(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor and Democratic candidate for governor Rob Sand will be making 14 campaign stops in northwest Iowa this week. Sand launched a 100 town hall tour of the state last week. He asked the first two crowds in central Iowa to sing “America the Beautiful” together. Sand says it’s a unifying exercise at a time when politics seems unhealthy.

“I think people mostly have that impression of politics in general,” Sand says. “It’s a lot of yelling on both sides.” One audience member asked Sand if he’s a strong or a moderate Democrat — and Sand replied that he doesn’t like labels. Sand told Radio Iowa he chose long ago to be in the Democratic Party. “I grew up watching Bill Clinton at the State of the Union brag about balancing the budget and paying down the debt and I thought: ‘I like that. That’s good,'” Sand said. “…My faith is a big motivator for why I signed up as a Democrat. I think that the Democratic Party, at least the way I see it, is the party of the little guy.”

Sand says there are some Republicans he has an easier time working with than Democrats and a lot can get done in a politically divided government, but Sand says with a Republican-led legislature, he’d likely veto some bills.