier contribution.
How these numbers were built
- Contributions. Every itemized contribution by Rob Sand as an individual, or by his committee Rob Sand for Iowa (#5185). The salary comparison, charts and totals cover contributions dated on or after January 2, 2019, the day he was sworn in. The register includes the full record back to 2006. Sources: FEC Schedule A and the Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board. Duplicate records were checked against the source filings and removed: ActBlue conduit copies, one FEC double-index and joint-fundraiser memo rows. Gifts below the itemization thresholds don't appear in either database, so these totals are a floor.
- His own campaign. Checks from Rob Sand to Rob Sand for Iowa are his money going into his own race, and some are small reimbursed expenses. They're broken out everywhere so you can leave them out.
- Salary. The Auditor of State is paid $103,212 a year, set in statute and unchanged during his tenure. "Earned" prorates that daily from January 2, 2019.
- Take-home. Estimated at 72–77% of gross, after federal and Iowa income tax, Social Security, Medicare and the mandatory IPERS pension contribution, with the salary taxed on its own. His real take-home depends on his household's tax return, which is not public.
- What records don't show. Campaign-finance filings name the person who made each contribution. They don't show which bank account it came from or how that account was funded. His Personal Financial Disclosure for 2024 (signed April 18, 2025) reports no business, occupation or income source beyond the Auditor's office. Iowa's form lists sources of income, not amounts, and doesn't require income received solely by a spouse.
- Recipients. Almost every recipient is a Democratic candidate or party committee. Two aren't formal party organizations: Better Democracy PAC ($10,000) and Iowa Unity Coalition ($275).
- Out-of-state races. A handful of small contributions to state and local candidates outside Iowa come from OpenSecrets/FollowTheMoney only and haven't been checked against those states' own filings. Two 2006–08 Iowa recipients appear in state records only as a dissolved committee (#9738). They're identified here from OpenSecrets.
- Committee transfers include a $120,000 payment to the Iowa Democratic Party for its voter file (Sept. 2024).