Sand wins Auditor of State; challenger concedes due to ‘lack of resources’

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) - Incumbent Rob Sand will once again be the Auditor of the State of Iowa after his Republican challenger Todd Halbur conceded on Friday.

Sand and Halbur were in a tightly contested race with a recount expected to take place. However, in a message on his Facebook page, Halbur conceded the race, citing that the Iowa GOP “abandoned his campaign.”

“I first want to give praise to the Lord for having this opportunity to be your Republican nominee for Auditor of State.

I have conceded the Auditor of State race to Rob Sand and I wish him well.

My campaign unfortunately lacks the resources and manpower to conduct a legitimate recount in this statewide race.

The State GOP organization and their leadership team have failed to provide any support and resources to my campaign towards this effort.

This leaves me with no other option than to abandon this recount effort just as the State GOP organization has abandoned my campaign.

I want to thank my family, friends, and volunteers for all of their support throughout this campaign.

I especially want to thank all of the voters whose support demonstrated that a hard-working non-career politician can be a viable candidate in a statewide race.”

Sand’s campaign had previously declared victory, but acknowledged that a recount would be expected. On November 15th, Sand stated, “I fully believe we have won this election, but Iowa’s recount law is on the books to ensure every voice is heard.”

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