DES MOINES — Iowa Attorney General-elect Brenna Bird today announced her first senior staff appointment. The new Attorney General has selected Sam Langholz, a graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law with deep Iowa roots, to serve as her Chief Deputy Attorney General upon taking office. Langholz currently serves as Assistant Solicitor General and Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General of Iowa.
“I am very excited to have Sam join my team,” Bird said. “Sam’s depth of experience, passion for Iowa, and commitment to public service made his appointment an easy decision. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Sam over many years and I know we share the same vision for the Attorney General’s office. As Chief Deputy, Sam will lead our legal team as we fight back against the radical Biden agenda, engage and support our law enforcement partners, advocate for crime victims, protect the rights of Iowans, and defend the rule of law.”
Langholz has served in state government for the past twelve years. As Assistant Solicitor General and Assistant Attorney General, he manages the State’s civil appeals and defends the State in constitutional and other complex litigation before the Iowa Supreme Court, Eighth Circuit, and Supreme Court of the United States. He previously served as Governor Kim Reynolds’s Senior Legal Counsel and Special Advisor and as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Administrative Hearings Division in the Department of Inspections and Appeals. Langholz’s service started when he was appointed by Governor Terry Branstad, and unanimously confirmed by the State Senate, as Iowa’s State Public Defender.
Langholz began his legal career as a judicial law clerk for Judge Steven M. Colloton on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and in private practice with a Des Moines law firm. He has held a number leadership roles with the Iowa State Bar Association and was the founding president of the Iowa Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society.
Langholz graduated first in his class and with highest distinction from the University of Iowa College of Law in May 2008. While in law school, he served as a managing editor of the Iowa Law Review, and he worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa and in the Muscatine County Attorney’s Office. Before law school, he spent three years working in the U.S. House of Representatives for then-House Majority Whip Roy Blunt.
He received his Bachelor of Arts in Politics in June 2002 from Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia, where he graduated magna cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Langholz grew up in Clear Lake and now lives in Ankeny with his wife and two children.
“Being selected to serve as Chief Deputy Attorney General is an honor,” Langholz said, “and I can’t wait to get to work with the Attorney General-elect to implement her vision for the Attorney General’s office. I share Brenna’s commitment to building the best legal team possible to serve Iowans. On Day One in January, we will be ready to get to work. I want to thank Brenna for her confidence in me, and I look forward to engaging with my colleagues in the Attorney General’s office and the legal and law enforcement communities across Iowa in the weeks and months to come.”
Additional senior staff appointments will be announced in the coming weeks.
