Democratic governor nominee Rob Sand bashes Trump over Iowa’s food stamps problems

CORALVILLE, Iowa — Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand bashed the Trump administration and Iowa Republicans for shifting the burden of funding food assistance programs to the states last year without a plan for filling in gaps in funding.

Sand, 44, told food pantry organizers from east-central Iowa on Wednesday during a 2026 election campaign stop that Trump administration officials have not been willing to listen to state level leaders left to implement reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program enacted by Republicans in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025.

“The more I hear from people throughout this campaign, across the state, who work in state government, the more I hear about how everything that they have been telling this administration just falls on deaf ears,” Sand said.

Sand held a roundtable discussion at the Coralville Community Food Pantry and discussed with local charitable leaders how the federal SNAP changes have affected local communities, particularly in rural Iowa.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Iowa Rob Sand visiting the Coralville Community Food Pantry on Oct. 7, 2026. (Gabrielle Etzel/Washington Examiner)

SNAP is the U.S.’s largest food security program, providing assistance to roughly 42 million people as of 2024. Roughly 8% of Iowa’s population, about 267,000 people, depends on SNAP.

The GOP budget legislation passed in July 2025 implemented work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependent children under age 14 to continue receiving benefits.

The law also increased the percentage states need to pay in their administrative costs for the SNAP program, from 50% to 75%. States like Iowa with a payment error rate of over 5% will also bear an increased burden for SNAP benefit costs, putting additional strain on the state’s budget.

Sand told the community leaders that a former member of the Iowa legislature from the GOP told him that the Trump administration has a “very much top-down” approach and is not interested in hearing about the problems Iowans face.

“They tell us we’re not interested in hearing from you,” Sand said. “They tell us, ‘We don’t care what you have to say.’”

Food pantries across the country have seen increased demand since the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was passed.

The Coralville Community Food Pantry, for example, provides free groceries, personal hygiene supplies, and pet food to residents of surrounding counties. The facility has been open for three years and has since doubled in size to keep pace with increasing demand.

John Bullock, executive director of the Coralville institution, said food pantries like his are “designed to be more of a Band-Aid” but are now functioning like a tourniquet because “the injury is so deep and complex and it’s not getting better.”

According to the anti-hunger charitable organization Feeding America, for every one meal provided by food pantries nationwide, nine are covered by SNAP benefits.

Sand criticized the Republican House members and senators representing Iowa in Washington for voting in support of SNAP cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in the first place.

“If we had a better system, we would probably have people who actually worked to stop those cuts before they started because they would understand that their job was representing Iowans,” Sand said.

Sand on the campaign trail frequently references what he refers to as “one party rule” in Iowa, referring to the GOP majority in both chambers of the state legislature since 2017.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Iowa Rob Sand visiting with charitable organization leaders at the Coralville Community Food Pantry on Oct. 7, 2026. (Gabrielle Etzel/Washington Examiner)

Iowa’s federal delegation has also consisted of only Republicans since 2022, marking the first time the GOP swept the entire state since 1994.

Sand chided Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) for turning down roughly $30 million in federal assistance to provide summertime subsidized or free lunches for children in Iowa who receive state assistance during the school year.

Reynolds reportedly denied the assistance because of a $2.2 million cost to launch the summer food program, but Sand said the move puts strain on local food pantries to fill the void, which means others without children go unfed.

“When we have a chance to bring federal money into the state of Iowa to do something that’s just a fundamentally good thing, we’re going to take every opportunity that we can to do that,” Sand said.

Sand told the roundtable audience he believes Iowans are “frustrated with the direction of their state and the direction of their country.”

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“They know that the people who represent this state have been in lockstep [with] party leaders instead of being public servants for the people of the state of Iowa,” Sand said.

Iowa has not had a gubernatorial and Senate election without an incumbent in either seat since 1968. Early voting in Iowa begins on Oct. 14.

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