Democrat Willems declares victory in race for Iowa attorney general

Democratic challenger Nate Willems declared victory late Tuesday over GOP incumbent Brenna Bird in the race for Iowa attorney general.

Unofficial results showed that with 85 percent of the vote counted, Willems had claimed 53% of the vote in unofficial results, while Bird had claimed 47% of the ballots. The Associated Press had yet to project a winner in the race.

Willems, who represented District 29 in the Iowa House of Representatives from 2009 to 2013, is an attorney who campaigned on his experience in labor and employment law. He said she wanted the attorney general’s office to “adopt the mindset and the mentality that it goes to work every day for regular Iowans, workers, consumers and seniors and is not focused on Washington politics and political lawsuits.”

Speaking at the Iowa State Fair in August, Willems said that over the past 18 years he has represented “tens of thousands of Iowans” and recovered tens of millions of dollars doing “work that the attorney general’s office could be doing but does not.”

On environmental enforcement, Willems said Bird imposed minimal fines on companies found to be polluting Iowa air and water, calling it a “slap on the wrist.”

Bird’s campaign characterized Willems as a “far-left liberal with a dangerous and radical record.” She said she had doubled the number of prosecutors in the attorney general’s office assigned to prosecute murderers, rapists and child molesters, and had improved victim services throughout Iowa.

At the Iowa State Fair in August, Bird said she and Willems didn’t “see eye to eye” on a number of issues, including “stand your ground” laws and voter-ID laws that she supports.

Bird promoted her efforts to initiate lawsuits tied to transgender participation in women’s sports, the launch of a cold case unit, and her opposition to what she called “woke mandates” such as California’s Proposition 12 that would impose production standards for certain types of livestock.

Bird, the first Republican to serve as the state’s attorney general since 1979, defeated then-incumbent Tom Miller in 2022 by a narrow margin of 51% to 49%. Before serving as attorney general, Bird served as Guthrie County Attorney and Fremont County Attorney.