Iowa’s Auditor of State, Rob Sand, will speak at the Memorial Union during a lecture series event on Thursday.

Sand, the only Democrat currently elected to a statewide office in Iowa, is slated to give a speech titled “Wake Up the ‘Watchdog’: Ensuring Our Government Doesn’t Misuse Our Taxes.”

Sand is a graduate of Brown University and attended law school at the University of Iowa, according to the lecture series website. He later interned for former Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, who served in the Senate from 1985 to 2015, and also worked for many Democratic campaigns in the state.

Elected as state auditor in 2018, Sand was first appointed the assistant attorney general by Iowa’s then-attorney general Tom Miller in 2010. He was reelected in 2022 as state auditor, narrowly defeating Republican opponent Todd Halbur 50.09 to 49.84%.

During his stint as the assistant attorney general, he was the lead prosecutor for the Iowa Film Office tax credit scandal and the Hot Lotto fraud scandal.

According to previous Daily reporting, Sand helped prosecute Eddie Tipton, information security director for the Multi-State Lottery Association, during the lottery fraud, who rigged the random number generator (RNG) system for the association. Tipton was eventually sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Sand also developed the Public Innovations and Efficiencies Program, which “awards fiscal efficiency in government.”

Sand is facing growing speculation to mount a gubernatorial run in 2026 after outraising current Gov. Kim Reynolds in the 2024 fiscal year.

“We’re excited to have Mr. Sand visit ISU and share the work he has done and what he is currently doing,” Cole Lindaman, president of the Iowa State College Democrats, wrote in a statement to the Daily. “We hope to provide campus with an example of what a career in public service looks like and what it takes to stand up for the citizens of Iowa across the entire state.”

The event will begin at 6 p.m. in room 2630 of the Memorial Union.

The lecture will be recorded and can be viewed on the available recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the event concludes.