DES MOINES - Rob Sand didn’t just accept a donation. He cashed a $50,000 check from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire Hyatt heir and one of the most liberal governors in the country. For Iowans wondering whose priorities Sand is aligned with, the answer is written right on the check.

Sand has tried to run from his Democrat affiliation, pitching himself as a “moderate” and “independent-minded” candidate. But independent candidates don’t take $50,000 checks from one of the most far-left governors in America. Rob does not get to claim fiscal conservative values while taking money from Chicago liberals. 

Rob Sand is not running to lead Iowa. He is auditioning to import Illinois’ failures west of the Mississippi. 

This is the record of the Illinois governor now financing Rob Sand’s campaign:

• The state has one of the highest tax burdens in the country at 10.2 percent, including the second highest property taxes at 2.07 percent, and one of the highest average sales tax at 8.85 percent.  

• Illinois is suffering massive outmigration. Chicago alone has the third-highest rate of domestic population loss in the country. In 2022, more than 87,000 Illinois residents left the state, taking nearly $10 in income with them. Ninety-seven percent of those leaving moved to states with lower taxes, including Iowa.

• Illinois receives an F grade for having one of the worst gerrymandered congressional maps in the country.

• It became the first state to institute a “no-cash-bail” system.

• • Illinois requires taxpayer-funded Medicaid to cover gender transitions, including for minors. 

• The state remains a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants, limits state and local police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and provides state-level health insurance for illegal immigrants.

• Illinois is rated one of the worst to be a gun owner due to heavy restrictions on gun purchasing, ownership, and conceal carry. 

Now the governor responsible for these failures is personally financing Rob Sand. This was a deliberate investment by an Illinois liberal power broker, and Rob Sand chose to take it.

“Rob Sand took a big check from the extreme liberal Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, the state that people and businesses are fleeing because of high taxes and woke failed policies,” said Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann. “That check isn’t just money; it’s a handshake contract to bring Illinois’ governing to Iowa, and Iowans should reject it.”

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