Hawkeye Reporter

Brenna Bird, the Republican candidate for attorney general of Iowa, recently said she won't let partisanship interfere with her job, and criticized Democrat Attorney General Tom Miller for what she sees as neglect of the role of attorney general.

"Iowa needs an attorney general who's working for Iowa, not just occupying the job and not somebody who's retired on the job," Bird said in a statement. "I will work with law enforcement, and I will push back against the Biden administration, but let me tell you this: I will call things like I see them, the balls and the strikes, not according to politics, just like I do as a prosecutor, as a county attorney. I don't know the politics of the people that I charge with crimes, and if I did, it wouldn't make a difference to the law and the outcome." 

Miller has held the position of Iowa's attorney general since 1978, with the exception of 1991-94 when he was working in a private practice, according to the National Association of Attorneys General. He graduated from Loras College in 1966 and later earned a law degree from Harvard before working on the east coast for several years. He first ran for attorney general in 1974.

Bird graduated from Drake University in 1997 and earned her law degree from the University of Chicago, according to Ballotpedia. She has experience in both the public and private sectors, having worked for law firms in Silicon Valley and Washington D.C., as well as serving as chief of staff and senior legal advisor to Republican Congressman Steve King. She will face incumbent Miller in November's general election.

Bird was elected county attorney for Guthrie County in 2018, according to her website. When she previously worked as counsel to Gov. Terry Branstad, she helped fight against the Obama administration's overreach by taking legal action against Obamacare as well as Environmental Protection Agency practices that harmed Iowa's farmers. She supports law enforcement, getting criminals off the streets and standing up for crime victims. An Iowa native, she lives with her husband Bob, a veteran of the Iraq war, and their son, on her family's farm in Dexter.