Theresa Greenfield (born October 20, 1963) is an American businesswoman and political candidate. She was the Democratic nominee for the 2020 United States Senate election in Iowa, losing to incumbent Republican Joni Ernst. On November 18, 2021, Greenfield was appointed USDA Rural Development director for Iowa. Early life and education Greenfield was born and raised in Bricelyn, Minnesota, a small city near the Iowa–Minnesota border. She was one of five children. Her parents raised hogs and grew crops on a small farm, and her father was also a crop dusting pilot. She helped with farm jobs such as driving tractors and grain trucks, bailing hay, and feeding hogs; and by the age of 16, assisted in negotiating contract terms and demarcating fields for the family crop-dusting business. Greenfield took courses at Iowa Lakes Community College and Iowa State University before graduating from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in design and human development. Business career After graduating from Minnesota State, Greenfield worked as an urban planner and later began working in real estate development. In 2005, Greenfield took a position at the home building company Rottlund Homes in Roseville, Minnesota, where she was named president of the Iowa division in 2007. In 2012, she became president of the Des Moines commercial real estate firm Colby Interests, based in Windsor Heights, Iowa. She is a member of the board of the American Institute of Certified Planners, Commercial Real Estate Women of Iowa, and the Windsor Heights Chamber of Commerce. Political campaigns 2018 U.S. House election In July 2017, Greenfield announced her candidacy for the 2018 Democratic nomination in Iowa's 3rd congressional district. As a female Democratic candidate in 2018, she was featured on the cover of Time along with other female candidates, who were collectively labeled "The Avengers". She withdrew from the race in March 2018 after learning her campaign manager had falsified some of the 1,790 required signatures to qualify her for the ballot. Her campaign tried to collect a new set of signatures in the 24 hours before the filing deadline, but was only able to acquire 1,592 valid signatures. 2020 U.S. Senate election On June 3, 2019, Greenfield declared her candidacy for the Senate seat held by first-term Senator Joni Ernst. On June 2, 2020, she won the Democratic primary with 47.71% of the vote, defeating three other major candidates, including Michael T. Franken,