Bonnie J. Campbell

Bonnie J. Campbell is a former Iowa attorney general and a former official in the U.S. Department of Justice.

Campbell was born on April 9, 1948, in Norwich, New York, and grew up in upstate New York. After graduating from high school, she moved to Washington, D.C, and worked as a clerk-stenographer for several politicians from 1965 to 1967, then as a clerk for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations from 1967 to 1969. From 1969 to 1974, she was a caseworker in the office of U.S. Senator Harold Hughes. Her work for Hughes brought her to Iowa, where from 1974 to 1981, she worked as a field office coordinator with U.S. Senator John Culver. In 1982, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Drake University, then earned a Juris Doctor from Drake University Law School in 1984. She worked as a lawyer in private practice in Iowa from 1985 to 1991.

From 1987 to 1991, Campbell was the chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party. In 1990, she was elected as Iowa's attorney general, serving one term. She is known most during her time as attorney general for having written an anti-stalking law that became a national blueprint. In 1994, she ran for governor but lost to incumbent Gov. Terry Branstad. On March 21, 1995, President Clinton appointed Campbell to head the U.S. Department of Justice's newly created Office on Violence Against Women, a position she held until 2001 when Clinton's term ended. Campbell returned to private practice in Washington, D.C., and in 2003, she moved back to Iowa and opened a private legal practice. In 2007, she was appointed by Gov. Chet Culver to the state's Board of Regents, serving through 2011.