Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand defeated Republican businessman Zach Lahn to become the first Democratic governor elected in the state since 2006, according to US media projections.

He will replace outgoing Governor Kim Reynolds.

Sand campaigned as an independent-minded Democrat who sought to appeal to voters from all parties. He was known to ask rally attendees to sing “America the Beautiful.”

Like other Iowa candidates, he campaigned heavily on addressing the state’s rising incidence of cancer, the second highest in the nation after Kentucky.

He distanced himself from progressive positions on transgender issues, taking a similar approach to other moderate Midwest Democratic candidates hoping to win rural voters.

(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Deepa Babington)