MIKE DAVIS: Iowans can't afford a soft-on-crime attorney general
As an Iowa native, graduate of the University of Iowa and the University of Iowa College of Law, and two-time staffer for Iowa's senior U.S. Senator and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, I know this for certain: Brenna Bird is the Attorney General Iowa needs reelected. Her Democrat opponent Nate Willems would be a disaster for Iowa, and the choice for voters in November could not be clearer.
Since January 2023, Bird has served with distinction as Iowa's Attorney General. Her credentials are sterling: University of Chicago Law School, years as a prosecutor, county attorney in both Fremont and Guthrie Counties, and president of the Iowa County Attorneys Association — the highest honor a prosecutor can earn in this state. Today, as Iowa's Attorney General, Bird does not merely hold the office. She wields it as a force for justice.
By contrast, Willems has never demonstrated the same seriousness. His legislative record and public conduct reveal a candidate soft on crime, hostile to the Constitution, and willing to smear American heroes for political points. He has no business within a hundred miles of the Iowa attorney general's office.
Consider the results. In 2021, Ryan Cooper, a husband and father in Traer, turned up shot dead in his home. The case sat cold for two years until Bird's newly created cold-case unit took it on. Within months, Karina Cooper and her lover Huston Danker faced arrest. A jury convicted Karina, and she now serves life without parole. Barbara Lenz, a 31-year-old mother in Woodbine, disappeared in 1989 after her abusive partner Robert Davis claimed he dropped her off. No body. No confession. Nearly four decades later, Bird's unit charged Davis. A jury found him guilty, and the judge sentenced him to 50 years. He will never hurt another woman.
That is what a real attorney general looks like.
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Willems' record runs the other direction. As a legislator, he voted against requiring electronic monitoring for convicted sex offenders — including those who victimized children. That position disqualifies him on its face. It might fly in San Francisco, but it has no place in Iowa.
His contempt for the Constitution is equally evident. While Bird defends the Second Amendment, Willems voted against making Iowa a shall-issue concealed-carry state — the standard the Supreme Court affirmed as constitutionally required in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. Willems also seeks to dilute Iowans' voting power by opposing voter-ID laws in a state with two swing House districts and recent races decided by fewer than a dozen votes. And while Bird has filed court briefs supporting federal immigration enforcement, Willems has publicly attacked those policies. A Willems victory would transform Iowa from a legal ally of the president into a state resembling California or Illinois — states dedicated to obstructing federal law enforcement at every turn. Willems does not represent Iowa. He represents the resistance.
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Willems is also an extremist on abortion. He voted against a ban after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Opposing a limit after 20 weeks means defending abortion more than halfway through pregnancy — when the child stands only weeks away from viability outside the womb. That is not moderation. It is a radical position.
Then there is the D-Day post, which should have immediately ended any aspirations Willems harbored of becoming Iowa's top law enforcement officer. On the 82nd anniversary of the Normandy landings, Willems reposted an image equating American paratroopers with leftwing terrorist group Antifa. The caption read: "A plane full of uniformed antifa, circa 1944," placed beside a photograph of the brave American men who jumped behind enemy lines to liberate France from Nazi occupation. Comparing those heroes to an anarchist group responsible for widespread riot violence and attacks on federal officers is not edgy commentary. It is a moral failure. A man willing to smear the heroes of Normandy has no business serving as any state's chief law enforcement officer.
The contrast for Iowa voters could not be clearer. Bird hunts and prosecutes murderers decades after their crimes; Willems wants convicted sex offenders — including child predators — back on the street without electronic monitoring. Bird defends the Second Amendment. Willems voted to gut it. Bird stands with President Trump. Willems aligns with George Soros. Bird honors the men who died at Normandy. Willems compares them to terrorists. Bird stands with the Constitution and the rule of law. Willems has repeatedly placed ideology above both.
Iowa voters know exactly what they have in Brenna Bird. And they know exactly what they would get in Nate Willems: a radical who is soft on crime.