Brenna Bird, Iowa's new attorney general, brings change in priorities - Des Moines Register

Show Caption

For Brenna Bird, the second time was the charm.

Bird will take over as the state's new attorney general in January, 12 years after first seeking the office. She'll become Iowa's first Republican to serve as attorney general since 1979.

Bird's approach will be a stark contrast from her predecessor, Tom Miller, a Democrat who was attorney general for 40 years until Bird defeated him this year.

As a newcomer to the long-held seat, Bird, 46, is one of the Des Moines Register's People to Watch in 2023.

She comes to the office as a conservative prosecutor, ready to sue the Biden administration and "back the blue." She also carries with her a sense of justice and desire to help victims of crime.

"She has, you might call it a north star," said her husband, Bob Bird, "And I think that's giving the best service possible to the people of Iowa."

Elections 2022: Republican Brenna Bird defeats Democrat Tom Miller in Iowa attorney general race

Brenna Bird's plans? Sue Joe Biden and support crime victims

Bird is taking stock of the current workings of the attorney general's office until she officially takes over in January.

And Iowans should expect changes.

Bird promised on the campaign trail that President Joe Biden would see her in court. She has legal briefs and supporting lawsuits already in the works, including a challenge to Biden's student loan debt relief proposal, and intends to find new lawsuits to file.

"I predict that the next two years of the Biden administration, given that he's lost control of the House, will see more unconstitutional executive action, and it will become very important to step up and sue the federal government in that situation," Bird said.

She plans to set up a new unit in her office that will be focused on the federal government. Cases dealing with agriculture will be a particular focus, she said.

One of the first things she wants to do as attorney general is a complete audit of its victim services program. Bird said she'll miss working directly with crime victims and trying cases, like she did as Guthrie County attorney. But helping victims in a different way was one of her motivations in running for statewide office.

"Especially when it comes to some crimes that are some of the worst, like sexual abuse of children, I want to bring all of my knowledge as a prosecutor and my passion for justice to the attorney general's office to serve victims of crime," she said.

Bird said Miller, who was first elected attorney general in 1978, has been gracious during the transition process. And she said she shares Miller's value, often repeated on the campaign trail, on the importance of using the law to "serve ordinary Iowans."

"I agree with him on that: that the attorney general's office has an important role to play in serving Iowans," she said.

More:How Taufeek Shah turned his mom's sauce recipe into Lola's Fine Hot Sauce global brand

Brenna Bird's career spans law and politics

Bird grew up on a family farm in rural Dexter and quickly developed an interest in the law — and in politics.

She attended her first Iowa caucus when she was about 12. When she was 16, she worked as a page in the Iowa Legislature. Later, she returned to the Legislature to work as a clerk, where she helped answer phone calls for constituents.

"I remember getting to figure out who to call in government and helping those people, and I felt that was very rewarding, because it's hard to know how to solve a problem sometimes," she said.

Those experiences began to plant the seed of being a lawyer.

"I wanted to help people, and that seemed like the best way that I could do that," Bird said.

Bird went into private practice in Silicon Valley after graduating from the University of Chicago Law School. Since then, her career has included a mix of experience in private practice and roles in Iowa politics. Those include working for former U.S. Rep. Steve King and former Gov. Terry Branstad and running the unsuccessful campaign for attorney general in 2010.

It wasn't until late 2016 that she got the opportunity to apply for an opening as Fremont County attorney. She stayed there for two years before moving back home to run for Guthrie County attorney.

More:Ankeny superintendent Erick Pruitt leads growing district into changing future

Bird said she's always wanted to be a prosecutor, but she knew it wouldn't be possible right away in her career because of her law school loans.

"As a prosecutor, I get to seek justice every day," she said. "And it is not always easy, but it is a privilege to get to serve our community, get to work with law enforcement and try to help crime victims."

Bob Bird remembers how impressed he was when she took that job in Fremont County, without any previous experience prosecuting cases.

"It still amazes me how quickly she learned to try cases in court as well as do all the other work of a county attorney," he said.

More:Ruth McCabe, the 'cover crop whisperer,' is spreading the gospel of conservation to Iowa farmers

Sheriff: Brenna Bird wants defendants to 'pay for their crime' and 'become a better person'

Guthrie County Sheriff Marty Arganbright, a Democrat who endorsed Bird in her campaign, calls her prosecutorial style "hard and compassionate."

