Nate Willems

Nate Willems

Democratic Party

Candidate, Attorney General of Iowa

Prior offices

Iowa House of Representatives District 29

---

Elections and appointments

Next election

November 3, 2026

Education

Bachelor's

Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 2001

Law

University of Iowa College of Law, 2007

Personal

Religion

Christian: Presbyterian

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Personal website

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Nate Willems (Democratic Party) is running for election for Attorney General of Iowa. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.^[source]

Willems (Democratic Party) was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives, representing District 29. He assumed office on January 1, 2009. He left office on January 1, 2013.

Biography

Nate Willems was born in Iowa and lives in Mount Vernon, Iowa. His career experience includes working as a labor lawyer and partner at Rush & Nicholson, P.L.C. He has also worked as an attorney with Sole, McManus, Pearson and Willems, P.C. He is an executive board member of the Hawkeye Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO, a member of the Lincoln Highway Lisbon Lions Club, Linn County Democratic Central Committee, and the Mount Vernon Athletic Boosters.

Committee assignments

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Willems served on the following committees:

• Education, Ranking Member
• Labor
• Subcommittee on Education (Joint Appropriations)
• Ways and Means

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Willems served on the following committees:

• Education
• Judiciary
• Labor (Vice Chair)
• State Government
• Subcommittee on Justice System Appropriations
• Ways and Means

Elections

2026

See also: Iowa Attorney General election, 2026

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for Attorney General of Iowa

Incumbent Brenna Bird and Nate Willems are running in the general election for Attorney General of Iowa on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Brenna Bird (R)
		Nate Willems (D)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.

2012

See also: Iowa State Senate elections, 2012

Willems ran in the 2012 election for Iowa State Senate District 48. He ran unopposed in the Democratic primary on June 5, 2012, and was defeated by Dan Zumbach (R) in the general election on November 6, 2012.

Iowa State Senate, District 48, General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Dan Zumbach	50.9%	16,415
	Democratic	Nate Willems	49.1%	15,858
Total Votes				32,273

2010

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2010

Willems won re-election to the 29th District seat against Shawn Graham (R). Willems had no opposition in the Democratic primary. The general election took place on November 2, 2010.

Iowa House of Representatives, District 29 General Election (2010)
Candidates		Votes
Nate Willems (D)		7,487
Shawn Graham (R)		6,658

2008

On November 4, 2008, Willems was elected to the 29th District Seat in the Iowa House of Representatives, defeating Emma Nemecek (R). Willems raised $86,126 for his campaign, while Nemecek raised $11,219.

Iowa House of Representatives, District 29
Candidates		Votes
Nate Willems (D)		10,524
Emma Nemecek (R)		7,469

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Nate Willems has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Nate Willems asking him to fill out the survey. If you are Nate Willems, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?

Any candidate running for elected office, at any level, can complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Survey. Completing the survey will update the candidate's Ballotpedia profile, letting voters know who they are and what they stand for.  More than 22,000 candidates have taken Ballotpedia's candidate survey since we launched it in 2015. Learn more about the survey here.

You can ask Nate Willems to fill out this survey by using the buttons below or emailing info@natewillems.com.

Campaign finance summary

Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.

Email editor@ballotpedia.org to notify us of updates to this biography.

Willems lives in Lisbon, Iowa with his wife Maggie and two daughters, Ava and Emery.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for Nate + Willems + Iowa + Legislature

Nate Willems News Feed

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Attorney General of Iowa

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Personal

Website

Facebook

LinkedIn

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Iowa House of Representatives District 29 2009–2013	Succeeded by Dan Kelley (D)

2026 state executive official elections

Governor

Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Florida • Georgia • Guam • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Iowa • Kansas • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Mexico • New York • Northern Mariana Islands • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Vermont • U.S. Virgin Islands • Wisconsin • Wyoming

Lieutenant Governor

Alabama • Alaska • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Florida • Georgia • Guam • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Iowa • Kansas • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Nebraska • Nevada • New Mexico • New York • Northern Mariana Islands • Ohio • Oklahoma • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Texas • Vermont • U.S. Virgin Islands • Wisconsin

Attorney General

Alabama • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Guam • Idaho • Illinois • Iowa • Kansas • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Nebraska • Nevada • New Mexico • New York • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Texas • Vermont • Wisconsin

Secretary of State

Alabama • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Georgia • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Nebraska • Nevada • New Mexico • North Dakota • Ohio • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Vermont • Wisconsin • Wyoming

Treasurer

Alabama • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Massachusetts • Nebraska • Nevada • New Mexico • Ohio • Oklahoma • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Vermont • Wisconsin • Wyoming

Auditor

Alabama • Arkansas • Delaware • Iowa • Massachusetts • Minnesota • Missouri • Nebraska • New Mexico • Ohio • Oklahoma • South Dakota • Vermont • Wyoming

Comptroller

California • Connecticut • Idaho • Illinois • Maryland • Nevada • New York • South Carolina • Texas

Education officials

Alabama (board of education) • Arizona (superintendent) • California (superintendent) • Colorado (board of education) • Colorado (board of regent) • District of Columbia (board of education) • Georgia (superintendent) • Guam (education board) • Idaho (superintendent) • Kansas (board of education) • Michigan (board of education) • Michigan (board of regent) • Michigan (board of trustees) • Michigan (board of governors) • Nebraska (board of education) • Nebraska (board of regents) • Nevada (board of regents) • New Mexico (board of education) • Northern Mariana Islands (board of education) • Ohio (board of education) • Oklahoma (superintendent) • South Carolina (superintendent) • Texas (board of education) • Utah (board of education) • U.S. Virgin Islands (board of education) • Wyoming (superintendent)

Commissioners

Alabama (agriculture) • Alabama (public service) • Arizona (corporation) • Arizona (mine inspector) • Arkansas (public lands) • California (board of equalization) • California (insurance) • Florida (agriculture) • Georgia (agriculture) • Georgia (labor) • Georgia (insurance) • Georgia (public service) • Guam (utilities) • Hawaii (Hawaiian affairs) • Iowa (agriculture) • Kansas (insurance) • Louisiana (public service) • Massachusetts (governor's council) • Montana (public service) • Nebraska (public service) • New Hampshire (executive council) • New Mexico (public lands) • North Dakota (agriculture) • North Dakota (public service) • North Dakota (tax) • Oklahoma (corporation) • Oklahoma (insurance) • Oklahoma (labor) • Oregon (labor) • South Carolina (agriculture) • South Dakota (public lands) • South Dakota (public utilities) • Texas (agriculture) • Texas (public lands) • Texas (railroad)