DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s longtime Democratic attorney general says that he has hired Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ senior legal counsel to work as one of his assistants. Attorney General Tom Miller said that Sam Langholz, a prominent conservative attorney in the state, will be an assistant attorney general focusing on civil litigation and appeals.

Langholz is 40 and a longtime member of the Federalist Society who has advised the governor on judicial appointments and other matters. Langholz applied for an opening on the Iowa Supreme Court earlier this year but was not among the finalists forwarded to the governor for consideration by a vetting committee.