"I think she wants to make them pay for their crime," he said. "But she still wants them to become a better person."

In Bird's four years as Guthrie County attorney, she developed a close relationship with Arganbright and his deputies. When deputies were called to an accident or a shooting or any other major event, Bird never failed to call and ask if everyone was OK, Arganbright said.

"The thing I liked about Brenna was when she says she backs the blue, she means it and she shows it," he said.

Under Bird, the office began taking more cases to trial and signing off on fewer plea deals.

"She's been a really good county attorney because she holds people responsible for their actions," Arganbright said.

Part of being a good county attorney means having understanding and sympathy for the people she's prosecuting, Bob Bird said.

"Her understanding of that job is you're not just helping law enforcement do its job, you're not just helping victims, although they're important too, but you're helping even the people whom you're prosecuting," he said. "They may be the people most in need of and most able to benefit from the actions that you're taking, or the decision that you make to handle a case in a way that may not involve a prosecution."

This summer, a man came up to Bird at the Guthrie County courthouse — someone she'd previously prosecuted — and told her that he'd gotten sober, found a job with a construction company and bought a house with his girlfriend.

It's that kind of case that helps give her work meaning, she said.

"There's other ones that some people might think they're bigger cases, but every time you see someone go from addiction and despair to sobriety and a life well lived, it feels good," Bird said. "And they get the credit for that, not me, but I think that provides a lot of meaning to me."

More:Michael Miano hopes to design an Iowa soccer team look that will say 'this is where I'm from'

Faith and family provide respite from a tough job

Bird will be commuting to Des Moines when she starts work as attorney general. She and her family still live near Dexter in her grandfather's old farmhouse.

When she's not working, she and her husband tend a vegetable garden, where they grow tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, hot peppers and more. They took a break this year for the campaign, but next year Bird hopes to be back at it so she can make and can her own salsa and hot sauce.

She and her husband keep Sundays reserved for family time, and they like to ride bikes on the local trails, read, play board games with their 6-year-old son, or go camping in nearby state or county parks.

Another thing that keeps her grounded is prayer and her Catholic faith.

"I'd say my relationship with God and with Jesus is very important to me," Bird said. "Just to realize that God is in charge and I'm here to serve."

The Birds first met in 2011 at an alumni reunion for the University of Chicago Law School. Two years later, they reunited at another alumni event and began chatting.

"She mentioned she was going to church the next morning — this was Saturday night, church on Sunday — and I thought, 'Well, hey, how about if I join you and then perhaps we can go out to brunch,'" Bob Bird said. "So that was our first date."

After that, he returned to his home in western New York, but Brenna Bird soon invited him to visit her in Iowa — and eventually move there.

Bob got a job with the Iowa Senate Republicans as an analyst. One day, he invited Brenna outside to the west steps of the Capitol, facing downtown Des Moines, where he asked her to marry him.

"We've been together since then, to my great fortune," he said.

With the spotlight of a statewide office, Bob said Iowans will get a chance to meet the Brenna he knows so well.

"She's a servant of the people, now the people of the state," he said. "She loves them and that's what she's going to have in her heart and in her mind when she goes to work every day."

More:Perlla Deluca paves way to open up the construction industry for women, people of color

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

Meet Brenna Bird

AGE: 46

LIVES: Rural Dexter

EDUCATION: Graduated from Drake University with majors in political science and history and a minor in Russian. Graduated from the University of Chicago Law School.

CAREER: Worked in private practice after graduating from law school. Served as chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Steve King. Ran for attorney general in 2010. Legal counsel and acting chief of staff to Gov. Terry Branstad. Adjunct lecturer at the University of Iowa Law School. Worked in private practice at Bird Law Office. Began serving as Fremont County attorney in 2016 and has been Guthrie County attorney since January 2019.

FAMILY: Husband, Bob Bird; 6-year-old son; and dog, Duchess.

About the Des Moines Register's 2023 People to Watch

It is a Des Moines Register tradition to close out each year and open the next by introducing readers to 15 People to Watch — individuals expected to make an impact on Iowa in the coming year.

This year's nominations from readers and our journalists totaled nearly 50 people and posed hard decisions for staff members charged with winnowing them to just 15.

The final 15 include people in business and the arts, athletes, those who work to support farmers and refugees, those who are the first new elected officials to their seats in decades, and people educating new generations. We hope that you are as inspired by reading about them as we were in profiling them.