Democrat Nate Willems has defeated Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, who was seeking a second term. Willems says his victory, alongside other Democrats on the 2026 ticket, will rebalance Iowa politics.
Willems is an attorney who made combatting wage theft the centerpiece of his campaign. He pledges to refocus the office on helping regular Iowans.
In other statewide races involving Republican incumbents, Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig (NEGG) beat Democratic challenger Chris Jones and Secretary of State Paul Pate beat Democrat Ryan Peterman, while State Treasurer Roby (like “ROBBIE”) Smith won with a narrow margin of about 9-thousand votes over Democrat John Norwood. In the open race to be Iowa’s next state auditor, Democrat Tyler Wettach (WET-ick) beat Republican Chris Cournoyer (kuh-NOY-yer) by an even slimmer margin of about 5-thousand votes.
