Iowa State Auditor: Cournoyer vs. Wettach

About the Office

The Iowa State Auditor is Iowa's independent fiscal watchdog, elected to a four-year term. The Auditor reviews financial operations of state and local government, conducts performance audits, and investigates allegations of mismanagement or fraud.

This office is supposed to provide independent oversight of how state and local governments spend taxpayer dollars, regardless of which party controls those governments. Recent legislation has limited what auditors can investigate, making this race a debate over what the office should be.

Race at a Glance

Race Type

Open Seat

Term Length

4 Years

Election Day

Nov 3, 2026

This is an open seat since incumbent Rob Sand is running for Governor. Chris Cournoyer, formerly Lt. Governor, is the Republican nominee. Taylor Wettach is the Democratic nominee.

The Candidates

Each candidate's positions are drawn from primary sources: campaign communications, voting records, debates, and direct interviews.

Chris Cournoyer (R)

Republican nominee · Former Lt. Governor of Iowa

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Bio and Career

Cournoyer was born on July 24, 1970 in Dallas, Texas, and earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992. She began her career as a senior consultant at Andersen Consulting before starting her own web development business, which she ran for more than 20 years. She has also worked as a substitute teacher, taught robotics and coding to students, and served as a reserve sheriff's deputy in her home of LeClaire in eastern Iowa.

Cournoyer served two terms as president of the Pleasant Valley Community School District Board and was elected to the Iowa State Senate representing District 35 (Clinton, Jackson, and Scott counties) in 2018, winning reelection in 2022. As a senator she chaired the Education Budget Committee, served as vice chair of the State Government Committee, and authored Iowa's landmark data privacy law. She also voted for a 2023 bill removing the State Auditor's ability to take state agencies to court to compel records. In December 2024, Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed her Iowa's 48th Lieutenant Governor after Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg resigned to become CEO of the Iowa Bankers Association.

Cournoyer filed to run for State Auditor on April 28, 2025 and was endorsed by Gov. Reynolds the same day. She defeated Iowa County Supervisor Abigail Maas in the June 2, 2026 Republican primary with 54% of the vote.

Primary Issues

Fiscal Discipline & Cutting Government Waste

Positions herself as an "iron-clad" taxpayer watchdog and "true fiscal conservative," pointing to her school board record lowering the tax levy 41 cents and her Iowa Senate work on a $200 million government realignment as evidence of her approach. Frames the office as an instrument for reducing Iowans' overall tax burden, particularly property taxes.

Modernizing the Auditor's Office with Technology

Draws on her computer science and consulting background to argue for integrating artificial intelligence into audits, enhancing Iowa's transparency portal, and making the office "a home for recommendations from the Governor's DOGE Task Force" on modernizing government operations.

Depoliticizing the Office

Cournoyer's central critique of current Auditor Rob Sand, whom she has described as running the office as a "political weapon." Cites in particular Sand's audit of Iowa's Education Savings Account voucher program, and pledges to prioritize transparency, efficiency, and results over headlines and partisanship.

Endorsements

Republican Party of Iowa
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds

Donor Information

Total individual contributions: 287
In-state: 274 (95.5%) Out-of-state: 13 (4.5%)
Small-dollar donors ($100 or less): By count: 100 of 287 (34.8%) By dollar volume: $7,603 of $388,848 (2.0%)

1. Marilyn and Burt Gearhart — LeClaire, IA — $52,750

2. Gage Kent — Muscatine, IA — $18,500

CEO of Kent Corporation, a Muscatine-based global agribusiness holding company.

3. Lawrence Bay — Port Byron, IL — $16,000

Businessman and former mayor of Port Byron.

Source: Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board (IECDB), as of July 14, 2026. webapp.iowa.gov/iecdb

Taylor Wettach (D)

Democratic nominee · Trade & national security attorney

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Bio and Career

Wettach was born and raised in Muscatine, Iowa, and describes himself as a seventh-generation Iowan. He earned both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service before attending New York University School of Law.

Wettach practiced as an international trade and national security attorney at the New York-based law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, negotiating with major corporations and federal government agencies on complex legal and policy issues. In 2025, after the Trump administration targeted Simpson Thacher and other major law firms with punitive actions and the firm agreed to provide $125 million in pro bono legal work to the administration rather than challenge Trump in court, Wettach resigned in protest and returned to Iowa.

Wettach initially launched a campaign for U.S. House in Iowa's 1st Congressional District in July 2025 to challenge Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, but pivoted on January 26, 2026 to run for State Auditor. He attributed the shift to what he called efforts by Reynolds and Cournoyer to "weaken oversight capabilities" of the office. He has praised Democratic State Auditor Rob Sand's tenure and pledged to continue Sand's approach of positioning the office as a nonpartisan watchdog.

Primary Issues

Restoring the Independence of the Auditor's Office

Argues that Reynolds and Cournoyer have "moved to weaken the independence and authority" of the office through 2023 legislation limiting the auditor's ability to compel records from state agencies, and pledges to fight to restore the office's investigative power.

Following the Money & Standing Up to Power

Frames the role as an "independent watchdog who tells the truth, follows the money, and stands up to power." Points to his legal career negotiating with major corporations and federal government agencies, and his decision to resign from his previous law firm rather than participate in the firm's Trump deal, as evidence of his willingness to confront powerful institutions.

Anti-Corruption Protection for Taxpayers

Explicitly frames the race as right versus wrong rather than left versus right. Connects fiscal oversight to the everyday costs Iowans face, including health care, housing, utilities, food, and child care, arguing that when politicians "rig the system for themselves … corruption isn't an accident."

Endorsements

Iowa Democratic Party
Former Iowa Gov. and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
Former Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart

Donor Information

Total individual contributions: 979
In-state: 741 (75.7%) Out-of-state: 237 (24.2%)
Small-dollar donors ($100 or less): By count: 385 of 979 (39.3%) By dollar volume: $24,164 of $981,663 (2.5%)

1. George Koenigsaecker — Muscatine, IA — $100,000

Owner of Lean Investments LLC.

2. Dr. David Wettach — Muscatine, IA — $99,000

Family Physician and father to Taylor.

3. Frederick W. Weitz — Des Moines, IA — $70,100

Former CEO of The Weitz Company, a Midwest construction and development firm.

Source: Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board (IECDB), as of July 14, 2026. webapp.iowa.gov/iecdb

How the Office Would Change

Cournoyer has run for State Auditor as a technology-oriented Republican reformer who would depoliticize an office she says has drifted into activism under current Auditor Rob Sand. She would integrate artificial intelligence into audits, work with the Governor's DOGE Task Force on modernization, and align the office more closely with the priorities of Iowa's Republican-led executive branch and legislature. She says this shift would end the office's use as a "political weapon."

Wettach has proposed reorienting the office in the opposite direction by restoring the independence and investigative authority he says has been eroded by 2023 legislation limiting the Auditor's ability to compel records from state agencies, a bill Cournoyer voted for as a state senator. He has explicitly praised Sand's tenure and pledged to continue what he calls the office's nonpartisan watchdog role.

The choice on this office is between an Auditor who works alongside Iowa's Republican-controlled executive and legislature as a partner, and an Auditor who operates as an independent check on that same executive and legislature where the auditor can publicly investigate and report on how state programs are being run regardless of political consequences.