Iowa's only Democrat in statewide office in the hunt for a party comeback

With another campaign season heating up and all eyes on Iowa before Monday's Republican caucuses, what's happened to the Democrats?

It turns out the only Democrat to hold statewide office in Iowa could be found up a tree outside Des Moines early on a frigid January morning.

State auditor and avid bowhunter Rob Sand stays true to the slogan on his bumper sticker: "ROB SAND FINDS BUCKS."

"I want to talk to everybody. I want every perspective on the decisions that we make in the auditor's office" regardless of their party affiliation, he says. "To me, this is public service. And I think that's how we're supposed to do it, even if it isn't very popular right now."

The 41-year-old native of Decorah explains his strategy is "just tell people who I am and make sure that they know what I believe." Sand says he's a Hawkeye above all else. "I grew up in a small town. My faith is really important to me, and so I talk about it. I like to hunt. I like to fish. I own guns. I do think that those are things that make me a little bit easier to place in Iowa for Iowans."

With another caucus day around the corner, Iowa is known for setting the tone in presidential elections. In 2008, a little-known Democratic senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, stole the national spotlight after a surprise Iowa Democratic caucuses win, giving him momentum in a tight race. Twelve years later, real estate magnate Donald Trump clinched a win in the Republican caucus.

The dramatic swing of political ideology, Sand explains, is why he believes Iowa can't be put into a box. "The reality is there were a lot of people who voted for both of them. We're going to have to listen to those people and figure out what it was that made you vote for Barack Obama and then vote for Donald Trump."

After a tumultuous 2020 Democratic caucus where it took days to tally votes, calls grew for Iowa to lose its first-in-the-nation status.

Last year, the Democratic National Committee announced it was pulling out of the party's Iowa caucuses for the first time in 50 years as part of an overhaul of the Democrats' primary process, and in part because of the state's lack of racial diversity.

"The Iowa electorate has become more polarized and not to the benefit of Democrats" explains Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford. "Would a Democratic presidential candidate come to spend money in Iowa? At this point, I'm not sure whether or not that's a wise investment."

Once a moderate voice between the left-leaning coasts, Iowa, like several other states in the midwest, has turned decidedly Republican. While a number of states in the region have gone from moderate to MAGA, Iowa had the largest swing of voters with a total of 31 counties that flipped from voting for Obama in the 2012 election, to Trump just four years later.

"Democrats have a lot of rebuilding to do here in Iowa. The first thing to do is they've got to sit down and figure out what their message is that will go beyond people who live in cities and who have college degrees." Goldford says the path ahead for Democrats is bumpy as the GOP strengthens its grip on today's Iowan. "Republicans and Republican leaning folks are not willing at this point to pay attention to Democrats because they ... don't think the Democrats have anything to offer them."

Republicans plan on taking advantage of the vacuum in Iowa. Joe Mitchell, once one of the youngest Republicans in the Iowa, House believes the Democrat's loss is the Republican Party's gain.

"I think a lot of that has to do with the national party not wanting to be involved with Iowa, which I think is a mistake for them, but that's going to help us keep this state right for a long, long time."

Today, Mitchell is the president and founder of Run GenZ, a farm team of sorts for young Republicans in Iowa and across the country.

"There's not one, you know, size fits all," says Mitchell who believes representatives need to do just that -- represent their constituents and not focus so much on the party. "You can't win majorities with that mindset. And ultimately in Iowa, that's what we've been able to do."

It's a recipe for success for Republicans in Iowa, Mitchell says, "and that's why there's huge majorities of both in the House and the Senate."

The collapse of Iowa Democrats in 2020 included losing two congressional seats and a half of a dozen seats in the state legislature.

Former Democratic Rep. Rita Hart lost her congressional seat by just six votes, making it one of the closest House races in modern U.S. history.

"This is a low point for Democrats. But there's plenty of optimism here," she told ABC News.

Today, Hart heads the Iowa Democrats and in her first year in office, she is determined to rebuild -- not just for the party, but for the state. "We don't expect to turn this on a dime. But I think that Iowa Democrats are definitely engaged and very committed to getting a more balanced government in place in Iowa," she said.

Hart asserts the Democrats' best strategy to win back office in Iowa is to get back to basics. She hopes to place so-called "ambassadors" in every one of the 99 counties in Iowa to serve as the party's liaison, hoping this grassroots appeal will yield results.

Last year, Sand crisscrossed Iowa, talking to voters in every one of those counties and spreading the message that there is a future for Democrats here in Iowa.

"I think one of the most underappreciated parts about Iowa is the fact that the Iowa Democratic Party is like a sports team with a win-loss record that is not great," he said. "But if you actually look at the wins and the losses, there have been a lot of really close losses."