Candidate Profiles

Mary Ellen Tabor (nonpartisan)

Incumbent, Court of Appeals

Chief Judge Tabor, Des Moines, was appointed to the Iowa Court of Appeals in 2010. She was born in Maquoketa and raised on her family’s farm in Jackson County. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa in 1985. She graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1991. Chief Judge Tabor worked as a staff attorney in the Office of General Counsel for the Federal Election Commission in Washington, D.C. from 1991 to 1993. She joined the Iowa Attorney General’s Office in 1993 and served as director of the Criminal Appeals Division from 1999 to 2010. Chief Judge Tabor is a member of the Polk County Bar Association, The Iowa State Bar Association, Iowa Judges Association, American Law Institute, and Blackstone Inn of Court. Chief Judge Tabor is married and has two sons and one daughter.