DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The office of U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley says he’s recommending a U.S. magistrate and a state district court judge to fill two openings on the federal bench in Iowa.

U.S. Magistrate Leonard Strand, of Sioux City, is being nominated to replace U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett for the Northern District of Iowa. State Judge Rebecca Ebinger, of Polk County, is being nominated to replace U.S. District Judge James Gritzner for the Southern District of Iowa.

Bennett and Gritzner are going on senior status.

Strand graduated from the University of Iowa law school and had a private practice before becoming a magistrate judge in 2012.

Ebinger, of Des Moines, has been a state judge since 2012. Ebinger has served as an assistant U.S. attorney in both of Iowa’s federal districts.