Lt. Gov. Chris Cournoyer launches campaign for state auditor

Lt. Gov. Chris Cournoyer announced Tuesday she will run for state auditor in the 2026 election.

“The people of Iowa deserve an Auditor who will protect their dollars, keep politics out of the office, and bring a business-minded, results-oriented approach to every audit,” Cournoyer said in a news release. “That’s exactly what I intend to deliver.”

Cournoyer is currently Iowa’s lieutenant governor, serving under Gov. Kim Reynolds. She was appointed to the position in December 2024, months after former Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg resigned and became the president and CEO of the Iowa Bankers Association. Before joining the Reynolds administration, Cournoyer, of LeClaire, served as a state senator representing Iowa Senate District 35, winning reelection in the 2022.

After being appointed to replace Gregg in 2024, Cournoyer is set to serve out the remainder of his term, through 2026. But she will not be elected to serve a full term as Reynolds’ second-in-command, as the governor announced she will not seek reelection in April.

Cournoyer was considered a potential gubernatorial candidate in Republican primary field after serving with Reynolds, among other potential candidates like Attorney General Brenna Bird, House Speaker Pat Grassley and Sen. Mike Bousselot, R-Ankeny, though Cournoyer did not announce any intentions to run for the position. The lieutenant governor’s announcement that she will run for state auditor takes her out of this field as she seeks an office currently held by an expected Democratic gubernatorial candidate — Auditor Rob Sand.

Sand has not officially entered the gubernatorial race, but is expected to run after accumulating significant campaign funds heading into the 2026 election cycle. This means he will likely not face Cournoyer in a reelection race for state auditor — but Cournoyer criticized Sand’s time holding the position in her campaign announcement.

“As Iowa continues to cut taxes and streamline government, the Auditor’s Office must lead by example and serve as a true watchdog for the taxpayer — not a political weapon,” Cournoyer said in a statement. “It’s time for an Auditor who prioritizes transparency, efficiency, and results over headlines and partisanship.”

Sand is the only Democrat to hold statewide elected office in Iowa. As auditor, a position charged with auditing state agencies and launching investigations into government spending, Republicans have accused Sand of pursuing certain audits, like one into the state’s Education Savings Account program providing state funding for private school tuition and associated costs, because of his political opposition to program.

Cournoyer said “an auditor should serve all Iowans — not just one party or one cause.”

‘Taxpayer dollars should never be used to campaign, and oversight should never be driven by political bias,” Cournoyer said.

Sand has repeatedly pushed back against claims that certain audits are used for partisan purposes. He and Democrats in the Legislature have argued Republicans are curtailing the office’s ability to perform its duties, because a Democrat holds the office, through recent laws restricting the auditor’s office access to certain information and ability to go to court.

Cournoyer said if elected, she would take steps to make the auditor’s office more efficient by integrating artificial intelligence technology into the auditing process, promoting the state’s transparency portal, and making “the Auditor’s Office a home for recommendations emerging from the Governor’s DOGE Task Force on modernizing government operations.”

Reynolds officially launched the state Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force in February, modeled after the federal DOGE headed by Elon Musk, to identify savings and areas for improvement in local and state government.

Cournoyer said she has experience working to improve government efficiency during her time in the Legislature as one of the leaders of Reynolds’ 2023 government realignment law that consolidated and cut the state’s 37 executive-level cabinet agencies to 16.

Reynolds praised Cournoyer in a statement Tuesday and endorsed her in her campaign for auditor.

“Chris is a true fiscal conservative with a strong record of improving government efficiencies and accountability,” Reynolds said. “Her background in technology and her unwavering commitment to taxpayers makes her an ideal watchdog every Iowan can trust. Iowans can rest assured Chris Cournoyer will always have their best interests at heart.”