Democratic candidate for governor Rob Sand and his running mate Dave Muhlbauer made their first public appearance together last night.
Sand said he picked Muhlbauer partly because of his consistency. “There’s a lot of people in doing this stuff that are slippery and maybe a lot of stuff changes depending on what direction the wind’s blowing,” Sand said. “Not this guy.”
About 200 people attended the event in Manning, which is near Muhlbauer’s farm. Muhlbauer, who’s finishing up his second term as a county Supervisor, is the only elected Democrat in Crawford County. Muhlbauer’s nomination to be Iowa’s next lieutenant governor will be made official this Saturday by delegates at the Iowa Democratic Party’s state convention. “We’re going to stay who we are and true to that and give our message about fixing government for all people,” Muhlbauer said.
Zach Lahn, the Republican Party’s nominee for governor, has not revealed his choice for a running mate.
Sand and Muhlbauer spoke with reporters after the event and Sand addressed Republican criticism over recently leaked audio obtained by the Iowa Field Report blog. The Iowa GOP’s spokeswoman said Sand’s “mask slipped” and the audio shows Sand’s views behind closed doors are different from the unifying message Sand presents on the campaign trail.
Sand suggested Republicans will have to “take their medicine” if he’s elected, because Republican lawmakers recently gave governors more power in selecting Iowa judges. Sand also said he’d like to reverse those changes and return the merit-based system to the way it was six years ago before Republicans began “tinkerng” with it.
“They did a thing that they know is wrong and I’m literally out there saying, ‘If elected governor, I would actually take away my own power before I would have a second term,'” Sand told reporters last night. “I would say that’s a good thing to do. I’m a big believer in accountability.”
A constitutional amendment passed over 60 years ago calls for commissions to interview applicants for openings on the Iowa Supreme Court and Court of Appeals and send three nominees to the governor, who then appoints one of them. In 2019, Governor Reynolds signed a law that gave her and future governors authority to choose the majority of people who serve on that judicial nominating commission.
(Reporting by Nathan Konz, KCIM, Carroll; Sheila Brummer, Iowa Public Radio and Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson)