The men who stormed Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, left 2,400 of their own dead in the sand.
Now a Democrat running to be Iowa's top law enforcement officer has been caught publicly comparing those men to antifa.
And he's asking Iowans to make him their attorney general.
Iowa Attorney General Candidate Nate Willems Glorified Antifa on Social Media
Nate Willems is a labor lawyer and former Iowa state representative. His campaign website promises he will "work to secure convictions for violent crimes."
Screenshots obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation tell voters something his campaign website doesn't.
Willems reposted content on his personal X account that directly compared U.S. Army paratroopers – men jumping into Nazi-occupied France on D-Day – to antifa rioters.
"A plane full of uniformed antifa, circa 1944," one repost reads, paired with an image of those paratroopers.
A second repost made the same comparison to the troops who stormed Normandy's beaches.
Willems' campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
The Antifa and D-Day Comparison Democrats Have Been Making Since 2020
This isn't a novel comparison. It's a Democratic tradition.
In June 2020 – while antifa was besieging the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse in Portland and injuring officers with lasers and Molotov cocktails – NPR's Mara Liasson looked at those paratroopers and tweeted "Biggest antifa rally in history."
Willems didn't stumble into this framing. He found it, liked it, and put it on his public account for Iowa voters to see.
Iowa's Next Attorney General Would Have to Enforce the Antifa Domestic Terrorist Designation
President Trump designated antifa a domestic terrorist organization by executive order on September 22, 2025.
The order was explicit. Antifa is "a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law," it reads.
Iowa's attorney general would be responsible for cooperating with federal enforcement – including actions against groups carrying that designation.
Willems has also gone further than reposting antifa tributes. On his campaign website, he openly called on Republican incumbent Brenna Bird to drop support for a lawsuit that allows ICE to operate in American cities.
Bird, seeking a second term, supports immigration enforcement and has used the office to push back against federal overreach under Biden.
The race is genuinely competitive. A April 2026 poll showed Bird leading Willems 45 to 43 among likely voters.
Iowa conservatives who might have dismissed this contest as a foregone conclusion should look at those screenshots.
The man who reposted antifa tributes to D-Day heroes is two points away from becoming Iowa's chief law enforcement officer.
Sources:
- Francis Kapper, "Democrat Attorney General Candidate Boosted Comparisons Of Antifa To D-Day Troops," The Daily Caller, June 4, 2026.
- "Willems is first Democrat to enter 2026 race for Iowa Attorney General," Radio Iowa, May 7, 2025.
- "Trump formally designates antifa domestic terrorist organization," Fox News, September 22, 2025.
- "NPR's Mara Liasson, Dems fondly compare brave men who stormed Normandy on D-Day to an 'Antifa rally,'" BizPac Review, June 8, 2020.
- "2026 Iowa Attorney General election," Ballotpedia, accessed June 2026.
