周二，罗布·桑德成为自2006年以来首位赢得艾奥瓦州州长选举的民主党人，他击败了极端“让美国再次伟大”（MAHA）派保守派扎克·拉恩，并推动民主党在这个多年来逐渐疏远该党的州实现复兴。
On Tuesday, Rob Sand became the first Democrat since 2006 to win the governor’s race in Iowa, defeating ultra-MAHA conservative Zach Lahn and powering a Democratic resurgence in a state that had been drifting away from the party for years.
正如我在为本刊撰写的一篇人物特写中所写，这位44岁的州审计长以某种反党派、倡导良政的斗士形象参选，呼吁艾奥瓦州民众让政治进程重拾邻里之情与问责精神。他在全部99个县举办了公开活动，每场活动都以对两党制的抱怨和集体演唱《美丽的美国》开场，并利用自己作为白领犯罪检察官和纳税人监督者的经验，论证在这个共和党已把持州政府三重权力长达十年的州里“轮作庄稼”的必要性。
As I wrote in a profile for the magazine, the 44-year-old state auditor ran as a sort of anti-partisan, good-governance crusader who urged Iowans to restore neighborliness and accountability to the political process. He held public events in all 99 counties, opened them with a complaint about the two-party system and a group rendition of “America the Beautiful,” and used his experience as a white-collar prosecutor and taxpayer watchdog to make the case for “rotating the crops” in a state where Republicans have held a governing trifecta for a decade.
这一策略效果非同寻常地好——桑德在民调平均值中从未落后，并被广泛视为全国民主党内的冉冉升起的新星。
It worked uncommonly well—Sand never trailed in the polling average and has been widely seen as a rising star within the national Democratic Party.
将桑德列入2028年民主党潜在总统候选人名单，与亚历山德里娅·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯和斯蒂芬·A·史密斯等知名人物并列。
included Sand on a list of possible Democratic presidential candidates in 2028, alongside such luminaries as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Stephen A. Smith.
今年6月，当一名美国国家公共电台记者在艾奥瓦州沙里顿一个活动场地的小厨房里向他问起那份名单时，桑德戏剧性地转移话题，开始朝门口走去，靴子踩得地板嘎吱作响。“你不听我笑，就没法剪掉这段！”他回来后说道。这让我想起多年前一名记者问他关于外界猜测他将竞选州长时，他给出的回答：“你能引用一个翻白眼吗？”
When an NPR reporter asked him about that list in June, in the kitchen of a small event space in Chariton, Iowa, Sand pivoted dramatically and began walking toward the door, floorboards creaking beneath his boots. “You can’t cut without you hearing me laugh!” he said when he came back. I was reminded of what he told a reporter who asked him, years ago, about speculation that he’d run for governor: “Can you quote an eye-roll?”
在艾奥瓦州，全国大环境和实际环境都严重影响着选民。即将卸任的共和党州长金·雷诺兹极不受欢迎。她的学券计划激怒了教师和农村选民。关税和柴油成本正沉重打击农民。而且，就在全国大部分其他地区的癌症发病率下降之际，这里的癌症发病率却在上升。
In Iowa, the national environment, and the actual environment, weighed heavily on voters. Outgoing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds is deeply unpopular. Her voucher program has pissed off teachers and rural voters. Tariffs and diesel costs are hammering farmers. And cancer rates are rising even as they fall in most of the rest of the country.
在全国民主党人看来，桑德或许算得上某种独角兽——一位弓猎、去教堂的小镇民主党人，在唐纳德·特朗普三次拿下的州里从未输过一场选举。但这里对其他候选人也有可借鉴之处。桑德的胜选之道是坚持不懈地争取所有人，避开党派标签，并强调在预计得梅因将出现分裂政府的情况下需要合作。他专注于自己所说的可行之事——一笔勾销地终止医疗补助私有化，收紧共和党通过的代金券项目规则，以及推行一项以胡萝卜为主、大棒为辅的清洁水战略。
To national Democrats, Sand may seem like something of a unicorn—a bow-hunting, churchgoing small-town Democrat who’s never lost an election in a state Donald Trump has carried three times. But there are lessons for other candidates here too. Sand won by relentlessly courting everyone, eschewing partisan labels, and emphasizing the need to work together in what was expected to be a divided government in Des Moines. He focused on things he said were doable—ending Medicaid privatization with the stroke of a pen, tightening the rules for the Republican-passed voucher program, and pursuing a clean-water strategy that was heavy on carrots and light on sticks.
但说真的，你只需读我写的这篇人物特写。全都在里面，还有更多内容。
But really, you should just read the profile I wrote. It’s all in there, plus a whole lot more.