Des Moines, Iowa — Governor Kim Reynolds has chosen an attorney who represented the Trump campaign in a high profile case to be a state gambling regulator.
The governor is appointing Alan Ostergren to replace a former state legislator on the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission next month. Ostergren is president and chief counsel of The Kirkwood Institute, which is described on its website as a conservative public interest law firm. Ostergren was elected to three terms as Muscatine County Attorney, but resigned in May of 2020 to enter private practice. Ostergren successfully represented the Trump campaign’s challenge of voter registration forms mailed by county auditors from Linn, Johnson and Woodbury Counties for the 2020 General Election. He also represented Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks campaign during the recount in her 2020 race for the U.S. House. In 2022, Ostergren was the attorney who handled challenges to the nomination petitions Democrat Abby Finkenauer submitted for the US Senate Primary.
Ostergren’s nomination to the Racing and Gaming must be confirmed by at least 34 senators. Republicans currently hold 34 seats in the 50-member Iowa Senate.
