Prominent Dem Rips Kamala Harris Over Potential 2028 Run

Iowa Democrat Rob Sand, the party’s gubernatorial nominee, told Politico he does not want Kamala Harris on the 2028 ticket or on his campaign trail.

Sand has been Iowa’s state auditor since 2019 and is running as a moderate against Republican Zach Lahn to succeed Gov. Kim Reynolds. No Democrat has won the Iowa governorship since 2011.

Rob Sand on a Kamala Harris 2028 run: "Nope."

Sand could become Iowa's first Dem governor in two decades, but he's not interested in help on the campaign trail from prominent party names like Harris or Biden.

Watch his full interview with our @jmart: https://t.co/08NH2EzXGB pic.twitter.com/nTPRSmIWiG

— POLITICO (@politico) August 26, 2026

At the Iowa State Fair, Politico’s Jonathan Martin asked whether Sand wanted Joe Biden to campaign with him. “No. Can he even do that right now?” Sand said.

The Harris question landed the same way. “No thanks. Let’s move on. We need some new leadership.”

Martin followed up: “You don’t think Harris should run in 2028?” Sand said “no.”

Pressed on whether Democrats should pick a governor or someone outside Washington, Sand declined to build a field. “You got my gut reaction on a couple. I don’t know what the answer to that is. I got an election in 75 days.”

He pivoted to a state fight over a skin-cancer vaccine and said his opponent “wants to ban vaccines like that.” National primary averages still had Harris first among named Democrats in late August, around 24.6 percent to Gavin Newsom’s 15.2 percent on RealClearPolitics.

Sand’s message was local and blunt: he does not want the last White House ticket as a surrogate, and he does not want Harris as the next one.